Social Media for
Education establishments in
Falkirk Council
Children's Services
Background
Social Media is the collective term for online communications channels dedicated to sharing information and collaboration with the wider community. Social media is becoming an integral part of everyday life and with the advent of mobile smartphones and tablets, access to social media tools is easier than ever before. The main advantages of using social media for education establishments is the immediacy and reach of each post, broadcasting to as wide a range of users quickly and efficiently.
The following guidance is aimed at establishments looking to using social media to support learning and teaching, as well as communication with parents and the wider community.
So you want to get your establishment started using Facebook, Twitter or YouTube?
If you consider that you want to set up a Facebook page, Twitter account or YouTube channel for your establishment, then please get in touch with ICT Curriculum Support who will help guide the establishment through the process. They can help with identifying staff members who will be provided with access to Facebook to administer the school Facebook page.
Malcolm Wilson
Stuart Lennie
Guide to Getting Started Setting Up a Twitter Page
The following is adapted from the guidance on Twitter's online help pages.
Twitter is a micro-blogging platform that allows you to share short messages online and engage in conversation with other users. Unlike other forms of online blogging, you have got 140 characters to communicate your message succinctly.
Following
Following someone on Twitter means:
•You are subscribing to their Tweets as a follower.
•Their updates will appear in your Home tab.
•That person is able to send you Direct Messages.
Followers
Followers are people who receive your Tweets. If someone follows you:
•They'll show up in your followers list.
•They'll see your Tweets in their home timeline whenever they log in to Twitter.
•You can start a private conversation with them (see Direct Messages).
How do I know who I'm following?
Click your "following" number on your profile or home page to see who you've followed, displayed in a following list. You can unfollow users from that page if you don't want to follow them anymore.
How do I know who is following me?
The followers link on your profile page or home page will show you how many followers you have and who they are. By default, Twitter sends you an email to let you know when someone new follows you. Set up your email preferences to notify you when you have a new follower or to turn these notifications off.
Once I start following someone, can I stop?
To unfollow from your following list:
1.Click on Following on your homepage or profile page.
2.Hover over the blue Following button next to any user on your following list, it will change to a red Unfollow.
3. Click the button to unfollow the account.
To unfollow from a user's profile page:
1.Go to the profile page of the user you'd like to unfollow.
2.Hover over the blue Following button on their profile page; it will change to a red Unfollow.
3. Click the button to unfollow the account.
I don't want a particular person to follow me. What should I do?
Block that user from following you. They won't be able to follow you and you will see a blocked button when you visit their profile. To unblock a user you've blocked, visit that user's profile and click the block button on the right-hand side. Your Tweets won't appear in their timeline, and if they visit your profile, they will not be able to see any of your Tweets.
Mentions
Mentioning an organisation or person using their Twitter name (@joebloggs) will help to bring your tweet to that organisation or individual’s attention.
Hashtags
For many, some of the terms used when discussing social media can be intimidating. However, it is much simpler than it sounds. Using a hash symbol (#) before a relevant keyword or phrase (known as a hashtag) categorises those tweets and helps them show more easily in Twitter searches.
Clicking on a “hashtagged” word in any message shows you all other tweets featuring that keyword.
Getting started- who should you follow?
@falkirkcouncil
@edcommsfalkirk
Please follow all of the education establishments in Falkirk Council. You may wish to also retweet any relevant content posted by other establishments.
Facebook complements an education establishment’s use of other communication channels such as its website, newsletters and Twitter. From the outset it is recommended that an education establishment makes clear what the expectations of the use of Facebook are: to share news of achievements with the wider community. Establishments report that they find their use of Facebook to be positive, helping it to engage with parents and the wider community, including reaching some of the hard-to-reach families, and providing a useful tool to build positive public relations. Facebook does take time to manage and moderate so establishments need to plan for this if considering having a Facebook page.
Why establishments may consider using a Facebook page
Of social media tools currently available the demographic of Facebook users is most closely aligned with that of the age of parents/carers with children of school age. So where parents/carers use any social media, Facebook is the most likely to be used. Having a Facebook page has been found to be a quicker way of updating and sharing information about activities of the establishment than their website.
An establishment Facebook page does not replace the establishment website but complements it – the website is still the place to share newsletters, documents, calendar of events, etc.
Unlike a personal Facebook account or profile, a Facebook page is public so it can be viewed just like any website without requiring a visitor to have a Facebook account of their own.
Embedded on the establishment website, the Facebook page content is then also visible to those parents/carers without a Facebook account. Those who do have a Facebook account, and who choose to “like” the establishment Facebook page, will then get immediate updates in their Facebook news stream.
Facebook complements an establishment’s use of Twitter, where this is used, and provides opportunities for longer messages. As with Twitter, the ease of updating of Facebook makes it ideal for the quick reporting of learning on a day to day basis. The combination of use of Facebook and Twitter by an establishment is more likely to reach the widest group of parents/carers, some of whom will use only Facebook, some only Twitter.
The facility to get feedback on the Facebook page is what provides more two way interaction than the establishment website. That facility is also why the establishment must consider how they are going to manage this powerful feature of social media.
Guide to Getting Started Setting Up a Facebook Page
Although you need a Facebook account to manage a Facebook page it is not necessary to use an existing personal Facebook account. You can create a Facebook page using a Facebook account which you set up with an establishment email address. It would be recommended that you have multiple administrators to avoid issues when a member of staff moves on from the establishment. Likewise setting up with an establishment email address means that there will always be access by Falkirk Council to administering the Facebook page in the event of staff moving on from any establishment.
Additional administrators for the establishment Facebook page should each set up a Facebook account using their work email account specifically for the purpose of administering the establishment Facebook page, and not use an existing personal Facebook account.
Once in Facebook then click on the top right corner “Create Page” icon, or settings “cog” icon to create a page – give it the establishment name.
Once that is done there are a few things you need to do to get it set up and Facebook guides you through this process. These include having an icon image (probably the school badge) and a banner (possibly an image of the establishment logo, in banner shape and proportions – the Facebook setup process provides details of the shape and size required for this image).
Note that when you are on your establishment page you are "posting" as the establishment rather than yourself.
Getting others to see the page
In order to get others to see the page it is suggestedyou click on the top right “cog” icon to use Facebook as your establishment - then use the search box to find Facebook pages of other schools or education establishments, and click on the “like” button. The administrator of these Facebook pages which you “like” will then get an email saying your establishment Facebook page has liked their page. So theymay then reciprocate. When you have a number of likes you can get the Facebook page to be a shorter web address rather than a very long website address which is created by Facebook by default for new Facebook pages –something like which is what you want to put in newsletters or share elsewhere, as the initially-created default address is not pretty!
To toggle between posting as yourself or as an establishment Facebook page administrator you can click on the “cog” drop down list in the top-right of Facebook to choose whether you are using Facebook as yourself or as the establishment. To set this as an automatic option go to your page and click “Edit Page“, then click on “Your Settings“. You’ll find that there’s a checkbox there which ensures that you will always post as yourself. Uncheck this box in “settings”, save the changes and you will be able to choose for yourself. You’ll now be easily able to see who you are posting as – yourself or the establishment - by checking the photo to the left of the comments box.
Sharing the administration
In order to share responsibility in an establishment for managing a Facebook page it would be recommended to have other members of staff as joint administrators. To do so they log into Facebook and "like" the Facebook page, and having done so the initial Facebook account holder for the establishment Facebook page will get an automatic alert that they have liked the page, and they can then upgrade their status to also be an administrator so they would have the same posting rights. That will share the maintenance and moderation load. Note that anyone who is not an administrator can post on your page but they appear minimised and in a section called "posts by others" which you can share or copy and post as administrator to bring them to the main part of the page (or delete them if spam).
Have a look at Facebook pages of other local schools or education organisations, and specifically at linked pages from them. Like any (ensuring you are still acting as the establishment page and not as yourself if using a personal Facebook page) so they appear as likes on your page too (remember that this is visible to anyone, whether Facebook users or not).
Link to Twitter and Embed on establishment Website
Many establishments use Twitter. Some people using social media may use Twitter, and some may use Facebook. So Facebook use by an establishment complements any use of Twitter to reach the widest possible number of people they wish to reach. An establishment can cut down management time when using both tools by setting up their Facebook account to auto-post to a linked Twitter account so that any information only needs to be posted once to automatically appear in both Facebook and Twitter. Click this link for further details of how to do this:
Likewise it is highly recommended that you embed your establishment Facebook page feed (as is recommended to do for an establishment Twitter feed) onto your establishment website. That way anything you post on Facebook on the establishment Facebook page will automatically appear on the website. The website is where parents and the wider community will initially visit for information about your establishment. They should be able to see the Twitter and Facebook content there too. This means that those parents/carers who do not have a Facebook account of their own will nonetheless be able to find the latest information posted via the establishment Facebook page via the establishment website. To add Facebook feed to your website adapt the settings here:
Text for an “About” page or notes page
An establishment “Notes” or “About” page on Facebook may include text such as the following (this may be repeated on the establishment website, where similar text may also apply to Twitter which does not have the facility itself to include such an extended “About” section):
“Welcome toour Facebook page! Thank you for your support, we look forward to hearing from you!
However, please note that postings by others to this page may not be representative of the opinions of our establishment, or of Falkirk Council, nor can we confirm their accuracy. Neither we nor Falkirk Council can control what is put on other Facebook pages and we cannot intervene regarding anything which is posted on a third party’s Facebook page (or other website). The establishment's Facebook page should not be used to discuss issues specific to individuals nor to raise or discuss any matter of concern. Contact should always be made directly with the school by telephone, by visiting the school or by email.
In order to safeguard pupils we will disable tagging on photographs and will not name individual pupils in photographs unless parental permission has been given, and then will only use the first name. We request that parents/carers and others should also not identify pupils in the comments.
We shall do our best to ensure that the postings on our page are in line with our aims. However, since we cannot monitor every conversation or posting we expect that users do not post content which falls into the categories listed below and we reserve the right to remove any posting which we deem unsuitable. Like many other organisations on Facebook/Twitter, we require that users will not post content which falls into the following categories:
- offensive, abusive, defamatory or insensitive;
- fraudulent, deceptive or misleading;
- unrelated or off topic;
- those with an intention to provoke;
- advertising or spam;
- anything which infringes the intellectual property rights or privacy rights of others;
- individually identifying pupils or providing information which may place a child at risk.
Any individual who persistently misuses this page shall be blocked access to the page. The Police may be contacted if any of the content is threatening or abusive in any way. These notes may be amended at any time.
If you see content which you feel the establishment would not endorse, or feel that someone is misusing the site then please contactus via the website contacts”
Examples of Education Establishment Facebook Pages
Useful Resources for Establishments Using Facebook
Here is a case study on the use of Facebook
Facebook for Schools
Shamblesguru page about schools using Facebook
General Guidance for Social Media use
Use of Names
Normally pupils and staff would not be named online without permission. Where pupils are named it should be by first name only, where permission has been given by the parent/carer. It would be recommended to have a statement in the “About” page of the establishment Facebook or Twitter page which includes:
We request that parents/carers and others should not identify pupils in the comments.
Photographs
It is more visually inviting to use images in Social Media. Photographs of pupils should only be included where permission has been given by parents/carers. Where photographs of children are included they would normally only be of groups, and individuals would not be identified with anything other than their first name.
Photographs of pupils should only be taken where their parents have consented on their enrolment form. This information is stored in SEEMiS.
It is recommended to disable the facility to tag photographs to individuals in Facebook and Twitter. This can be done in the administrator panel.
It would be recommended to have a note on the “About” page on the school Facebook page explaining that in order to safeguard pupils that the establishment will disable tagging on photographs and will not name individual children in photographs unless parental permission has been given, and will not use full name. Also this note should request that parents/carers and others should also not identify children in the comments. This would also be a useful note to occasionally repeat as a message on the Facebook page – “The establishment welcomes comments but would ask those who add comments to please not identify individual children.”
Use of staff personal devices
Photographs of pupils should only be taken where parents have consented on their enrolment form. Images should not be stored any longer than is required. Where staff have used personal devices to take photographs of pupils or to update school websites or school social media accounts, images should be deleted on a regular basis from the mobile device. Be aware that mobile devices may employ a cloud-based back-up, so images should be deleted on a regular basis from the cloud service too. Staff should also ensure that their device is PIN or password protected and, where available, staff should register with their provider to track and delete a device if lost or stolen.