{"id":70352,"date":"2014-01-27T09:35:42","date_gmt":"2014-01-27T09:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/insight\/cofe-social-media-commandments\/"},"modified":"2014-01-27T09:35:42","modified_gmt":"2014-01-27T09:35:42","slug":"cofe-social-media-commandments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/cofe-social-media-commandments\/","title":{"rendered":"Thou shalt not troll: the C of E’s edicts for Christians on social media"},"content":{"rendered":"

It feels almost as though a week is not allowed to go by without someone saying something inappropriate, rude or abusive online \u2013 intentional or not \u2013 and making the news for doing so. When personal emotions are running high, it\u2019s all too easy to vent them on Facebook or Twitter without thinking clearly about the consequences first.
\nFor those who use their social media accounts \u2018religiously\u2019 and want to avoid slipping up, there are some new guidelines: The Church of England has recently issued a press release with nine new commandments worded for the age of social.
\nThe list isn\u2019t in the traditional style of \u2018thou shalt not do this or that\u2019. Instead, it contains more general advice in modern language on simply being courteous, nice and considerate when posting or commenting. By asking the question \u201cWould God like this?\u201d before hitting \u2018send\u2019, the CofE suggests you can self-censor your posts to be more in line with the Church\u2019s ideals. The idea is that Christians with an active social media presence can become stronger and more effective \u2018ambassadors\u2019 for the Church and their religion online.
\nThe full list is as follows:
\n1. Don\u2019t rush in
\n2. Remember updates are transient yet permanent
\n3. You\u2019re an ambassador for the church
\n4. Don\u2019t hide behind anonymity
\n5. Think about the blurring of public\/private life boundaries
\n6. Safeguarding: communicating directly online is like meeting someone in private
\n7. Stay within the legal framework
\n8. Respect confidentiality
\n9. Be mindful of your own security
\nFollowers of the Church in real life and on Twitter (@c_of_e<\/a>) may already be taking the commandments to heart, but will others flock to join in?
\nThe style of the commandments and the relative lack of \u2018do\u2019 and \u2018do not\u2019 in the wording is significant in terms of the potential impact that this list might have on a larger audience. It\u2019s been noted that the broader language means that, by slightly adapting commandment three, these could just as easily apply to other religions, atheists, agnostics and even businesses.
\nWe suspect that\u2019s exactly the point \u2013 leaving the suggestions deliberately vague and separable from any particular faith could see them adopted more widely as news of the new commandments spreads online. That can only be a good thing and promote better, nicer conversations, and it might well prevent so many social media meltdowns from hitting the headlines in future.
\nAre you planning to adopt any of the new social media commandments, or do you have some of your own? Leave us a comment or tweet @strattoncraig<\/a> and let us know what you think.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It feels almost as though a week is not allowed to go by without someone saying something inappropriate, rude or abusive online \u2013 intentional or not \u2013 and making the news for doing so. When personal emotions are running high, it\u2019s all too easy to vent them on Facebook or Twitter without thinking clearly about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[448,312],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-digital-copywriting-us","category-social-media-copywriting-us"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThou shalt not troll: the C of E's edicts for Christians on social media - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/cofe-social-media-commandments\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thou shalt not troll: the C of E's edicts for Christians on social media - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It feels almost as though a week is not allowed to go by without someone saying something inappropriate, rude or abusive online \u2013 intentional or not \u2013 and making the news for doing so. 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