Uniontown Bible Church. Social Media Policy and Procedure

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1 Uniontown Bible Church Social Media Policy and Procedure

2 Our mission at Uniontown Bible Church is to be a holy people of the holy God glorifying Him by imaging and proclaiming Jesus. We believe everything we do must be done for the glory of God. This includes how we utilize various products to communicate such as social media tools. Our goal with this policy is to aid our church family in establishing and using these tools so that they would do so with a primary emphasis to glorify God. These policies and procedures are here to help and give guidance to individuals, groups or ministry teams seeking to use the name of Uniontown Bible Church as their headings while communicating. If you have a desire to use, setup and/or maintain a website, blog, facebook page or a related communication tool, under the guise or name of Uniontown Bible Church, this policy must be adhered to and followed. Failure to follow these or adhere to them may result in the closing of such sites and/or pages. Remember, you are an extension of the church when you operate a social media site and so it is our desire that we strive to represent Christ as a family that is of one mind and in unity. When the world sees one of our sites, we want them to know WHO it is we stand for. INITIAL STEPS: This policy has been mailed to you by the office and should be read in its entirety. Complete the Request for Social Media sheet and return it to the church office signed. The Staff at Uniontown Bible Church will review your request. A Staff member may call you in the event there are any questions or discrepancies with your request. The Staff may also submit requests to the Elder Ministry Team for requests that are outside the norm or where they feel approval from the church leadership is necessary. The Staff will then contact you with a final decision. 2

3 GENERAL USE: Complete this form in its entirety and return it to the church office prior to creating or initiating any social media forums under the name of the church. Websites or blogs that are created aside from the main UBC site will be asked to be removed immediately. WEBSITES OR BLOGS: Uniontown Bible Church (UBC) has a single entity for communicating its mission, vision and other church related information. We do not allow for secondary sites to be established as websites or blog pages for the purposes of promoting this information. UBC WEBSITE: The UBC website is specifically used and managed by the UBC staff and ministry leaders. If you are a staff member or a ministry leader and you desire to obtain a page on our existing website, you may do so by completing the attached form and submitting it to the church office. All webpage s within the UBC website will conform to a standard template for design. POSTS: It is important that all owners of the Webpage or the FB group monitor ALL posts. These include, but are not limited to original posts or comments to the original post. As a member of the church, we expect that you will act diligently in removing any posts that are contrary to the churches primary and secondary doctrinal positions as stated in the church constitution. Any posts that draw attention to and cause disagreements from non-members who are accessing your web page or are in your FB group, should also be dealt with promptly. If you need assistance with discerning these, please contact a member of the staff or your oversight pastor or elder. LINKS/VIDEOS/AUDIOS: One of the great benefits to these internet tools is the ability to link to outside applications or websites. Some of the more common ones could include YouTube or other churches websites. It is expected that as the owner of the webpage or the FB group, that you monitor links that others post or comment on within your webpage or group to ensure that they are not leading people to websites or locations that are dishonoring to God or might cause them to stumble. We also expect you to not allow links that might lead a person to misinterpret the position of the church on various topics. PICTURES: Similarly to links, videos and audios, we expect that any posts that have demeaning or vulgar quotes or pictures to be removed promptly. More About Facebook: The following policies apply strictly to FB: FACEBOOK: (FB) In the fast world of FB, we recognize how quick and easy it is to setup a location for promoting events, ministries, groups, etc. It is our desire to establish some conforming rules under which we might all operate to help maintain integrity and oneness. 3

4 GROUPS VS LISTS: while there are several options from which to choose in FB, we are establishing at this time that only FB Groups may be used upon approval. OPEN VS CLOSED: Please indicate on your form the rationale for needing a closed versus an open group. Your explanation will be factored into the approval process, so be sure to give clear and concise information. We understand the need for both. NAMING: While we want to allow for creativity, we must also strive to stay consistent. Upon approval, the name of your group must adhere to the following standard. All FB groups should begin with the name Uniontown Bible Church.followed by the group name. We do not wish to abbreviate the churches name for groups. Please indicate your desired group s name on the form. GROUP OWNER: Since you are representing the church, it is required that you be a member in good standing with the church. All information that is within the profile of the FB group must be entered with discernment. We would not suggest you use your personal information such as who you are married to, when you were born, etc. that is not pertinent to the group serving as a page on behalf of the church. This will also help protect you from unwanted hackers who might gain your personal information with wrong motives. SETUP: It will be your responsibility to create or setup your FB group as well as act as the owner of the group. The person completing this form will be responsible for ensuring that all the details of this policy are adhered to. 4

5 REQUEST FOR SOCIAL MEDIA ( ) I am a Member of UBC Date Requested: / / Members Name: Members Phone: Request for: Blog Page Facebook Group Open or Closed (indicate below the reasoning) Name Requested: Other describe Reason or Purpose: I have read the social media policy of Uniontown Bible Church and agree to abide by said policy. I understand I am responsible for adhering to these throughout the duration of the existence of the site and that Uniontown Bible Church reserves the right to discontinue this site should I misuse it. Signature: Date 5