Speak for yourself before someone else does it for you (@andersorsander)

During the last week of July the Church of Sweden was once again reminded about the importance of a social media presence. Completely in line with Twitter ToS somone registered an account in the name of the Archbishop, clearly stating it is an unofficial account, and that this person isn’t the Archbishop. I find a couple of things about this event very interesting.

I note (sadly so) that the Archbishop doesn’t have a Twitter account. I should add that the person behind the unofficial account has offered it to the Archbishop in a tweet. This is an invitation I hope he will accept.

The reactions from the Church of Sweden’s Facebook page and Twitter was that someone had hijacked the Archbishop’s name, and actions to stop this account were necessary. Looking more closely at the facts this isn’t correct. It’s no hijacking and there’s no way to stop this account since it follows the ToS. The rules state: “Impersonation: You may not impersonate others through the Twitter service in a manner that does or is intended to mislead, confuse, or deceive others”. Having a clearly stated unofficial Archbishop Twitter account can’t be accused of being an impersonation.

What we can learn from this is:

1. Establish your social media presence, or someone else might do it for you. If you don’t have it already, establish a social media strategy, define your purpose for being in social media and set goals.
2. Check your facts before you post. Calling the unofficial Twitter account hijacking isn’t correct. A better approach IMHO would’ve been to approach this person (and it turned out he or she is willing to give the account to the Archbishop).

Two questions:

• Does your church have a social media strategy?
• Do you check what’s being said about you in social media?