Creating a facebook page

[Scoutfish]

So I'm thinking of starting a facebook page for my pack.

 

Of course, there would be all kinds of considerations:

 

 

First and foremost, I think the privacy settings would have to be maxed out. Only actual members of the group could see any posts or pictures of those who are in the group.

 

All members would have to be members of our pack and approval comes only by admin verification.

 

Only members of our pack could view photos of group members.

 

I'm looking to create a place for our pack where you could hang out and yak it up, just shoot the breeze and what not. We have a great pack web page, but other than updates, activity calendars or info, there is nothing else. No community to it.

 

So I'm looking for your experiences - good and bad - about how you did it.

 

I'm not asking IF I should do it, so no offense intended when I say I don't want to hear an opinion of wether I should or shouldn't.

 

I just want to hear who did and what you'd recogmend based on your errors and finer points.

 

Thanks! Mark

[John-in-KC]

The one website rule of Scouting you need to remember is no photography of kids with full names. Don't give a pedophile or a kidnapper a target.

 

That's probably my one direct concern ... giving those who'd attack our kids a target.

 

That said, SR540beaver and I run the Scouter dot com facebook group. Several of us have gotten to be friends over there, where we can talk about our lives and ourselves away from Forum rules here.

 

You're welcome to join...

[Scoutfish]

I'd like that alot.

 

But as far as creating a page, I'm just thinking viewable and joinable for my pack only. Not meaning to sound snobbish by any means, but just planning somewhere safe for the youth to talk online about...whatever I guess.

 

I mean, most of the adults have FB pages already and relax a bit between ourselves.

[AlFansome]

Facebook's policy doesn't allow for children under 13 to have an account:

 

http://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=13455

 

How do you expect your Cubs to access FB? Would they use their parent's accounts and get access to everything their parents can see?

 

IMHO...any Pack-related communication should focus on parents, not children. Even then, use it as another way of reaching out via event invites, page updates, and the like...don't expect much interaction except for a few parents who tend to comment on everything.

 

 

[Eagle92]

My pack does have a FB page and limits who has access to it. Basically the parents of our Cubs, leaders of the Troop and Crew of our CO, and s few of the pros. Basically you have to be invited and/or approved to be a part of it.

[OwntheNight]

Fish,

Create the page as a "GROUP" page, not a business or fan page. You have much better control over how much content goes out to Facebook land. I created a group page for our pack and I am the admin for it.If anybody wants to see the contents of the page, I get a request for it and approve it as needed. You can limit the amount of information being sent out on general FB searches by the settings. As I find "Friends" within the pack, I can send the Group page info to them. Our CC set up a fan page through FB, but she wasn't thrilled with it because of having to log out of her FB acct to get into it. I can stay logged in my acct and still see the group info.I set my search settings so that it wasn't on general searches, you have to do some serious searching to find our page. I've only had 1 person that wasn't a part of the pack ask to join the group, he was trying to join 3 or 4 cub scout groups. Needless to say, he was DENIED! Good Luck with it

[ManyHats]

We have one. One person controls who is excepted in the group. It's a great tool for sending an invite to an event and actually seeing who is planning to attend. That's a few less phone calls to make.

[scouts-a-lot]

We have one for both the Pack and the Troop. I think it is no different that a website with a photo album, calendar, etc. I have control as well as a couple of other adults. We have a fan page for both. If you need something more for communication then the group works better.

[evmori]

The one website rule of Scouting you need to remember is no photography of kids with full names. Don't give a pedophile or a kidnapper a target.

 

While this is a rule for BSA administered sites, this doesn't apply to non-BSA administered sites. That said, it is a good rule of thumb to follow and could be extremely hard to control on Facebook.

[AlFansome]

Specifically, here is what the BSA says about unit websites. Note that they are "advisory guidelines" and not rules. Ultimately, anything created by a unit is owned, controlled and the responsibility of the Chartered Organization which runs the unit.

 

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Marketing/Resources/UnitWeb.aspx

 

 

[shortridge]

It's slightly off the main topic, but I will say this about photos ... I agree in theory with the no-last-names idea, but if you're taking photos for publicity purposes (i.e., sending them to your local newspaper), complete IDs are a must.

 

As a reporter & editor, I've seen more than my share of groups (Cub packs in particular) that send in photos - of PWD winners lined up with their cars, for example - with just first names provided. As a general rule, we can't run those.

 

If you're going to use photos for marketing or publicity purposes, gin up a model release form and slip it into your pack or troop's initial-registration info packet and have parents sign & return it. Simple, and problem solved.