I’m involved with a very small non-profit, as a member of their web committee.
There have been some recent issues regarding facebook, how to channel communications, and what is expected from not just employees, but also from volunteers.
I’m trying to convince the board that in this ‘new age,’ maintaining control over how non-employees might or might not use facebook (creating volunteer ‘group’ pages for different projects has been frowned upon, for example, as has the creation of private events that include some but not all volunteers) is an unreasonable expectation.
The organization does not have a good perspective on facebook, what it is, and where the line is between their official communications and the personal pages and events of members of the organization.
Is there a good book or two out there that talk about facebook and how social media has changed the way we interact and our sense of privacy? Also, is there something that does a good job of talking about the fuzzy line between organizations on facebook and members of an organization?
The argument I want to make, in a nutshell, is:
Facebook events and groups are a more modern version of using an e-mail list; just as we’d not be able to tell people who or what they can e-mail, we also can’t tell them to not create events/groups, nor can we require that those events/groups be private, nor can we require that they not use references to the organization in the name of the event/group.
(not sure exactly which forum this belongs in)