Greetings,

Last week a new Social Media policy was released by SCA, Inc.It is designed to help groups conform to a standard usage of various social media platforms.These platforms may include (but are not limited to) Facebook, Google +, LiveJournal, Twitter, You-Tube, and Pinterest. The policies are pretty straightforward and are designed to help groups working on distinguishing between an official media presence and an informal one. You can find the policy document here: sca.org/docs/pdf/SCASocialMediaPolicy.pdf

Two criteria determine if the presence is covered under this policy: Is the presence perceived as the official voice of the given Local Group? Can anyone access and consume the content of the presence from the first moment they find it with no further action taken? If your communications do not meet one of these criteria, the policies do not apply to you.

Examples of media that may be exempt include Google+ communities and Yahoo Groups. It depends on how you are using the media. Most local groups have an unofficial voice on Yahoo Groups. Often times these groups are set up so that membership to the group is required. You cannot access the information without being admitted to the group. There are several Google + communities and Facebook groups that are set up the same way. If the media is open to everyone, and is the official voice of the Local Group, then you would be subject to the new society level policies. Basically, if anything you write is in an official voice/representative of the Group, then you are subject to the policy.

There is also the distinction of an Official Voice and active participating member. On the East Kingdom Facebook page or G+ page you will often see announcements/postings from Baroness Alesone Gray of Cranlegh, Webminister East. This is me, representing an official Kingdom office. Other times, I will use Wendy Marques to post or respond to posts. This is my unofficial voice and I am acting as participant in a conversation. Occasionally, I may need to step in to clarify something with an officer voice, and I will preface that with “speaking as the Webminister” or <webminister></webminster>, or I will sign the post with my full name and position. This is one way to clarify between voices and how to tell the difference between my official voice and normal participant.

The Society Social Media team has stated they will be starting to use Facebook and Twitter as their channels for social media. At this time they do not have plans for other outlets. We believe the Society team has taken great first steps, for brand recognition of who and what the SCA is. You can find them here
Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/currentmiddleages?ref=stream
Twitter- @SCAsocial

With the policy release, there are a few additional things that I would like to add. The East Kingdom has had social media practices in place for over a year. We are closer to our populace, we know you use a variety of media platforms, and we try to accommodate these preferences. We use Facebook, G+, the Kingdom forums, Kingdom websites, and we have started working with the EK Gazette. We do not have a Twitter feed. And the Pikestaff still remains the Kingdom’s system of record. Our Social Media Administrator is Lady Isabel Chamberlaine web_socialmedia@eastkingdom.org.

At this time we do not have plans for an “official presence” on Facebook as the SCA East Kingdom group that currently exists is well-populated and functions well. The G+ community will continue to be Kingdom sponsored. We feel both of these groups are important informal communication tools available for people to use. "Having both available to the Kingdom offers our members the ability use whichever platform they feel most comfortable with. We will continue to post to these groups in an Official Voice if we are announcing things for any Officers or Crowns.

We will never use social media to release policy. By our Kingdom law, policies need to be announced to the public via the Pikestaff. We may however post announcements after publication, that polices have been released, where to find them and who to contact if there are questions.

We continue to ask Event Stewards that have “Official Event Sites” on only one social media platform or another, to not do that. It is fine to have a page up on FB or G+, but to either create a webpage for your event or host pages on multiple platforms. The Kingdom event page allows for room to put many details into the announcement. You can use Lady Isabel to get out announcements to the public on things like site closures, event cancelations, schedule announcements or other important details.

If you have questions, comments or feedback for the Society Deputy, Lord Tobias Morgan, you can email him atsocialmedia@sca.org, or use the Twitter handle @SCAsocial. Lord Tobias has started a feed on SCA community for G+https://plus.google.com/u/0/communit...55023113623464, discussing the vision of the Social Media presence for Society. Also an interactive Q&A about the new policy roll out on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/currentmidd...79773045484262

I invite people who have questions about the new policy to send me an email webmaster@eastkingdom.org. Please do not send me private messages in either G+ or Facebook, as these kinds of questions can get lost in the shuffle of social media. If you’d like you can open a collective dialog on either of the East Kingdom channels in Facebook and G+ and I will do my best to try and answer things.

In Service,
Baroness Alesone Gray of Cranlegh
Webminister - East