# Social Media Social media can be a very powerful tool for social care organisations to communicate and engage with their audiences. However, it is also fraught with risks that could cause reputational damage. ## **Platforms** There are many social media platforms which each have differing functionality and audiences. Here are a selection of the leading UK ones that you may choose to use. * Facebook * X (formerly Twitter) * Instagram * LinkedIn * TikTok * YouTube * Snapchat ## Posting * If you don't have a Communications Manager, you may wish to have an approvals system for posts. * Anyone creating a post needs to read these guidelines. * It’s better to post than not to post at all. If it provokes a poor reaction, it can always be taken down. * Feedback is a gift. If you see that someone has posted something you find uncomfortable or want to discuss, open the conversation in the posters group, on loomio or directly with the person. * Use the Tone of Voice to ensure what is posted is on brand. t. * Follow up on social media with people you meet in the community, at conferences, workshops and other sessions. Find them on Twitter or Facebook and connect with them, like their pages, their profiles and re-tweet anything relevant. Use your existing networks to connect with your organisation. * Don’t follow ‘just anyone’. Find organisations and people who share your values. * Be positive, optimistic and pragmatic. Avoid highly charged language. * Don’t back or follow political campaigns or parties but commenting on policy proposals is totally fine. * When sharing other people’s and organisations' posts, don’t just pass them on; always comment on why you are sharing them or which aspect you think is important. * Ignore trolls. Don’t respond to highly negative and provocative comments. Delete posts which are discriminatory or use offensive language about any other human beings. * No memes, ‘nonsense’ shares, they just become spam very quickly. ### What not to post * Memes * Political posts * Advice about cures * Posts about the number of people dying/ the NHS collapsing/how the world is about to end/mother nature readjusting * Tabloid posts * Shaming posts - we'll all break the rules at some point. ### **Social Care channels** The below is a guide only. This is intended to be a useful rule of thumb re types of topic / subject areas we are interested in. | Topic | Facebook (approx.) | X/Twitter (approx.) | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------ | ------------------- | | Social care – key events / developments in the sector | 15% | 15% | | Digital health innovation – tech for good, platforms, platform co-operative movement, coding | 15% | 15% | | Co-operatives, sociocracy, power (nature of: corporate/employee + service provider/service user), co-production | 10% | 10% | | Alternative currencies, sharing economy and new forms of exchange | ​ | ​ | | Individual stories (local celebration/sharing or people who the co-operative is working with). Focus on independence, diversity, support at home & innovative models happening locally | 5% | 10% | | Our news: events, campaigns, launch, new members etcetera. | 40% | 30% | | Local events & partner events like Co-op Congress | 15% | 20% | | Platform co-operatives | ​ | ​ | --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://play.equal.care/resources/co-op-operations/communications/social-media.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.