Ministry for and with youth in the Archdiocese of Winnipeg, deepens the baptismal call of each person, and encourages them to live this call more fully as disciples of Jesus in building up a church of communion and a people of mission. SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDELINES
Use of Facebook, Twitter, and other Social Media
Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry
Archdiocese of Winnipeg
• Informed by the Unite
d States Conference of Catholic Bishops: http://www.usccb.org/about/communications/social-media-guidelines.cfm
• Guided by the 44th World Communications Day messages, particularly from the Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
• Social media, a definition (from Wikipedia): “media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques.
• Social media offer both opportunities and challenges to Catholic organizations. These can be grouped into three primary categories:
o Visibility
o Community
o Accountability
Guidelines:
• The foremost guiding principle for use of the page is Love. We are Catholics and we profess our faith to the triune God, who in each of his persons teaches us how to love. This permeates all aspects of our lives, including the use of social media. Information that does not stem from a loving place – information that is hateful, rude, ignorant, etc. – will not be tolerated and will be promptly removed.
• Code of Conduct: “In general, all posts and comments should be marked by Christian charity and respect for truth. They should be on topic and presume the good will of other posters. Discussion should take place primarily from a faith perspective. Unauthorized advertisements will be promptly removed.”
• We abide by and respect the official policies of the Archdiocese of Winnipeg.
• The primary purpose of the page is to help advertise events in the Archdiocese of Winnipeg that serve or cater to the youth and young adults of our community. o For all other events (non youth or young adult ministry-related), please do not post them directly on the page. Send all appropriate details to the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry first. If the information is deemed appropriate, the event will be promptly posted.
• Sharing news about our Church, as well as her teachings, is also a purpose for use of the page. However, we caution against sharing comments of a purely personal nature – we are much more interested in sharing what we, as a community, as Church, believe in. There are appropriate venues for sharing your personal views: your own Facebook and Twitter accounts.
• Define appropriate boundaries for communications
o Confidentiality
Confidential information about others (such as telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, mailing addresses, passwords, etc.) will not be shared through these media. If unavoidable, this business should be done in private among the parties at issue. Information related to or regarding a minor (persons who are 17 years of age or younger) must not be discussed on a direct basis, unless explicit written consent is given by that person and his/her legal guardian(s). A form will need to be filled out in this case – please contact the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry if you require this form. This principle also applies to photographs. We discourage talking about specific persons who are 18 years of age or older. If unavoidable (or appropriate), please solicit the subject’s consent before posting. Explicit written consent is preferred, but verbal consent would suffice for the purposes of use on the page and Twitter account. This principle also applies to photographs.
• If you are unclear about what can and cannot be posted on the page, please contact the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for the Archdiocese of Winnipeg. The “100% Confidence” rule applies here. If you are not 100% sure that your post is appropriate, either don’t post it or contact the Office first.
