Retuning the Sour Notes:
Managing Difficult Social
Media Conversations
Matthew Rupert
Penn State World Campus
NACADA National Conference
Session 141
October 6, 2012
Imagine…
• You want to provide a great experience.
• You are building lasting relationships.
• You have a strategy for managing your
interactions.
• You have a calendar and events to share.
• You want a rich, meaningful interaction.
…And you get this comment.
Session Topics
1. Social Media Strategy and Planning
– Team Building
– Social Media Community Standards
2. Dealing with the Difficult Conversation
– Triage
– When do you keep or delete a post, and
how?
– FERPA considerations
But first…
• Difficult year for the
University
• Renewed
commitment to
responsibility
• Social media proved
to be a major point of
contact for whole
PSU community.
Strategy and Planning
•
•
•
•
•
Why do you want use social media?
Will it align with university/unit strategy?
Who is your audience?
What platform(s) will you use?
Who will monitor and when, and what
training is involved?
• How will you manage any problems that
arise?
World Campus Platforms
Cross-Unit Team Approach
• To address questions, collaborate on strategies,
and ensure communication flow
Unit
Admissions Services
Advising and Learner Success
Technical Support Desk
Learning Design
Marketing
Program Planning and Management
Student Enrollment Services
Representative(s)
Apryl Aughenbaugh^
Matt Rupert^, Liam Jackson~, Kate Elias*
Chris Renoe
Wenyi Ho, Patty Gruneberg
Heather Torbert
Joann Dornich, Jessica Miller
TBD
Communication Strategy
• Best Practice Summary from Benchmarking
– Use codes of conduct to model engagement
behaviors; clearly define “right to remove” policy
– Always thank customers for feedback
– Be transparent: Let customers know who is managing
the account(s); sign posts and (for Twitter) tweets
– Acknowledge errors and correct inaccuracies
– Protect the confidentiality of customers
– Allow subject experts to respond to negative posts
– Connect to core brand; always remember your posts
represent your brand
Community Standards
The World Campus is proud of Penn State and of what it means to be a
Penn Stater -- to be honorable, respectful, and civil to other members
of this incredible University family.
We encourage active discussion and sharing of information in this
space. We will always respect your rights to express your opinions,
positive or negative, provided it is done in a way that is acceptable and
honorable, in keeping with the Penn State Code of Conduct.
We reserve the right to remove content that does not reflect the spirit of
Penn State and this community, including profanity, personal attacks,
commercial promotions, election campaign materials (excluding World
Campus Blue & White Society election materials) or other content
deemed inappropriate.
Photo credit: animakitty, Flickr (Creative Commons)
Managing Negative Comments
• Triage
• When do you keep or delete a
post?
• FERPA Considerations
Triage—Diagnosis of the Post
• Who is posting?
– Prospective, current, or former student?
– Outside or part of World Campus?
– Outside party?
• Why is he/she posting?
– Positive/negative post?
– Relevant to the audience?
• On what platform is the post?
Comment Samples
• “Don’t bother transferring into PSU, virtually
everything counts as an elective since PSU
considers their courses superior to everyone else’s.
No one told PSU they were nowhere even remotely
close to Ivy League.”
• “Penn State should redesign it's student-bedamned attitude before it worries about it's
website.”
Managing Negative Comments
• Triage
• When do you keep or delete a
post?
• FERPA Considerations
Handling Complaints/Negativity
• Mashable (How to Deal w/ Negative Feedback in Social Media)
– Identify Feedback Type
•
•
•
•
Straight Problem
Constructive Criticism
Merited Attack
Trolling/Spam
– Response Options
•
•
•
•
Never let yourself get pulled into a debate
Straight Problem: requires response
Constructive Criticism: requires response
Merited Attack: respond positively and promptly, mitigating problem if
warranted
• Trolling/Spam: ignore and remove immediately
Triage--Response Mapping
General
Comment –
No Action
A&LS: Respond w/in 1 bus.day
Other: A&LS contacts for answer; posts in X
bus. day w/ staff name and unit
Stdt Q for WC
Code of
Conduct
If no stdt response in 1 bus. day: A&LS
posts invite for stdts to respond
Stdt Q for Stdts
Stdt Response to Q
Student
Comment
Stdt Fdbk to WC
Troll/Spam
Code of
Conduct
Accurate: Let stand
Inaccurate: A&LS posts correction
Positive: Thank student
Negative: Thank stdt; share w/ unit; track
patterns; if fdbk prompts change, post it
Remove stdt and
comment
immediately; notify
A&LS director; post
CoC reminder
A&LS
Removes
Immediately
– No Action
Yes
Stdt Fdbk to WC
Wall post; no
comments
Comment
flame war
Stdt already
warned?
No
Remove comment
immediately;
message stdt(s)
privately about
CoC; post CoC
reminder
Never tolerate…
• Threats
– Obtain screen shot, remove post, block
commenter, and report to appropriate
authorities
• Abusive, aggressive or discriminatory
language
– Obtain screen shot, remove post,
warn/block commenter, post Community
Standards reminder
What would you do?
“To whom should we address competency
issues involved in group work? I am (again)
required to work with a group of students for a
large portion of my grade and the work they
produce is elementary. I work very hard for my
grades and am continually paired with people
who can barely read or chose to ignore
instructions from the professor.”
What would you do?
Uncouth humor is a challenge:
• “If someone said that to my face, I’d
punch him in the neck.”
• “He’s acting like a liberal terrorist.”
Try to make instances like this teaching
moments about social media etiquette.
What would you do?
What would you do?
Flame wars
• While students connecting to one
another and to us is great, there also
needs to be room for disagreement.
• Important to monitor closely, but cut in
to “douse the heat” with public
reminders of Community Standards,
clarifications on inaccuracies, and
private warnings.
Managing Negative Comments
• Triage
• When do you keep or delete a
post?
• FERPA Considerations
FERPA
• Students will decide to self-disclose some
information about course enrollment, GPA,
financial obligations, and grades.
– Encourage continued conversation in private
forum (we use PSU e-mail), post general
public answer
– Provide public information and reminders
about FERPA (blog post, university policy link)
– If it meets Community Standards, keep post
FERPA
• Hide a post and reply privately if a lot of
information is shared.
– I had a lot of health challenges this semester and was
forced to withdraw from several classes which placed
me as a below half-time student. Only one of my
professors granted deferment. At all times during this
I stayed in contact with my professors and my
academic adviser and provided a doctor’s note. As a
result, I have lost part of my Pell Grant and I currently
owe $1749. Can I appeal this and register next
semester?
FERPA
• Remove any post that names other
students, grades, or other confidential
information.
– “I’m getting an A+ in the course, but my group
member Bobby is getting a C. I’m tired of
doing all the work for him!”
• When in doubt, take it out.
Touchy Subjects
• Class-related plagiarism and academic
integrity
• Students selling textbooks
• Repeated posts on the same topic
• Not hearing from instructor or staff
member about an issue
• “Wish list” complaints (more seats,
different course offerings)
Thank You!
Matthew Rupert
[email protected]
Twitter: @matt_rupert
Facebook:PSUWC.Matt
Credit: cybergedeon, Open Clip Art Library
814-863-2551