More from Adam Copeland on church policies for social media

CCblogger Adam Copeland, who recently did
a stint here as a guest blogger, has posted a grad-school paper of his on
church policies regarding social media use. He wrote this after inquiring here and elsewhere about what policies might
be in place.

Not many, as it turns out--Adam's research didn't turn up much.
In the paper he takes a close look at four he did find: one from a national
body (the PCUSA, written specifically for General Assembly last
year), two from state-level bodies in Connecticut (the UCC conference and the Episcopal diocese) and one from an individual
congregation (Holy Trinity Catholic Church in DC). Adam
examines each policy's take on privacy concerns, the issue of multiple social
contexts converging (and sometimes colliding) and specific questions raised by
youth ministry (where both the opportunities and the risks of using social
media in ministry are brought into sharp relief).

Whether you're gung-ho about social media or think it's useless
at best, the fact that it's widely used and presents unique situations is a
pretty good argument for having a policy. But it's not easy to come up with a
good one. Here's Adam: