Handout linked to Using social media responsibly webinar delivered by Sharon
Smith (Contact a Family associate), Amelia Stubberfield (Contact a Family digital
engagement officer) and Claire Watts (chair of Bexley Voice) on 11.04.16
Q&A from Contact a Family webinar ‘Using social media responsibly’
Q: We are a newly formed Parent forum so we have a small number of committee members and experience. Do we need to have separate moderators, administrators of our social media? Where can I find some help and support in setting up and maintaining our social media?
A: It really doesn’t need to be daunting and you can set it up as a small page or group and let it grow organically. At Hampshire Parent Carer Network we did this and we had just 2 or 3 people monitoring and posting on the page (they still do I think). There is a lot of help available on facebook and twitter help pages:
Q: Regarding the slide on dealing with difficult situations, bullet point 2, how do you get users to sign up to the rules?
A: If you have a secret group like Bexley Voice does, then you can get them to agree to the rules before they are given the link to the group.
Alternatively often in more public groups, the rules are in a pinned post, and members, on joining, are asked to read and comment on the post to say they agree to the rules.
A further option, if you have admin approval switched on, is that when new members request to join, you can message them with the rules and only once they have agreed to abide by them will you allow them to join the group.
Q: Would Bexley Voice be happy to let staff from another parent carer forum join their closed Facebook page to get a better idea of how it works?
A: We would need to consider all requests that come in and get committee approval. It would be for a pre-agreed limited time period though.
Q: As a moderator - what if you are getting involved in a difficult conversation?
A: The way in which you moderate, engage with and approach difficult conversations is for your individual organisation/forum to decide as part of your social media policy guidance and community guidelines.
Key factors to consider include how you escalate issues if they become of concern for example complaints, the tone of voice and agreed key messages used in responses to difficult conversations and if someone is breaching your community guidelines your forum’s agreed approach on how moderators remind them of your community guidelines and your agreed approach on how you move forward if the community guidelines are continually breached by a user.
Q: We had an "admin" log in for our closed Facebook group. It was set up by a trustee who did not share the details supplied to Facebook, e.g. date of birth etc. Facebook blocked this admin name and asked for this data and we did not have it so now cannot use this name. Is there a way of retrieving this?We did contact the former trustee who couldn't remember what we used. Is there a way of setting up an "admin" user without date of birth etc.?
A: I do not think you will be able to get this information from Facebook. I do not think you can set up a forum/admin account without giving a date of birth but what you can do is set it up with all of your moderators involved, so that more than one person knows the date of birth recorded, and that it is documented somewhere for the forum to access if need be in the future.
Q: All forum accounts are linked to my personal account. We've got a big following, but is it worth re-starting the accounts again for safety and security reasons?
A: You can set up new ‘forum’ Facebook accounts and add them as administrators and then remove your own personal profile. This is very easy to do. provides information on administration rights and help for administrators.
Q: How do I follow up something from 3 months ago to follow up an issue that was raised? Is there an easy way to do a search?
A: You can use a search box on a group/page on Facebook. It is in the top right hand corner if you use a web browser. Or there is a ‘Facebook Groups’ app which can be downloaded on various platforms (ioS and Android etc.) which has a search function.
In terms of Twitter, Twitter Analytics enables you to download data on your tweets for specific time frames, which you could then run a keyword search on to find specific tweets. For more info on Twitter Analytics visit . In regard to Facebook, if you run a Facebook page you can export data in a similar way via Facebook Insights – for further information visit .
Q: Can a report be generated from either Twitter or Facebook (especially from the closed groups)?
A: Currently there are no analytics built into Facebook for Facebook groups. There is a platform available called Grytics - but do bear in mind this is a third party service separate to Facebook and for in depth analysis there is a cost implication. For Facebook pages there is inbuilt reporting and analytics available via Facebook Insights, more information can be found here , and for Twitter inbuilt reporting via Twitter Analytics .
Q: Do you have any guidance on sharing photos of events on Facebook (permission granted) please?
A: You can add a tick box on any event registration or forum membership form,or have a dedicated photo permission form (see ‘photo permissions’ handouton the Contact a Family Resources Page). At NNPCF/Contact a Family events, people who do not want their photo to be taken are given a specific colour sticker so that any official event photographer knows not to photograph them – this could also be an option.
Q: Do you do include something in your policy for those of us who are both carers and professionals as there could be a conflict of interests? Or is that covered under confidentiality for the social media being used?
Answer from Bexley Voice: We direct you to our social media policy and our‘Members you agree' document (see ‘Example social media policy’ and ‘Community members agreements’ handouts on the Contact a Family Resources Page). It is a management committee decision: we do not want to turn away any parent/carer of a child with special needs living in Bexley; however, we must safeguard our other members and a professional/parent/carer needs to understand and agree that if they are on our Facebookthen they are wearing their parent hat and that they are prohibited from passing any comments on to others.
Our policy states:
Extract from Bexley Voice Social Media Policy.
As a member, we ask that you be careful with whom you share and show the page to. We are a ‘Secret Group’ to protect our members who are all parents/carers. We don’t have any professional members and if any member is found and proved to be passing information on to a professional they will be removed; you never know who is sharing information with who, and because it is a fairly responsible Face book group that we are professional enough to work with and share information with each other.
It’s alright for parents/carers to rant and rave, but as a parent/carer forum we have to work with professionals and that means maintaining a good relationship. We also feel it is a good idea to have a robust complaints policy.
Please feel free to start posting, however, I have to advise you that any posts which are offensive, discriminating or rude will be deleted. Take in to consideration respect for other member’s comments, opinions, views and posts. This notice is given to all new and existing members. You are not allowed to advertise anything commercial without prior permission.
Confidentiality note: The information transmitted, including attachments, is intended only for the person(s) or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, transmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. Please contact Admin in a private message if any difficulties arise.
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