Proposal: Council Member Social Media Etiquette
Purpose
I propose that the Council adopt a basic standard of social media etiquette for all Council members when interacting with community members, former community members, and other participants in the broader Telcoin community.
Council members are individuals and should of course retain the ability to use social media personally. However, their position gives their interactions an additional level of visibility and influence. Certain recent interactions between Council members and individual community members have raised concerns about whether clearer boundaries are appropriate.
Proposed Guidelines
Council members should:
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Avoid repeatedly or unnecessarily targeting individual community members on social media, particularly where that individual has clearly disengaged from the community.
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Avoid interactions that could reasonably be perceived as harassment, intimidation, provocation, or personal retaliation.
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Avoid publicly drawing attention to private communications, deleted messages, changes to usernames/profile pictures, or similar personal activity in a manner intended to embarrass or pressure an individual.
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Exercise additional discretion when interacting with critics or former community members, given the authority and visibility associated with being a Council member.
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Clearly distinguish personal opinions from official Council positions when speaking through personal social-media accounts.
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Refrain from using information obtained through their position on Council to pursue personal disputes or grievances.
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Apply the same standards of professionalism toward critics and dissenting community members as toward supporters.
Proposed Principle
The purpose of these guidelines would not be to restrict Council members’ ordinary use of social media or their ability to criticize ideas and engage in legitimate debate.
Rather, the principle should be that Council members should not use their position, visibility, or access to the community to engage in personal disputes with individual community members in a manner that could reasonably be viewed as targeted or intimidating.
These standards should apply equally to all Council members and should be considered a matter of professional conduct rather than being directed at any particular individual, though I cannot deny that this proposal is written with a specific individual on the council in mind.
The motivation of this proposal is that, some council members, or even a specific council member, may need reminding that they’re not completely covered by having a ‘my opinions are my own’ in their bio, they still are expected to maintain a standard of professionalism of which, if they are unable to, they need to promptly step aside for someone who is able to undertake a standard of consistent professionalism.