A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything or destroy it!

James 3:5 (The Message Version)

 

Introduction

Social media sites enable users to create and share content and keep in touch with other users. They include maintaining a profile page on a networking site such as Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), Instagram, WhatsApp, Snapchat; writing or commenting on a blog, whether it is your own or the blog of another person; taking part in discussions on web forums or message boards. For many, especially young people, using social media is an extension of physical face-to-face relationships. It is therefore important that we as a church also engage with our community and worshippers through these platforms. These platforms also enable parishes, chaplains and schools to share their mission and values, and promote services and events in an effective way.

The use of social media policy is primarily voluntary with the aim of ensuring a pastorally sensitive and Christian online presence and is based on the following guidance and information:

  1. the Diocese of Portsmouth Guidelines, the House of Bishop’ Parish Safeguarding Handbook, section 12.
  2. the safer Environment and Activities Guidance 2019, section 4.4.
  3. Professional Conduct of Clergy which sets out certain expectations about how clergy should behave using social media.
  4. the Portsmouth Diocesan social media policy.
  5. St Wilfrid’s Safeguarding policy which includes further information about the safeguarding processes in the parish.

Any safeguarding concerns that arise from the use of social media policy will be reported to the Parish Safeguarding Officer and the Priest in Charge. In order to follow the use of social media policy in a comprehensive way, it also includes some matters which are legally obligatory safeguarding issues and these must be read alongside this policy. These are not always separately marked within the use of social media policy but more generally incorporated within it.

The use of social media policy reflects the current needs of St. Wilfrid’s to maintain safe spaces for conversation, open dialogue with community users as well as St. Wilfrid’s, having a presence on different social media outlets.

St Wilfrid’s, is a church which belongs to the Deanery of Havant, Diocese of Portsmouth and members of the Church of England so we are called to engage with social media in a manner that reflects our Christian values and principles. This use of social media policy is designed to support all individuals, including clergy, employees and officers (volunteer or paid), in using social media platforms responsibly while representing their parishes, schools, chaplaincies, deaneries, the diocese and the Church of England.

Everyone has a responsibility to ensure that we safeguard against risks which may include:

  • Forming inappropriate relationships.
  • Making offensive, sexual or suggestive comments and showing images.
  • Blurring the boundaries between public work/ministry and private life.
  • Grooming and impersonation.
  • Bullying and harassment.

 

Definition of social media

Social Media is defined as a method of electronic communication across a number of portals and applications, which can be accessed online.

 What is social media?

Social Media, in this use of social media policy, refers to all online communication in a public space, from Blogging, X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and e-mail as well as other social media platforms and defined as a method of electronic communication across a number of portals and applications, which can be accessed online.

 Engagement through a computer or smartphone screen should not change our understanding of confidentiality, responsibility, good manners and Christian witness. Safeguarding and compliance with GDPR remain paramount and so the use of social media policy stands alongside St Wilfrid’s Church safeguarding policy as well as other policies such as domestic abuse or ex-offenders’ policy.

Use of social media: Overview

Social media sites enable users to create and share content and keep in touch with other users When using social media, the person (user) should always maintain a respectful, compassionate, and Christ-like tone in all interactions, regardless of others’ beliefs, opinions, or backgrounds. The person (user) should ensure that the social media content associated with the personal, parish or school account is appropriate to the role description and reflects Christian values of love, tolerance, truth, and forgiveness. The person (user) needs to be mindful that any account that carries the logo, address, or website of the parish is seen as representing the parish, and therefore views will be seen as such.

Use of social media: Privacy, confidentiality and associated risks

When using social media, the person (user) does not share sensitive information to which they might be a privileged party; this would include confidential details provided during PCC meetings, or any personal data without appropriate authorisation etc. The person (user) should also obtain consent before posting photos or information about individuals, especially minors, and be mindful of their privacy. Equally, if any individual then asks for their image or details to be removed then the person (user) should respect their wishes.

The person (user) should also avoid the risks of:

  1. Forming inappropriate relationships
  2. Saying things, you should not such as being offensive, sexual or suggestive comments
  3. Always think before posting
  4. Boundaries between public work/ministry and private life
  5. Grooming and impersonation
  6. Bullying and harassment which can include anything of a sexual nature and discriminatory relating to gender, race, disability, age or ethnicity.

Use of social media: Content and Engagement guidelines

When using social media, the person (user) applies the same standards in their social interactions as in face-to-face or public settings. To use clear language and avoid ‘Church’ terminology or acronyms.  Be mindful that what is put online has the potential to last. Including in private conversations, there is no guarantee that recipients will not copy and paste the conversation into the public sphere or distribute the messages via other means.

Exercise caution when discussing sensitive topics, such as politics, controversial issues, or personal conflicts. Remember that online presence reflects the parish.

Do not post, like or share explicit content, or racist or homophobic content.

Ensure that the posts are based on reliable sources. Where possible, verify information sources for accuracy and consider if they are relevant to the audience. Balance immediacy with thoughtful responses. Don’t feel compelled to respond to a comment immediately.

Remember that online statements can attract media attention, and may be approached by the media as an individual or on behalf of the parish. For further advice speak to the Parish Safeguarding Officer only. Respect copyright laws when sharing content, giving proper credit to creators. Ensure any images have permission to be used.

Where parish mobile phones are issued for work purposes:

Where church officers are supplied with a mobile phone it should be switched off outside working hours, and usage to be accountable. This means that the work phone number is the only number that young people or adults are given, and the church officer’s personal number can remain private. Texts or conversations that raise concerns should be saved and passed on to the Parish Safeguarding Officer.

Who is covered by the use of social media policy?

The use of social media policy stands alongside other safeguarding policies to ensure that St Wilfrid’s church communicates within the law of social media, is consistent with our Christian values and recognises social media impacts our mission and engagement with other people in their everyday life.  In this sense it has a vital role in updating, co-ordinating and improving the experiences of Christian groups (such as youth groups, community care groups, house groups and prayer ministry). St Wilfrid’s church recognises the following activities which are connected to use social media.

  • St Wilfrid’s Cowplain website
  • St Wilfrid’s Cowplain Facebook
  • Messy Church St Wilfrid’s Facebook
  • St Wilfrid’s Toddlers Facebook
  • Community Coffee Cup Facebook
  • St Wilfrid’s Instagram
  • Messenger
  • St Wilfrid’s WhatsApp
  • Community Coffee Cup WhatsApp
  • St Wilfrid’s safeguarding WhatsApp
  • St Wilfrid’s Toddlers WhatsApp
  • St Wilfrid’s Art group WhatsApp

 Use of social media policy and the role of the Parochial Church Council (PCC)

The PCC ensures that the use of social media policy stands alongside other policies such as safeguarding to enable St. Wilfrid’s church’s mission and values are promoted in an effective way. Where there are social media sites set up on behalf of the church, the PCC ensures that there is at least one named person to act as an accountable independent monitor, who should monitor, review and challenge all content on such planforms and report any concerns to the Parish Safeguarding Officer and the Priest in Charge.

The named independent persons for St. Wilfrid’s Church, PCC are Maria MCGANNAN and Jan SMITH and should be proactive in fulfilling this role.

The named independent persons are responsible for the following:

  1. To have access to each account and password
  2. To have access to each platform
  3. To monitor communications
  4. To be safely recruited
  5. To complete mandatory safeguarding training

Where there is a concern that a young person or adult is at risk of abuse, or they themselves pose a risk of abuse to others, safeguarding procedures, as per St Wilfrid’s safeguarding policy must always be followed and be raised by the named independent person and inform the Parish Safeguarding Officer and the Priest in Charge.

Portsmouth Diocese provide the following guidance for the independent persons as well as everyone using social media on behalf of the church or who may be seen to represent the church.

Do:

  1. Have your eyes open and be vigilant.
  2. Maintain the upmost integrity – honesty, transparency, consistency and accountability are key. Treat online communication with children, young people and adults as you would communication that is face to face. Always maintain the same level of confidentiality.
  3. Report any safeguarding concerns that arise on social media to the Parish Safeguarding Officer (PSO).
  4. Know and following the parish safeguarding policy.
  5. Always assume that everything you write is permanent and may be viewed by anyone at any time; and that everything can be traced back to you personally as well as to your colleagues or the church. Always think before you post.
  6. Draw clear boundaries around your social media usage associated with your private life and your use of different social media for public ministry. Keep church accounts and profiles separate from your personal social media accounts e.g., only use a Facebook page, X (formerly known as Twitter) or blogs for public ministry, while keeping a separate Facebook profile for private life.
  7. Always ask for parents/ carers written consent (for parent/carers consent forms please speak to the PSO)
    1. Use and store photographs of children/young people from activities or events in official church publications, or on the church’s social media, website and displays.
    2. When communicating with young people on any social media platform always use telephone, text message, email and other messaging services accordance with this use of social media policy.
    3. Allow young people to connect to the church’s social media pages.
  8. Only use an approved church/ministry account to communicate with children, young people and/or vulnerable adults. The named person should be able to access this and review conversations, and the account should be visible to young people and their parents. Young people must be aware that any communication will be viewed by all users. Save any messages and threads through social networking sites, so that you can provide evidence to the named person of your exchange when required.
  9. Avoid one to one communication with a child or young person.
  10. Use clear and unambiguous language in all communications and avoid abbreviations that could be misinterpreted.
  11. Save and download to hard copy any inappropriate material received through social networking sites or other electronic means and show immediately to the named person, PSO, Priest in Charge or if appropriate the Diocesan Safeguarding Team.
  12. Use passwords and log off promptly after use to ensure that nobody else can use social media pretending to be you.

Do not:

  1. Use a personal Facebook or any other social media account in your work with children, young people or vulnerable adults.
  2. Add children, young people or vulnerable adults as friends on your personal accounts.
  3. Facebook stalk (i.e., dig through people Facebook pages to find out about them).
  4. Say anything on social media that you would not be happy saying in a public meeting to someone’s face, writing in a local newspaper or on headed notepaper.
  5. Comment on photos or posts, or share content, unless appropriate to your church role.
  6. Use visual media (e.g., Skype, FaceTime) for one-to-one conversations with young people – use only in group settings.

In particular, do not allow content to contain or share links to other sites that contain:

  1. Libellous, defamatory, bullying or harassing statements.
  2. Breaches of copyright and date protection.
  3. Material of an illegal nature.
  4. Offensive sexual or abusive references.
  5. Inappropriate language.
  6. Anything which may be harmful to a child, young person of vulnerable adult, or which may bring the church into disrepute or compromise its reputation.

Use of social media: Standards and responsibilities

St Wilfrid’s church expect the use of social media policy to maintain the high standards set in the following guidance and responsibilities at Appendix A. Any further information or useful guidance can be found in Appendix A.

Any breaches of the use of social media policy will follow the safeguarding policy as well as the grievance procedure and disciplinary policy as steps are taken to address the breach as appropriate.

Summary

St. Wilfrid’s Church Cowplain encourages its members to use social media, alongside other forms of communication, as a platform for spreading the gospel and fostering community. The use of social media policy aims to promote a positive and respectful online presence that reflects our Christian values and mission. Being online is an extension of church life and the expectations of the parishioner remain as high in this context as in any other. In general, those engaging online will conduct themselves in a Christian manner and demonstrate these values at all times. In particular:

Be safe. The safety of children, young people and vulnerable adults must be maintained. If you have any concerns, ask our safeguarding lead.

Be respectful. Do not post or share content that is sexually explicit, inflammatory, hateful, abusive, threatening or otherwise disrespectful. Equity: unkind and inappropriate reference to someone’s race, gender, disability, religion or similar demographic factor will not be tolerated.

Be kind. Treat others how you would wish to be treated and assume the best in people. If you have a criticism or critique to make, consider not just whether you would say it in person, but the tone you would use.

Be honest. Don’t mislead people about who you are.

Take responsibility. You are accountable for the things you do, say and write. Text and images shared can be public and permanent, even with privacy settings in place. If you’re not sure, don’t post it.

Be a good ambassador. Personal and professional life can easily become blurred online so think before you post.

Disagree well. Some conversations can be places of robust disagreement and it’s important we apply our values in the way we express them. Individuals will not engage in online disputes and arguments contrary to group harmony or that may cause wider offence and distress.

Credit others. Acknowledge the work of others. Respect copyright and always credit where it is due. Be careful not to release sensitive or confidential information and always question the source of any content you are considering amplifying.

Follow the rules. Abide by the terms and conditions of the various social media platforms themselves. If you see a comment that you believe breaks their policies, then please report it.

 Guidance and responsibilities

Public Domain

The law views anything shared online as being in the public domain. Sharing thoughts and reflections with friends using social media or email might feel personal and private; but if more than one person can access what we have written, it is highly likely that the law would class it as “published”. It is subject to the law touching libel, copyright, freedom of information and data protection. If we wouldn’t say something in the local newspapers, we shouldn’t say it online. There must be no swearing or offensive language.

Permanence

Anything said on the Web can be assumed to be permanent. Even if we delete a comment made on a website, it could still have already been seen by other people, re-published, or had a screenshot picture taken. It is easy to say something in the heat of the moment that we regret later, but it could remain permanently online for all to see.

Security

It is absolutely not safe to assume anything electronic is secure. Privacy settings on social media tools might mean comments going only to accepted “friends” or “followers” but there is no guarantee that they will not pass (repost) them outside trusted circles.

Gossip

Social media can pose a risk to confidentiality and be intrusive. Social media does not change our fundamental understanding about confidentiality in the life of the Church. When telling a story about a situation which involves someone else, it is always useful to pose the question “Is this my story to tell?”

Furthermore, we should ask if the story is likely to cause distress, inconvenience, upset or embarrassment to others if they discovered it had been shared in this way. If in any doubt at all, it should not be shared online.

Representatives

If we are church members, youth leaders or church employees, anything we do or say in the public domain will be interpreted by the public as representative of attitudes and behaviour in the Church. Controversial, hasty or insensitive comments can quickly attract the attention of the media. In the web environment, the person pressing the keys is ultimately responsible for their own online activities, but they can tar a lot of others with their own brush in the eyes of the media.

Separation

Keep a clear separation between personal and corporate accounts. If you tweet/message as yourself, mark the account clearly as “my own views” so there is no suggestion your opinions represent a wider church or organisation. If you tweet/message from an account representing the church, then make sure you avoid expressing personal opinions.

Any account which carries the logo, address or website of the church should be seen as a corporate account and only speak for the church.

Recommendations

Take care with external links. When you link to material, check out the website you are linking to – is its overall focus one you are happy to publicise and promote?

 Real-time Relationships

Interactions in the virtual world need to be transparent. Healthy boundaries and practices must be adhered to just as they should be in the physical world. In the virtual world, “friend” or “follower” can mean anyone with whom you are willing to communicate through that medium. In the physical world, friend can mean much more in terms of intimacy, self-disclosure, mutuality and expectations for relationship.

Web cameras and livestreaming videos

Recorded Videos may not be posted by members unless authorised by the administrator, member of the ministry team or appropriate designated person.

They must be relevant, appropriate and Christian in appearance and content and must comply with copyright legislation.

Using ‘Zoom’ or live streaming platforms safely

More detailed guidance on Safeguarding guidance for churches using video conferencing as part of their ministry can be found at:

https://exeter.anglican.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Guidance-on-safeguarding-whilst-using-videoconferencing-platforms-for-ministry-v1-1.docx

Safeguarding

Laws regarding the reporting of suspected abuse/neglect/exploitation of children, youth, elders and vulnerable adults apply in the virtual world as they do in the physical world. Very clear boundaries must be maintained when communicating with children and young people. The law and policies on Safeguarding apply in communications with children and young people by whatever means, and Safeguarding guidelines apply fully online.

Communications should be public and in the view of whole groups, not individuals. Private messages should not be exchanged with young people via social media.

Emails

Face to face communication is always preferred, please try to speak to people face to face or via the telephone. Use e-mail as a last resort. When email is used, carefully check that you are representing what you trying to say in the best manner, keeping within the above guidelines. Make sure you are sending it to the correct recipient and for the right reason. Only write what you are comfortable to say face to face. Only copy other recipients into an email when it is expedient to do so. When sending an email to multiple recipients, always consider using BCC, known as Blind Carbon Copy. This is to avoid disclosing other people’s e-mail addresses. Only use CC (Carbon Copy) if you purposefully want recipients to see all other copied recipients e-mail addresses. When replying to an email with visible multiple recipients, only ‘reply to all’ when the sender has asked you to do so.

Replies should be personal and not public. Never copy recipients into a thread of emails. This is a quick way to lose confidentiality and cause damage. Emails are to be precise and easy to read.

Pictures

Photos, files and attachments will not be posted by members unless first vetted and authorised or unless written consent is given. Pictures of children should be discouraged, and prior permission needs to be obtained from authorised by the administrator, member of the ministry team or appropriate designated person for any photographing of children.

Sexting

Many people working with young people consider sexting to be ‘sending or posting sexually suggestive images, including nude or semi-nude photographs, via mobiles or over the internet. Many parents think of sexting as flirty or sexual text message rather than images. Young people however are more likely to interpret sexting as ‘writing and sharing explicit message with people they know’. For more information about sexting please read the diocesan fact sheet – sexting youth produce sexual imagery.

Personal accounts

Personal social media accounts should be kept distinct from accounts relating to church roles and responsibilities and should be clearly labelled so that the views expressed cannot be taken to represent those of the Parish. Nonetheless, church members administering online duties for the church should ensure that their personal social media use is conducted in a manner consistent with their Christian character and this policy.

Other sources of useful guidance

 For further information about social media sites please use the following websites:

“Safe Environment and Activities Guidance”

https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2019-11/Safer%20Environment%20and%20Activities%20Oct19.pdf

“Guidance on Safeguarding whilst using video conferencing platforms for Ministry”

https://exeter.anglican.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Guidance-on-safeguarding-whilst-using-videoconferencing-platforms-for-ministry-v1-1.docx

“Using Zoom for video meetings with young people”

https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2020-04/Being%20connected%20with%20ZOOM%20safely.pdf

www.nspcc.org.uk

www.womensaid.org.uk

www.restoredrelationships.org

www.stopitnow.org.uk

www.scie.org.uk

www.ceop.police.uk

www.elderabuse.org.uk

www.ageuk.org.uk

www.barnardos.org.uk

www.spiritualabuse.com

www.modernslavery.co.uk

https://carers.org

For links to the resources and templates mentioned go to www.churchofengland.org/safeguarding

In addition, please see the safeguarding pages of your diocesan website.

https://www.portsmouth.anglican.org/safeguarding/policyandguidance/