Ruth+Social+Networking+Assignment+2

Assignment #2
Expected time to complete reading and the written assignment: 15 - 45 minutes

Your assignment for this segment is to post a SHORT reflection paragraph about what you learned from reading ONE of the church publications listed below. Your reflection can be about anything you found interesting or relevant to your ministry in your reading. For example, you could reflect on your role as a catechist in maintaining a safe online environment in compliance with the diocesan guidelines. Or you could reflect on the themes related to moral responsibility that you read about in Inter Mirifica. Choose something that is interesting and relevant to you.


 * [|World Communications Day Message 2014]
 * [|USCCB Guidelines for Use of Social Media]
 * [|Diocese of St. Petersburg, Guidelines for Social Networking, 2011]
 * [|Inter Mirifica]

// Post your reflection paragraph below using the following format: //

** Your name. Name of the document you read. Your Reflection. **
David Schreckenberger. USCCB guidelines for use of social media. The growth of social media and the world-wide-web have been nothing short of mind shattering. Technology is feeding this growth at a pace that is like nothing we have ever experienced. While the inclination is there to lunge ahead full steam with reckless abandon, the order of the day and the message from the USCCB is proceed but with cool heads. As the head of IT at two catholic church’s in north Georgia the pressure is on to move forward and meet our parish family where they live. We are doing this with facebook, twitter, constant contact as well as youtube and vimeo. After reflecting on these guidelines from the USCCB I think that I will be encouraging our parish leaders to meet our families where they live but only after we pause to be certain that every measure possible is taken to ensure the safety and protection of our most vulnerable.

Teri Burns. World Communications Day Message 2014. Technology, including the Internet, is a wonderful tool to help us connect and communicate with other people. It allows us to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with many people. It opens doors to opportunities to share our faith stories. But we must be careful not to hide behind the screens. We must use our technological communications as avenues for authentic personal encounters. I also agree that we cannot let technology isolate us from people who do not have access to technological communications. Ours is a global church, which technological communications helps us to reach, but we are also a church of the poor and vulnerable and must continually reach out to all through every means of communication, especially personal face-to-face contact. As I reflect on my use of Social Media, I do enjoy being able to Tweet a short faith message or forward a Tweet from Pope Francis. I like to read about what's happening in the lives of my family members and friends - including friends from my parish - on Facebook. I share prayers with people via email as they tell me about people and events in their lives that are difficult or joyous. I love to learn from others and share my experiences of catechesis through Social Media platforms. What I enjoy most from using Social Media is experiencing a face-to-face encounter with someone with whom I've been Tweeting or connecting with through Facebook and saying, "I loved what you wrote..." or "I'm glad we can get together to talk more about this..."

Rosemary Potts World Communication Day Message 2014 While reading this letter I couldn’t help but think of the parallels of this “digital neighborhood” we are creating to our physical communities of home and church. Your home neighborhood may have young families – always out and about; the neighbor “everybody knows”; and the old couple who never socializes (who hasn’t made up a story about what goes on inside that house!). Your church community is comprised of: the woman involved in every ministry and always at the church, the couple who you see all the time but never became involved, and those who never seem to have anything good to say about the parish. We are encouraged to communicate, respect and see the good in all our physical neighbors. This some concept will be a huge challenge of social networking in a parish setting. Using it as a true communication tool - not just an observation tool. Most parishes now have websites providing information, but how many have sites that allow true communication and how are they designed and developed to respect, appreciate, and encourage the “Perennial Poster”, “Negative Nancy”, or “Gossiping Gertrude”? How do we mesh the two environments? After reading some lively exchanges on the parish facebook page, we all will need to respect privacy, opinions, and feelings when we see those same people at Mass. Elizabeth Bonutti. Diocese of St. Petersburg, Guidelines for Social Networking, 2011.As a complete novice in the digital world, I found these guidelines to have very practical and applicable information. Specifically, I found the information about setting up Facebook accounts enlightening. I've been confused--still am- about using my personal Facebook account, which I created several years ago but never used, for applications within my parish. These guidelines establish that I can do so but offer limited explanation of the do's and don'ts. More detail is needed for a newbie like me. What I also found helpful was the use of Facebook pages and groups. The idea of creating a Facebook page for the parish versus using my personal Facebook account is preferable. The material presented has opened up some possibilities and given me some "leads" into areas that I need to pursue further. I'm just beginning to grasp some of the capabilities of the digital platforms.Other areas covered by the guidelines is the involvement of parents when using a digital platform with kids or teens. Parents are to be given access to these sites whether just as a "read only" or as a participant. Glad to see this since I've encountered differing opinions as some think including parents suppresses teen's openness.

Hi! My name is Angie McElveen and I read World Communications Day Message 2014.While reading this message one sentence jumped out at me, " communication is ultimately a human rather than technological achievement." That statement is really true and something to think about. The way we communicate (specifically using media as our source) is based on what we "tell" the computer to do more than the computer processing the ideas for us. This message is true for communicating within our parish communities and ministries. We must continue to remain "human" by building positive relationships and communicating The Good News through technology. With regard to the parish I work and am involved in, communicating throught the Internet has been huge and plays a vital role in how we share with our parish community. We must strive to keep the positive message alive through remaining human as Jesus was. Then, and only then, will this be an "achievement".

 USCCB Social Media Guidelines - Maria Lai, CSJ

 This website page is very helpful. As many of you have mentioned and power of Social Media and networking, we must know how to protect ourselves and our viewers. The guidelines from the Bishops office are carefully thoughtout and it is a vaulable tools for me.  The guidelines mention about:
 * Define appropriate boundaries for communications inclduing the awareness of the Church teachings and the confidentiality of all the viewers before we post and response to our posts.
 * Include examples of Codes of Conduct where visitors know of the consequences of any violations of the Code of Conduct.
 * Define instructions including the instructions on how to report, block and …etc
 * Provide recommendations on how to deal with difficult viewers. We should never allow bullied behaviors, and always be ready to report and refer to the appropriate resources.
 * Provide trusted sites for reference, and recommend that site administrators have a thorough knowledge of these sites.
 * Remind site administrators they are posting for a broad audience and always maintain a safe cyber space for viewers to participate and share their wisdom

USCCB Social Media Guidelines-Ivy Foo

As Maria said, the web page was very helpful in knowing the "Do's and Don'ts" of using Social Media. The guiding principles helps us to better communicate via "Digital Content" but at the same time, not to lose focus as the Church should be capable of "bringing warmth and of stirring hearts". Social media are global platforms.As such,online content is visible to anyone in the world who come to our sites. So whatever personal communication we reflect on these sites may be misconstrued as the teachings of the Church.We have to be careful what we preach. Valuable insights given on use of Social Media.


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