Retuning the Sour Notes:Managing Difficult Social

Media Conversations

Matthew Rupert

Penn State World Campus

NACADA National Conference

Session 141

October 6, 2012

Imagine…

• You want to provide a great experience.

• You are building lasting relationships.

• You have a strategy for managing your interactions.

• You have a calendar and events to share.

• You want a rich, meaningful interaction.

…And you get this comment.

Session Topics

1. Social Media Strategy and Planning– Team Building– Social Media Community Standards

2. Dealing with the Difficult Conversation– Triage– When do you keep or delete a post, and

how?– FERPA considerations

But first…

• Difficult year for the University

• Renewed commitment to responsibility

• Social media proved to be a major point of contact for whole PSU community.

Strategy and Planning

• Why do you want use social media?

• Will it align with university/unit strategy?

• Who is your audience?

• What platform(s) will you use?

• Who will monitor and when, and what training is involved?

• How will you manage any problems that arise?

World Campus Platforms

Cross-Unit Team Approach• To address questions, collaborate on strategies,

and ensure communication flow

Unit Representative(s)

Admissions Services Apryl Aughenbaugh^

Advising and Learner Success Matt Rupert^, Liam Jackson~, Kate Elias*

Technical Support Desk Chris Renoe

Learning Design Wenyi Ho, Patty Gruneberg

Marketing Heather Torbert

Program Planning and Management Joann Dornich, Jessica Miller

Student Enrollment Services TBD

Communication Strategy• Best Practice Summary from Benchmarking

– Use codes of conduct to model engagement behaviors; clearly define “right to remove” policy– Always thank customers for feedback– Be transparent: Let customers know who is managing the account(s); sign posts and (for Twitter) tweets– Acknowledge errors and correct inaccuracies– Protect the confidentiality of customers– Allow subject experts to respond to negative posts– Connect to core brand; always remember your posts represent your brand

Community Standards

The World Campus is proud of Penn State and of what it means to be a Penn Stater -- to be honorable, respectful, and civil to other members of this incredible University family.

We encourage active discussion and sharing of information in this space. We will always respect your rights to express your opinions, positive or negative, provided it is done in a way that is acceptable and honorable, in keeping with the Penn State Code of Conduct.

We reserve the right to remove content that does not reflect the spirit of Penn State and this community, including profanity, personal attacks, commercial promotions, election campaign materials (excluding World Campus Blue & White Society election materials) or other content deemed inappropriate.

Photo credit: animakitty, Flickr (Creative Commons)

Managing Negative Comments

• Triage

• When do you keep or delete a post?

• FERPA Considerations

Triage—Diagnosis of the Post

• Who is posting?– Prospective, current, or former student?– Outside or part of World Campus?– Outside party?

• Why is he/she posting?– Positive/negative post?– Relevant to the audience?

• On what platform is the post?

Comment Samples

• “Don’t bother transferring into PSU, virtually everything counts as an elective since PSU considers their courses superior to everyone else’s. No one told PSU they were nowhere even remotely close to Ivy League.”

• “Penn State should redesign it's student-be-damned attitude before it worries about it's website.”

Managing Negative Comments

• Triage

• When do you keep or delete a post?

• FERPA Considerations

Handling Complaints/Negativity• Mashable (How to Deal w/ Negative Feedback in Social Media)

– Identify Feedback Type• Straight Problem• Constructive Criticism• Merited Attack• Trolling/Spam

– Response Options• Never let yourself get pulled into a debate• Straight Problem: requires response• Constructive Criticism: requires response• Merited Attack: respond positively and promptly, mitigating problem if warranted• Trolling/Spam: ignore and remove immediately

Triage--Response Mapping

Student Comment

Code of Conduct

Code of Conduct

General Comment – No Action

Stdt Q for WC

Stdt Q for Stdts

Stdt Response to Q

Stdt Fdbk to WC

Troll/Spam

Stdt Fdbk to WC

A&LS Removes

Immediately – No Action

A&LS: Respond w/in 1 bus.dayOther: A&LS contacts for answer; posts in X

bus. day w/ staff name and unit

If no stdt response in 1 bus. day: A&LS posts invite for stdts to respond

Accurate: Let standInaccurate: A&LS posts correction

Positive: Thank studentNegative: Thank stdt; share w/ unit; track patterns; if fdbk prompts change, post it

Comment flame war

Wall post; no comments

Remove stdt and comment

immediately; notify A&LS director; post

CoC reminder

Stdt already warned?

Yes

No

Remove comment immediately;

message stdt(s) privately about CoC; post CoC

reminder

Never tolerate…

• Threats– Obtain screen shot, remove post, block

commenter, and report to appropriate authorities

• Abusive, aggressive or discriminatory language– Obtain screen shot, remove post, warn/block

commenter, post Community Standards reminder

What would you do?

“To whom should we address competency issues involved in group work? I am (again) required to work with a group of students for a large portion of my grade and the work they produce is elementary. I work very hard for my grades and am continually paired with people who can barely read or chose to ignore instructions from the professor.”

What would you do?

Uncouth humor is a challenge:

•“If someone said that to my face, I’d punch him in the neck.”

•“He’s acting like a liberal terrorist.”

Try to make instances like this teaching moments about social media etiquette.

What would you do?

What would you do?

Flame wars•While students connecting to one another and to us is great, there also needs to be room for disagreement.•Important to monitor closely, but cut in to “douse the heat” with public reminders of Community Standards, clarifications on inaccuracies, and private warnings.

Managing Negative Comments

• Triage

• When do you keep or delete a post?

• FERPA Considerations

FERPA

• Students will decide to self-disclose some information about course enrollment, GPA, financial obligations, and grades.– Encourage continued conversation in private

forum (we use PSU e-mail), post general public answer

– Provide public information and reminders about FERPA (blog post, university policy link)

– If it meets Community Standards, keep post

FERPA

• Hide a post and reply privately if a lot of information is shared.– I had a lot of health challenges this semester and was

forced to withdraw from several classes which placed me as a below half-time student. Only one of my professors granted deferment. At all times during this I stayed in contact with my professors and my academic adviser and provided a doctor’s note. As a result, I have lost part of my Pell Grant and I currently owe $1749. Can I appeal this and register next semester?

FERPA

• Remove any post that names other students, grades, or other confidential information.– “I’m getting an A+ in the course, but my group

member Bobby is getting a C. I’m tired of doing all the work for him!”

• When in doubt, take it out.

Touchy Subjects

• Class-related plagiarism and academic integrity

• Students selling textbooks

• Repeated posts on the same topic

• Not hearing from instructor or staff member about an issue

• “Wish list” complaints (more seats, different course offerings)

Thank You!

Credit: cybergedeon, Open Clip Art Library

Matthew Rupert

mcr9@psu.edu

Twitter: @matt_rupert

Facebook:PSUWC.Matt

814-863-2551