What to know
Understand the modes of communication employed by the community of interest and then use those modes. Social media should not be regarded as an inexpensive alternative to the in-person building of relationships. Social media may be better viewed as supplementary or complementary in the early stages of community engagement.
Section Overview
- Honesty of responses
- Availability to participate
- Understanding identities of the participants
- Social media alone is unlikely to achieve a level of trust for collective action.
- Social media is supplementary, not a substitute or an alternative for in-person interactions, especially in early stages of community engagement.
- The use of social media for communication engagement will take time.
- It is important to understand the modes of communication employed by the community of interest and then use those modes.
- Demonstrates active listening, facilitate discussions, and recruit and retain members
- Enforces the "rule of engagement" or frequent attention due to the fast-paced nature of social media interaction
- Given the pace of interactions in the social media environment, moderating a forum may require visiting the site several times a day
- Recommendations for products are not included as they continue to evolve
- The appropriate social media product depends on the individual project, available resources, and the appropriateness of the tool for the community.
- Organizations should be selective and determine which media the community already uses.
- Decisions about the use of social media should be made by engaging the community.
Content Source:
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
- Bacon J. The art of community: building the new age of participation (theory in practice). Sebastopol (CA): O'Reilly Media; 2009.