Social Networking Terese Jonsson, Open Up Administrator, talks through the basics of online social networking. What is social networking? An online social network is a website where you can set up a profile (as an individual or as a group/campaign) and connect with other people. Social networking can be useful for reaching a (potentially) large audience instantly with no geographical restrictions. HTUFacebookUTH and HTUTwitterUTH are two of the most popular social networking sites which many people use. The HTUOpen Up websiteuth is also a social networking site where you can join group discussions and network with other people challenging mental health discrimination. Using Facebook and Twitter Once you have set up your own personal profile on HTUFacebookUTH, you can set up either a page or a group for your project, which you can invite people to become fans of. Use your page s or group s wall to advertise upcoming events, post information, links, photos and videos. All of your fans will see this information when they log into Facebook. For more detailed information about pages and groups, log into Facebook and go to the Help Centre in the Account menu. HTUTwitterUTH allows you to post brief updates (up to 140 characters) which everyone who follows you will be able to see. You can for example post a link alerting people to updated content on your website or Facebook group. Once you have an account, you will need to build up a bank of followers these are people who will read your tweets. You can do this in a number of ways, by finding out which of your contacts are on Twitter and following them, or by searching for tweeters you think are relevant. 1
(the You can run a search using the website s search function, or you can look through the lists of followers in your existing contacts. If you start following other profiles, hopefully they ll start following you back. Then you will be ready to start tweeting your messages to them. For a simple guide on how to get started, check out HTUTwitter s own instructionsuth. Handy hint: If you want to post a link and find that it is too long to fit into one Twitter-message, there are HTUwebsitesUTH which can HTUshorten the urluth website address) for you. Blogs and message boards Blogs (short for web logs ) are interactive websites where the blog-owner regularly publishes information and updates ( blog posts ). Most blogs allow comments at the bottom of each post, where readers can respond. Anyone can set up a blog for free and you don t need a lot of technical knowledge in order to run one. They are a simple way of creating your own website for free and you can choose between a variety of layouts, plus add your own pictures to make your blog look unique. HTUwww.wordpress.comUTH and HTUwww.blogger.comUTH are two of the most popular sites where you can host your blog. Both provide user-friendly guides on how to set up and manage a blog on their homepages. People often use blogs to discuss a particular topic (e.g. mental health), comment on current affairs, or as more personal journals. To get a feel for how they work, have a look at HTUMind s bloguth, including the links to other blogs provided in the Blogroll. Message boards are online discussion forums where people can have conversations with each other around particular topics. You usually have to register on the site in order to post (and sometimes also to read) anything. If you find a message board related to your interests, it can be a useful way of networking with people who have similar concerns. Open Up hosts discussion forums where you can connect with other people who are challenging mental health discrimination. HTUSign up and join in the conversationuth. 2
It is also possible to set up your own message board (see for example HTUProBoardsUTH). However, be warned that running a successful message board involves a lot of work, the first hurdle being getting enough people to sign up, and interested enough to come back regularly and participate in discussions. Tips for successful social networking Before setting up a Facebook page, Twitter or blog, it is important to think through exactly what you want to use it for. Think about whether you will use it to advertise your information create an online space where people can have discussions and/or provide a space where members of your community can share information about their projects too Answering these questions will help you figure out what type of platform will work best for you. You may wish to use more than one type of social network many campaigning groups use both Facebook and Twitter for example, as they can potentially reach different audiences and be used for different types of communication. However, it is easy to get carried away think through whether it is necessary or whether you are just creating extra work for yourself. Tap into existing social networks Make sure you tap into existing social networks. For example, Facebook pages such as those run by Open Up, Time to Change and Mind allow their fans to post content onto their wall. This means you can post information about your project and all the fans of that group will see it. It takes time Building up a successful social network takes time and energy. To keep your audience s attention you need to strike a balance between updating content regularly and not posting too much (which is likely to annoy people). You also need to build up a community of people think about where you will advertise your network, and how to get people interested enough to join your network or read your blog. Privacy Make sure you understand the privacy settings of your network, and that your members understand this also. Discussion boards and Facebook groups can be set to different privacy 3
levels so you can decide whether you want anyone on the Internet to be able to see the content or whether you only want approved group members to see it. Deciding on privacy levels comes down to what you are using the network for. If you are using it mostly to promote your activities it is likely that you want anyone on the Internet to be able to access it. On the other hand, you may want to limit some information to members of the network only. If, for example, you are encouraging people to share personal stories related to mental health discrimination, it is important that they are aware of who can access this information. Responsibility for content Once you have an online social network, it is your responsibility as the administrator to monitor the content which gets posted on it. For discussion groups and blogs, for example, you may wish to have some ground rules for how people communicate with each other when disagreements arise. Online arguments have a tendency to spiral out of control more easily than face-to-face discussions. You may also encounter problems with abusive comments and trolls (internet slang for people who post deliberately off-topic and inflammatory comments in order to disrupt discussions). It is important that you think through how you will handle these, both on a practical level (for example by deleting comments and banning abusive commenters from posting again) and emotionally (by making sure you have the resources and support around you to deal with the feelings abusive comments may bring up more on this below). Dealing with distress On social networking sites dealing with mental health, it is important to monitor the content in case people experiencing mental distress post messages asking for help or support. People may also post content which can be distressing for other members, and you may wish to think about how to deal with these (for example you could have a system of trigger warnings at the top of posts with difficult content so that people are aware of what they are about to read and can decide for themselves whether it is safe for them to do so). 4
Ensuring your mental wellbeing Running an active social network can be very rewarding, but it can also be very timeconsuming and emotionally overwhelming, especially if you are dealing with difficult topics and/or abusive comments and trolls. It is important that you think through strategies for ensuring your own mental wellbeing. A good idea to avoid burning out is to share the responsibility for moderating content between several people. That way a person can take a break if they feel that their mental health is at risk of being negatively affected. It also helps to be able to discuss how do deal with difficult comments with each other, and you may feel less personally under attack. If you are the only person responsible for the network and you feel overwhelmed, you have every right take a break to ensure your wellbeing and recharge your batteries you can for example close comments on a blog or Facebook page and put up a brief notice explaining why. With the immediate nature of online communication, you may feel under pressure to respond to new comments straight away. If you have a busy social network, this is a sure-fire way of leading to burn out. Remember to take the time you need to process and respond, and also to step away and take a break when you need to. Access to the Internet There are still many people who do not have access to the Internet, or even if they do, they may not be using social networking sites. If you rely only on online networks to spread information about your project, you will be excluding many people from your potential audience. Make sure that all the essential information about your project is also made available through other avenues. 5