Social Media Dos and Don’ts

by Joe Donovan, President, Donovan Group

For many years, I have had the honor of serving AWSA members with their crisis communication needs through my firm, the Donovan Group. While I would never wish for a crisis situation to happen in any school or district, it is a true honor to work with members when they need help the most. 

When my colleagues and I speak of a “crisis,” we never distinguish between a situation that is dire and something somewhat less critical. We often say that we help school leaders with the truly tragic to the merely embarrassing. Although the Donovan Group started here in Wisconsin, my colleagues in other states provide the same service to educational leaders in various parts of the country. Over the years, we have seen it all.

This past fall, I spoke to a class of soon-to-be administrators. One of the students and an AWSA member asked the following question: “Is there one thing administrators do or not do that creates problems for them and leads to a crisis?”

My response was immediate and based on dozens of calls and emails over the years that have come from administrators across the United States. 

“Yes,” I said emphatically. “Social media.”

I can say that when it comes to problems stemming from the actions of administrators from all the contacts I have received over the better part of a decade of handling crisis situations, the largest category involves administrators' use of social media. Most often, the issues are tied to administrators’ personal social media accounts. 

These crisis contacts include the following: 

1) Responding to a close friend or spouse using a public post rather than a private message. 

I cannot tell you the number of times an administrator has contacted me to say they posted something publicly that they meant to be private. Often, these public posts are made without any context and from less familiar mobile versions of the social media platform. Considering the public nature of school and district leaders, these posts spread quickly through the community and take on a life of their own. 

2) Liking or following inappropriate content providers, often when attempting to block them. 

Within a one-week period, I was contacted by a half-dozen educational leaders with the same issue. The call went like this: “I received a private message from someone who included an inappropriate comment and I attempted to block the sender, but instead followed them.”

There are, of course, countless stories of this occurring outside of education. It even happened to the Pope, whose account on Instagram “liked” a racy photo of a Brazilian model. To my knowledge, the like was never explained, but I have a hunch it was done in error. The same thing has happened to many school and district leaders. 

3) Misusing social media tools that have screen or camera sharing. 

Another common issue that has arisen with the explosion of the social media platform TikTok is mistakenly sharing a screen. In other cases, I have heard from educational leaders who mistakenly broadcast their phone's camera. 

I don’t think I need to explain how this can lead to problems when personal photos or information gets shared publicly on accident. 

4) Assuming what is posted on a personal social media account is considered personal. 

In many cases, posts made to personal social media accounts are found by community members. The content is then used against the educational leader who posted it. 

This was an especially difficult year, considering the turmoil of our current political environment and the 2020 election season. We must remember that parents and other community members take their political views very seriously. There can be a “with me or against me” view that people have of others. A simple public post that supports or challenges a political candidate can come back to haunt you. 

So, where does this leave us? Am I encouraging you to leave all social media sites, to lock up your mobile phones, and never comment—publicly or otherwise—on the news of the day? 

No. I am, after all, a communication consultant. Social media is a great tool. Just just like other tools, it must be handled properly. With that in mind, I encourage you to consider the following. 

First, we must all understand that the ability to be able to broadcast to the world at a moment’s notice from portable devices we carry everywhere is—as we know from the trouble in which students often find themselves—a big responsibility. Social media is a fantastic communication tool, but it can create problems. Be especially careful of posting from mobile devices when you are in a hurry. 

Know your social media tools well and be careful of their use. Some school leaders use only desktop versions of some social media tools to post, and to do things like reporting spam when you receive inappropriate content. I know from experience that, with my clumsy fingers and far-sightedness, "block" and "follow" can look similar. 

Most importantly, it's important for all school leaders to realize they are public people in the eyes of the media and the community. As such, you do not currently enjoy the same level of privacy as others. This is simply part of the job. 

Perhaps most of all, remember that a great reputation that has taken decades to build can be stripped away in seconds. 


 

Joe Donovan is President of The Donovan Group. The Donovan Group supports AWSA members by providing both general and crisis communication support.  Click here for more information about these services. 

 

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