Maja - We're in the process of developing a policy, also adapted in part from the Walker Art Center's blog guidelines, which I love because they are so succinct and also really point to common sense. I think common sense is the key, but as Perian points out, not everyone agrees on what "appropriate" is.
One thing we've found successful with our Facebook page is to have a group approach to developing the posts. We have 5 staff people working on the page. If one of us has an idea, we e-mail it to the group. We are all good at responding pretty immediately. If one or more of the group members agrees it's a good post, we go ahead with the posting. We actually work pretty quickly and in the process we have created a great collaborative group. Rather than being cumbersome, I feel like this approach actually frees us up to be really creative since it takes the onus off of one person and gives everyone a sounding board to try out ideas and really be creative. I can think of a few post ideas I have had that my inner voice was telling me were on the edge of being bad ideas. Left to my own I may not have posted, but by vetting through the group we ended up posting and got great responses. The group approach also helps keep the momentum up -- if one staff person is out, or just busy, the others can keep it going. Another tip may be to have some editorial staff involved in the group. Our Facebook group has 2 editors involved, myself included. Editors will know the official terminology and editorial style for your institution and can help shape the tone for the social media (hopefully very different from your "official" tone!). Hope this helps susan Susan Edwards Sr. Writer/Editor, Web Group J. Paul Getty Trust Los Angeles, CA 90049 310.440.7510 sedwards at getty.edu >>> <mcn-l-request at mcn.edu> 8/26/2009 12:00 PM >>> Message: 4 Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:33:38 -0700 From: "Perian Sully" <psu...@magnes.org> Subject: Re: [MCN-L] institutional policy for a museum's online presence via social networking To: "Museum Computer Network Listserv" <mcn-l at mcn.edu> Message-ID: <AD775DE5635C2042BF1DCB7EED36A83B727BD6 at jlm-net.jlm.local> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dear Maja: We adapted our policy from the Walker Art Center's blog guidelines, which they have posted online here: http://newmedia.walkerart.org/nmiwiki/index.php/Main/WalkerBlogGuideline s Basically, we fall on the side of "use common sense". I am the official Twitter-er, but I hand over those duties from time to time to any staff member who wishes to be the staff Tweeter for the week. A variety of folks use our Flickr account for posting collection images and curated projects. I'm currently the only person who uploads to our YouTube account, but I'm open to that changing. Facebook is supposed to be in the hands of the marketing department, but it could use a bit of encouragement. And any staff member or intern who wishes to blog may do so, but I do the copy and content editing before it's published. We've been going this way for little over a year now, without strict guidelines, with no incident. I do put down some groundrules regarding tone of voice (casual, but professional, and if you use internet-speak, spam people, or are otherwise obnoxious, I'm yanking your access), and obviously nothing confidential, but confidentiality and appropriate conduct is generally agreed to at time of hiring (we all have to sign a confidentiality agreement). I think there's a nice balance that can be had, but it does require some trust in your staff and a few groundrules laid out at the outset. Hope this helps, ~P Perian Sully Collections Information Manager Web Programs Strategist The Magnes Berkeley, CA -----Original Message----- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Maja Clark Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 12:36 PM To: mcn-l at mcn.edu Subject: [MCN-L] institutional policy for a museum's online presence viasocial networking Does anyone have an institutional policy or guidelines for what & where staff may & may not post online? Or is it more to do with hierarchy & trusting a designated staff member to approve all staff postings before they go live? We've been looking to expand our web presence beyond our website. There is concern among senior IT staff that the museum's online image needs to more orchestrated to prevent the museum's reputation from being damaged by inappropriate online representations by individual staff members. Am scratching my head wondering if it's possible to have a corporate-minded policy on such things AND somehow give staff enough freedom/trust to run with ideas to achieve the freshness & immediacy that web 2.0 can offer. Thank you, Maja Maja Clark Collections Manager, Shangri La Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art 4055 Papu Circle Honolulu, HI 96816 (808) 792-5506 www.shangrilahawaii.org ^~^~^~^^~^~^~^~^^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ *************************************