The following is posted for the user's information. No endorsement is given nor implied.
What Is It?
Facebook is a social networking site used by individuals, churches, denominational leadership, corporations, non-profits, and governments.
What is a social networking site?
From PC Magazine: A Web site that provides a virtual community for people to share their daily activities with family and friends, or to share their interest in a particular topic, or to increase their circle of acquaintances. There are dating sites, friendship sites, sites with a business purpose and hybrids that offer a combination of these. Facebook is the leading personal site, and LinkedIn is the leading business site. Globally, hundreds of millions of people have joined one or more social sites.
How to use it:
View this primer introducing Facebook.
Go to the home page and click on "Create Account"
Start with their privacy statements. This will inform you of what is allowed and what is not. It will also inform you of what is done with the messages ("tweets") once you have published/uploaded them.
What do you do when Facebook changes its privacy agreement or processes of securing or revealing posted material leaving you vulnerable? (It has done so several times.)
What to look out for:
Who owns the postings once they are posted?
How can you set the privacy settings to guard against those who would intentionally post unflattering words and/or pictures and friends who have no discernment in what they post related to you?
Who is responsible/culpable if it is determined that the posting contains (churches and organizations may be held so by the actions of their members with or without official sponsorship):
words that are determined to be slanderous or libelous - or just bad taste
How to use this social media constructively:
Write and adopt as a church a social media policy that guides the use of the tools (including Facebook). See the one the GRR Board of Ministries has put into effect.
Practice and enforce the social media policy guidelines that the church adopts.
Training in technical and privacy issues
Mentoring of those involved in growing their wisdom of discernment.
Accountability processes that include both formative and summative evaluations.