[OPLINLIST] Advice for Off Color Comments on Facebook

[Jimmie Epling]

You can always "de-friend" or "un-friend" someone who is posting inappropriate things to your Face Book page.

Jimmie

Jimmie Epling
Director
Wayne County Public Library
304 N. Market Street / P.O. Box 1349
Wooster, OH 44691
O: 330.262.0986 / 330.804.4702  Ext. 7022
C: 606.923.1576
jepling at wcpl.info<mailto:jepling at wcpl.info>

"A different world cannot be built by indifferent people."


________________________________
From: Laura Solomon [laura at oplin.org]
Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2010 11:26 AM
To: Amanda Henning; OPLINLIST (OPLIN's General Discussion List)
Subject: Re: [OPLINLIST] Advice for Off Color Comments on Facebook

Hi Amanda,

You're doing the right thing.  People like this do crop up occasionally.   Responding politely and briefly is your best bet.  It's important to remember DFTT ("Don't Feed The Trolls.")  There are some people you just can't make happy and/or are just seeking attention.  The more you engage with them, in depth, the more they may take it as a signal to go further.  Another strategy you can use for these kinds of posters is to work on burying them--basically, posting more things to your Wall and engaging more frequently with other posters who are not out looking for a fight.  This way, their negative and unproductive comments get buried under the weight of all the new material on your Wall.  Hope that helps some!

Laura Solomon

(Shameless Plug) Doing Social Media So It Matters:  A Librarians Guide (http://www.alastore.ala.org/detail.aspx?ID=2903)

Laura Solomon, MCIW, MLS
Library Services Manager
Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN)
2323 W. 5th Avenue Suite 130
Columbus, Ohio 43204
614.728.5252 (voice)
(614)728-5256 (fax)
laura at oplin.org<mailto:laura at oplin.org>


On 11/24/2010 10:15 AM, Amanda Henning wrote:
Hi All,

We recently got a library Facebook account (yay) and have about 200 fans right now (double yay).  Unfortunately, one of our fans has been making what I would call off-color/slightly rude comments on a semi-consistent basis.  As an example, I posted our hours for Thanksgiving yesterday, and he or she commented "since when is Thanksgiving-eve a holiday?  why would you close early?".  All of the comments have been more annoying/slightly rude than anything else, but has anybody else had a similar experience?  Up to this point, I've used the comments as an opportunity to address questions that other people might have..  so for the Thanksgiving comment I responded that many businesses and libraries close early to give employees an opportunity to be with family and reminded all of our fans that while we're closed, patrons don't get fines.  I'm just looking for either validation that this is a decent strategy or advice from similiar situations.

Ahh the joys of the internet!


Amanda Henning
Teen Librarian
The Marysville Public Library
231 S. Plum St.
Marysville, OH  43040
(937) 642-1876 ex. 25

"Sometimes, after coming home thus late in a dark and muggy night, when my feet felt the path which my eyes could not see, dreaming and absent-minded all the way, until I was aroused by having to raise my hand to lift the latch, I have not been able to recall a single step of my walk, and I have thought that perhaps my body would find its way home if its master should forsake it." - Henry David Thoreau




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