Club Facebook Page Policies

Ok first...please save the "I never go on Facebook because blah blah blah" or "Social media is killing our society" for another thread. Why? Because it won't answer my question. Thanks!

For those that actually use FB this question is for you. Does your club have a formal FB page policy? Especially in regards to deleting comments and the like? I'm just trying to avoid re-inventing the wheel here. Been running into some issues of late and want to see how other clubs deal with it.

-Dave

Not a formal policy, though we do have a Facebook presence. I've never heard of us needing to prune it, however the guy who set it up may be doing so without saying much. I personally do not see Facebook as a really good medium as a primary communications platform for organizations. The problem I see is what you describe as Facebook is reall a great "pit of trolls". The primary advantage is it requires a lot less administrative overhead and is easy to find for folks just browsing. Our current website is pure HTML and we are planning on moving to a content manager like WordPress.

H_Rocket said:

Not a formal policy, though we do have a Facebook presence. I've never heard of us needing to prune it, however the guy who set it up may be doing so without saying much. I personally do not see Facebook as a really good medium as a primary communications platform for organizations. The problem I see is what you describe as Facebook is reall a great "pit of trolls". The primary advantage is it requires a lot less administrative overhead and is easy to find for folks just browsing. Our current website is pure HTML and we are planning on moving to a content manager like WordPress.

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Funny thing is, our page has been great for a long long time. I mean I haven't felt like I needed to delete any posts (other than the occasional spam account that manages to get in there on accident) for YEARS. And now, in the last 2 weeks I've had to delete five or six posts. It's stupid. While I see what you are saying, for us it is a pretty important part of our image. We get a lot of people at our launches who have found there way there starting on FB. For that reason, I just don't want our page to turn into a crap fest or place for disgruntled members to air the clubs dirty laundry.

Your FB page seems to be a bit more developed. Ours is a bit more "informal".

I'm the admin of the Tripoli facebook page, and have been for yeesh....10 years? In that time, I've had to delete very few posts.

-Kevin

The only club I have been to so far. does not have any facebook page. I think it would make it easier to reach more people but tat is not always a better thing

troj said:

I'm the admin of the Tripoli facebook page, and have been for yeesh....10 years? In that time, I've had to delete very few posts.

-Kevin

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And frankly that's been a great page so thanks for your work on that.

I think our page is the most effective way we have to reach members quickly. Others disagree, but emails get ignored and no one goes to the club forum.

We we had a couple blow ups that required the drastic step of the controlling member handing over the page to someone else, and blocking out anyone who wasn’t a club member for a short time. It made a lot of people mad, but I still think it was right at the time.

I would suggest a loose policy of “anything not club/rocketry related will be deleted, as will anything disruptive. This is not the outlet for complaints or dealing with issues with other members. “

Well put, David. I'm tired of trolls, cowards that hide behind a keyboard. Since the 1st bulletin board I every signed on, I said I would NEVER say anything on the web that I would not say to someone in person. There is also no need for picking on people or using profanity online. That's just my policy, people are free to show their IQ when needed.

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DavidMcCann said:

I think our page is the most effective way we have to reach members quickly. Others disagree, but emails get ignored and no one goes to the club forum.

We we had a couple blow ups that required the drastic step of the controlling member handing over the page to someone else, and blocking out anyone who wasn’t a club member for a short time. It made a lot of people mad, but I still think it was right at the time.

I would suggest a loose policy of “anything not club/rocketry related will be deleted, as will anything disruptive. This is not the outlet for complaints or dealing with issues with other members. “

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That's kind of the policy we have now and am wrestling with whether or not to put in writing something more formal. I'm guessing this is what most clubs do.

DAllen said:

That's kind of the policy we have now and am wrestling with whether or not to put in writing something more formal. I'm guessing this is what most clubs do.

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Do it sooner than later. You'll sooner have someone make "that post" which will force you to do it at an inconvenient time & in a rush..

Get the basics down, you can always 'add to' from there.

I’m a member of several Facebook groups, not just Rocketry groups. Many groups have a pinned post at the top, explaining what the group is for and laying out a brief policy. Unfortunately, almost every Facebook group (or any online forum) needs a bit of administration sooner or later. It may go years just fine, but then a disruptive member comes along, or a divisive topic takes root. I think it’s best to delete the posts causing the problem and make an administrative post acknowledging it was deleted and referring back to the policy in the pinned post. Or, if you want to leave the post there as an example, you can make an administrative comment within the post and then shut of further comments. For legitimate club issues that aren’t really appropriate for public consumption, you can remove or lock the post and say it’s not appropriate for Facebook, but please come to the next club meeting to discuss it, and put it on your agenda.