Social Media: Blessing or Bane?

Social Media has been such a blessing to the many groups and organizations I have volunteered with over the years. With social media, specifically Facebook, we have been able to create group pages to help our members stay informed and connected with each other. In the past, we would send out multiple mass emails and hope that those who needed to get the information actually read their emails! Now, we can post in Facebook and we can create an event and invite our members.

These are the blessings of Social Media:

1. As mentioned above, creating an event to remind our members about upcoming activities. And the great thing about Facebook and an event is that the member will receive updates and reminders the day before and the day of.

2. You have a last minute announcement? No problem, post it in your Facebook group and you can be sure that a majority of your members will see it.

3. In our military world, those on their way to our location can now search through Facebook and find groups they are interested in learning more about and connecting with folks in the new location.



Are there really banes when using social media? Yes, a couple.

1. Not everyone is on Facebook or social media. Be sure to have a back up communication method for those who don't "do Facebook". Do you have an email list for your group? Are you sending courtesy emails to those who you know are not on Facebook? Hurt feelings can occur when folks miss out on an event or announcement.

2. Friending everyone in your Facebook group. Think about it. Why did you first join a particular social group or women's group? For most of us it is because we are looking to make new friends and connect with other people with a similar interest. Here is where the downfall occurs. You join a group and really like the folks at the meetings you go to. You then start to send friend requests to the people in this group. You think you are friends! And then you start to see these same friends are actually getting together socially outside of the group. Without you. This, in particular, is where you need to be careful about what you post on Facebook. This is where feelings get hurt and people leave your group because of the exclusion that they see. Be careful.

So use your social media groups in a mature and business-like way.