Published February 11th, 2019. Updated January 29th, 2021.

Social media can be a powerful, positive tool for the building of community among Friends, seekers and friends of Friends.  Therefore, Friends General Conference (FGC) has created social media guidelines that seek to create a beneficial experience for as many participants as possible on FGC’s social media platforms. The content on our social media accounts is intended for people of all ages, and we hope these guidelines empower community members like you to create this welcoming space with us.

FGC encourages the sharing of news, events, comments, questions and feedback from online community participants on FGC’s social media sites to broadly enrich our shared spiritual community. Currently, FGC shares content and seeks to collaborate with users to create community through FGC accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. 

On FGC’s social media sites:

  • DO engage with the community, share/retweet and comment on posts, and tag your F/friends!
  • DO ask questions and give answers to other participants—while being respectful of our differing experiences and opinions.
  • DO stay on topic: For example, if the discussion is about worship, then talk about worship.
  • DO lift one another up––we encourage you to answer that of God/Spirit in one another!

Further, before posting commentary or questions in response to social media postings or other Friends comments on FGC’s sites, we ask you to consider the following queries:

1) Is my comment truthful?

2) Is my comment beneficial to this discussion thread and the community?

3) Should I comment if the extent of my lived experience or knowledge around what I’m about to discuss is limited, or would our online community be better served by commentary from someone who has the lived experience? If the latter, would the community be well served if I asked for others to share their experience around this issue?

4) If I am holding a concern that I wish to lift up, will my comment offer constructive criticism with a possible solution?

5) If I wish to share a comment about a particular person or organization, do my words come from a place of love? If it is a difficult or private issue, should I communicate directly via phone, email or instant messenger with this person/organization about this issue prior to (or instead of) posting online?

As mentioned earlier, we encourage your participation on FGC social media sites so that your life and the lives of others will be enhanced.  With this in mind, FGC takes seriously our responsibility to co-create a healthy online community for all Friends and friends of Friends. Therefore, FGC will remove posts and commentary on Facebook and report tweets that contain:  

  • Spam  
  • Crude or explicit language
  • Hate speech
  • Content that is harassing, discriminatory, or triggering (including descriptions, images, or videos of explicit and gratuitous violence)
  • Information that is not compatible with the Quaker testimony of integrity (such as news stories with sources that cannot be verified)
  • Personally identifiable information for another person (including name, address, phone number, or email)
  • Comments that harass or attempt to direct harm at a particular individual, organization, or group

Friends who are interested in sharing links to local events or fundraisers are encouraged to share them with their Yearly Meeting’s social media pages. Events that are open to the wider Quaker community in Canada and the United States, like the FGC Gathering or remote events, are strongly encouraged for submission. We will publicize events on our Facebook page and through our Twitter account if they are organized by FGC, feature an FGC staff member in a facilitator role, or include an author whose book is being published by QuakerPress of FGC. We prioritize fundraising that directly support FGC programs, and we are unable to promote fundraising that is not organized and/or approved by FGC. Facebook posts containing links to events and fundraisers that are posted without permission from FGC’s Communications team will be considered spam and removed. Contact ecommunications@fgcquaker.org for more information.

As time allows, FGC will gladly post and tweet links to job opportunities for FGC-affiliated Yearly Meetings as well as for national Quaker partner organizations. International Quaker organizations and Yearly Meetings are encouraged to share their job opportunities as a visitor post on our Facebook page. 

Participants who share commentary that conflicts with some or all of these guidelines despite written warnings from FGC will be banned or blocked from all of FGC’s social media platforms. To help promote a social media experience that is beneficial for all users, commentary that violates a platform’s user agreement will be reported to the respective platform.

Users who wish to appeal a ban on Facebook or Instagram, or a block on Twitter, may submit their request via email at ecommunications@fgcquaker.org. Depending on the nature of the content that resulted in the ban, FGC may request a public apology related to the offending content on the social media platform it was shared on before the block or ban can be reversed. FGC reserves the right to not reinstate access at our discretion.

By using FGC social media platforms, you are agreeing to these community guidelines.

Thank you for your efforts to co-create with FGC an online experience that is meaningful for you and everyone that uses FGC’s social media sites.

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