Social media has taken root in the daily lives of almost every person in the world. With billions of users, the various social media platforms have enabled communication to be shared around the world instantly. But with that instantaneous communication, negative side effects have appeared. Over the last several years, increasing hostility and misinformation have become the norm for social media and POAs are not immune to online abuse and misinformation spread about the POA. As online abuse continues to rise, POAs should have a plan in place on how to respond to negative posts, online abuse, and misinformation.

Social Media Policy

For several years, the optimal solution for many attorneys was to advise POAs to not have a social media page and do not engage with residents and homeowners online. This practice is no longer feasible. Social media has proven to be effective for POAs to disseminate information about events in the community, updates on projects and sometimes provide an outlet to allow residents to help other residents in times of crisis. But with all that good, there seems to be worse on social media, which is why POAs need a social media policy for their active, official social media page(s).

A POA’s social media policy should begin by defining the terms of use for the page and social media outlets the POA will choose to operate. In the terms, identify the purpose of the page. If the page consists of community-related posts, identify the scope of those posts (lost pets, classifieds, social activities, etc.)

With increasing negative and misinformation making the rounds on social media, it is more important than ever for POAs to identify and outline the types of posts that will not be allowed on POA social media pages. The social media policy should detail the potential ramifications users can face for making these types of posts and violating the terms of use policy.

The types of posts not allowed should include:

• Obscene or unlawful posts
• Posts and comments that are harassing or threatening in nature
• Posts and comments concerning anything not pertaining to the community
• Copyrighted material or images without proper consent (i.e. gifs or memes)
• Posts with misleading or disinformation about current events
  • Posting this type of content can subject the page to being suspended or deleted by the social media network because of increased monitoring of misinformation by the social media companies.

The social media policy should also include language stating no advertising or junk messaging will be allowed on the page to prevent the page from becoming a marketplace that advertises homeowners’ addresses and subjecting the POA to potential liability. In addition to not allowing a marketplace to develop, the policy should not allow for posting of personal information of the residents, such as addresses, images of their homes, or complaints regarding neighbor-to-neighbor disputes.

If there is a post that violates the terms of use, a strict set of consequences should be clearly defined. A violation allows the post to be deleted without notice and continued or egregious violations will allow for the user’s access rights to be suspended immediately.

Most importantly, the social media policy should determine who is the administrator of the social media page and, as a result, the arbiter of potential violations. This person could be a board member, a committee member, or a community manager, but there is a potential cost factor involved with the community manager.

Managing Disruptive or Negative Posts

Once the social media policy is enacted, this should serve as the guide for how to respond to those disruptive or negative posts, but not everyone will be receptive to the policy. All violations of the social media policy should be documented with a screenshot of the post violating the policy to give the POA a record if removal from a page needs to occur. If the board chooses, a courtesy violation notice can be directly messaged to the offending user with an explanation of why the post was taken down and a reminder of the POA’s social media policy. If the user continues to violate the social media policy, the steps for removal outlined by the policy should be taken. Should the offending user become threatening or harassing towards board members on their private social media pages or on unofficial pages, the attorney for the POA may have to become involved to address the matter.

POA board members or community managers with questions on actions the POAs should take in their policies or how to effectively deal with violations should contact their legal counsel to have their questions answered and receive guidance on next steps.