Social Media and Online Communities for Family Support Groups Young girl blowing bubbles Presented by Diandre Glover Thomas Program Coordinator Kentucky Autism Training Center Learning Objectives •Participants will learn about the benefits of creating an online network of support •Participants will learn about roles, rules and privacy issues within online communities •Participants will learn how to set up a Facebook group and a Yahoo group •Participants will learn best practices to keep their online community active Isolation Parents of children with autism need to connect with other parents in a supportive environment on a regular basis Young child laying in leaves Three Benefits of Social Networks for Support Groups •Give parents of children with autism an opportunity to meet and connect with other parents Three Benefits of Social Networks for Support Groups •Give parents of children with autism an opportunity to meet and connect with other parents •Help support groups organize meetings, activities and events. Three Benefits of Social Networks for Support Groups •Give parents of children with autism an opportunity to meet and connect with other parents •Help support groups organize meetings, activities and events. •Provide an opportunity for parents to share information about helpful resources and/or provide supportive words of encouragement for online community members. Meet and Connect with Other Parents Through sharing pictures, videos and stories about their families’ highs and lows support group members are able to get to know each other better and form a deeper connection with one another parentsandkids.jpg Organize Meetings, Activities and Events Support groups can post information about social activities and fundraisers such as awareness walks, bake sales, pot luck dinners and monthly meeting updates organize.jpg Parents Share Information and Give Encouragement Parents can share if they had a tough day with their child or if their child did something they were really proud of or they can share resource information such as free training events and summer camp information woman coffee.jpg Parent holding young child outdoors Family holding hands Jack O'Lantern on swing Get Connected! Two young girls in raingear Colorful umbrella held by young child Two choices Join an existing online group Start your own online group Join an Existing Online Group Join an Existing Online Group PRO Community is already in place and you only need to become a member and join in the conversation Join an Existing Online Group CON The community is already in place and you have to get to know the people in the network Existing Groups can be found on: Yahoo Groups Facebook Groups SupportGroups.com MyAutismTeam.com MyAutismTeam Search MyAutismTeam.com Joining an existing online group is a good option if you do not currently belong to a support group or if you think your support group does not want to participate in an online community Start Your Own Online Group Start Your Own Online Group PROS Online community becomes an extension of your current support group Start Your Own Online Group PROS You already know your support group members and the online community gives you an opportunity to get to talk with them more often Start Your Own Online Group PROS The support group members can create their own set of moderation rules for the online community Start Your Own Online Group CONS Someone in the support group will need to set up the online community Start Your Own Online Group CONS Someone in the support group will need to moderate discussions and make sure nothing inappropriate is being said and to keep the community spam free Start Your Own Online Group CONS Someone will need to manage the community and keep the conversation flowing on the network Roles, Rules and Privacy You need to have them! community manager.jpg police.jpg group.jpg Roles Community Manager Moderator Members What’s the Difference? Community Manager Three responsibilities •Look through all of the posts online to make sure everyone is getting their question answered •Keep the conversation going by creating content daily •To reach out to dormant members through email and at support group meetings to encourage them to join the conversation Moderator Three responsibilities •To prevent the development of negative information •To prevent the development of arguments that may conflict with the healthy behaviors the network is trying to promote •To identify disrespectful posts on the public forum and delete them, warn the member who posted it, and keep records so that people who repeat this behavior can be removed from membership or have limited posting privileges Rules Best Practices •Set up rules from the beginning •Do not make them long or complicated •Refer to the rules when a site members online behavior is inappropriate to help them understand why an action was taken •Remember its okay to disagree with opinions but the rules are necessary to protect the integrity of the online community Example of rules We do not permit: •Sexual or offensive language or content •Harassment of other users •Abuse or disruption of our services •The impersonation of Autism Support Group community manager or moderator •Advertising of third party services or websites Privacy Best Practices •Don’t share any information online that you would not feel comfortable sharing with an entire group in person •Understand how the online community works •Always check your privacy settings fence.jpg Let’s Have Some Fun!! Young girls blowing bubbles Facebook Groups Let’s Create a Facebook Group Step One Go to: facebook.com/about/groups Click on Create Group Let’s Create a Facebook Group Step Two Create a Group Name Select members Select Privacy Settings (Choose One) •Open •Closed •Secret Click Create Let’s Create a Facebook Group Step Three Congratulations you have a new group! Secret Facebook Groups for Support Groups Group Chats – Everyone in the group can chat online at the same time Shared documents –If you need to share notes from the support group meetings or flyers for activities Private photo sharing—Only Secret Group members can see photos Shared email address to post messages to the group Learn more about these features and adjusting group settings: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-use-secret-facebook- groups-to-enhance-your-business Yahoo Groups Let’s Create a Yahoo Group Step One •Go to yahoo.com and create an account •Go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/start •Select a Yahoo Groups category in the Search group categories box enter "autism for a more specific category" •Click on the suggested link in blue and click place my group here Let’s Create a Yahoo Group Step Two •Create a Group name •Select group email address (this works like an email listserv any email sent to this address gets distributed to everyone in the group) •Describe your group and click continue Let’s Create a Yahoo Group Step Three •Select your yahoo profile and the email address that responses on the list will go to. The default address is the one that you used when you began to register a group. •Enter security code and click continue Let’s Create a Yahoo Group Step Four •You will get a homepage for your group and an email account for the group •You can customize who can join and/or post messages and you can send an email invitation for members to join the group. Congratulations you have a new group! Yahoo Groups Allow a shared: •Calendar •Files •Photos •Polls •Links •Email How to use Yahoo Groups http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buSoEg0Ckx0 Engagement Keep them coming back! Interest Trust Value Respect Ideas to Increase Communication Fun •Photos •Ecards Supportive •Get well soon •Words of encouragement •Well wishes (Happy Birthday, Anniversary, Congrats on the new baby, marriage, graduation, promotion etc.) Ideas to Increase Communication Interesting •Articles read online that are relevant to the group •Share information from other autism online communities and email listservs •Community Events Important Offline Activities •Support group meetings, notes and date reminders •Activities such as awareness walks, fundraisers, bake sales, parent’s or kids day out Most Important Key to Engagement Give responses back to posts keys.jpg Go out and start or join those online groups today! Diandre Glover Thomas.jpg QUESTIONS??? Diandre Glover Thomas diandre.gloverthomas@louisville.edu (502)852-2467