How to Best Navigate Social Media and Member Privacy

By Raul Rivera

Many churches have their own social media accounts as a way to connect with church members throughout the week. Churches also use social media to highlight recent events and to keep church members informed on upcoming events. But how many churches have a social media policy in place to guide their social media activity?

Gone are the days when bulletins, paper newsletters, and mailed flyers with an occasional email were a church’s only means of communication. Social media has added a whole host of additional ways your church can communicate with members and publicize your work.

Because of this, now more than ever, it is necessary to understand the relationship between one’s privacy rights and how your church uses social media.

In this post, I want to shed light on common privacy violations of which many churches are unaware. After that, I want to provide you with three solutions to help you and your church successfully navigate the world of social media.

But first, let us take a look at an example to help put this into perspective.

Privacy in a connected world

Let's look at an example to help put things into perspective:

When Pastor Walter walked into his office, he noticed that his office manager was visibly disturbed.

He put his things in his office and walked to her desk asking, “Carla, what’s going on? Is something wrong?” The conversation that followed was not at all what he expected.

One month ago his church had held an outreach event where they provided a week’s worth of groceries to 100 families in the area to help provide food during the summer months.The event was a great success. Not only were families encouraged, but they were also given hope through the knowledge that they were not alone. As a result, 50 people made a decision to give their life to the Lord.

Carla had organized and coordinated a large part of the event. In her honor, the church’s newsletter and social media accounts featured her photo with an explanation of how the event would not have been a success without all of her hard work.

However, Carla was the type of person who preferred to be behind the scenes. She was not comfortable with the fact that her photo was prominently displayed without her permission on all of the church’s social media accounts and in the church newsletter that was distributed to hundreds of people.

Pastor Walter explained how the church had wanted to honor her, and he apologized for not considering her feelings. He understood that some people were very private, and he did not want to violate that privacy.

It was this conversation with Carla that really got him thinking, “Did the church have a right to take and display photos of others?” If not, how could the church maintain creative liberty while honoring the privacy of its members at the same time?

Common privacy violations

To better understand the issue of privacy, let us review types of privacy invasion that are common and how they may apply to your church:

1. Intrusion:

Intrusion occurs when one intentionally intrudes into a person’s private affairs in an offensive and damaging way.

For example: Pastor A hears a rumor that Deacon B is having marital issues. He sends a church counselor to Deacon B’s home to investigate the matter and to offer counseling.

This is intrusion because the pastor assumes a negative situation based on potentially false information, spreads that information to others, and sends them to the deacon’s home without permission.

This type of privacy intrusion can occur with even the best of intentions.

2. Private facts:

Private facts invasion occurs by publicly sharing someone’s personal information without permission in a way that is offensive and damaging.

Using the example above, if Deacon B truly had a marital issue, private facts intrusion occurs if the pastor were to share this fact in a staff text as a prayer request. This may be embarrassing to Deacon B, and it did not need to be public information.

3. False Light:

False light invasion happens when one falsifies information about another person that is highly offensive and the person spreading the false information knows he/she is not being truthful.

In our example of Pastor A and Deacon B, the person who began the rumor about Deacon B’s marriage may be committing false light if he/she was sharing information known to be untrue out of revenge or to further his/her own agenda in the church.

How to implement good privacy policy & procedure

In light of what we have learned about privacy issues in an increasingly public world, how can a church properly manage social media outlets and photography content?

We will next look at 3 easy steps you can take to create simple, effective policies regarding this issue.

Step 1. Create a social media policy:

Though social media gives powerful and quick access to thousands, if your staff uses it in a misguided way, a job can be lost or the church can be sued because of a simple post on its social media account(s).

A solid social media policy provides guidelines to your staff and volunteers that will protect the way information is shared on your church’s public platform. The policy may include such requirements as:

• Designating trained staff to review all content before it is posted.
• Prohibiting political comments.
• Requiring that posted photos be reviewed and that express permission be given before using the photo of a recognizable person.
• Requiring that no dishonoring or controversial topics be discussed on the church’s platform.
• Requiring godly personal use of social media that does not taint the reputation of church staff and volunteers.

Step 2. Create a photography policy:

Managing the use of photography becomes more involved the larger your church becomes. Your church has full rights to take photos on its private property and can also request that no photos be taken on its property.

Establish a photography policy that clearly details that photos and videos may be taken during worship services and under what circumstances. The policy should also expressly state that the church retains all rights to public and private use of photography taken on the church’s property. This allows you some control over what is distributed and when.

Step 3. Obtain written permission:

When sharing a person’s testimony or a photo that clearly shows an individual, it is best practice for your church to obtain written permission. This allows each individual to approve his/her likeness being used in church publications. It also helps protect your church against any false claims that a story or shared information was used without an individual’s permission.

Stay vigilant

Though it may seem tedious, the best thing your church can do is to remain vigilant over the type of content that is shared on all church social media outlets. Take every opportunity to ensure that what your ministry publishes honors God and those whom you are serving.

If your church or ministry is in need of a social media policy or photography policy, feel free to give our office a call at 770-638-3444.

Or, you can check out our Vision Applet in the Documents Suite. This resource provides these policies, plus many more, for your church to implement today.

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