Published: December 19, 2022
Social media resources

Have a social media question? Contact Rachel Baker, OSBA’s communications specialist, marketing and digital media: rbaker@osba.org

Resources

Social Media Guidelines for School Board Members

Keeping Your Students (and Yourself) Safe on Social Media

How Social Media is Reshaping Today’s Education System

The Educator’s Guide to Social Media Educators

The Educator’s Guide to Student Data Privacy

The Parent and Educator Guide to Media Literacy and Fake News

Why is social media important during a crisis?

Crisis Communication: Using social media allows for a rapid response to the broadest possible audience, without filtering by a third party.

Media Consumption: Over the past several years, there has been a major shift from print news to online and digital news. Put your message in front of your audience members by meeting them where they congregate.

Social Power: Traditional methods of broadcasting news (school newsletters, press releases, etc.) assume a passive target audience. But with the use of online tools, everyone has a voice.

Three key ways to use social media during and after a crisis

Monitor buzz: Pay attention to the conversation(s) going on about the crisis, and help direct the buzz.

Engage with community: Aim for dialogue: pose a message, listen to the response, and reply appropriately.

Turn community members into broadcasters: Ask community members to help multiply your reach by sharing the news with their friends and groups.