Social Media / School Websites Presentation

Ward 13 Meeting

December 16, 2013

Overview

Social Media1. Strategy2. Twitter3. Trolls4. School Websites &

Social Media5. Facebook6. Instagram

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Overview

School Websites1. Why do I need a school

website?2. What makes a good website3. Benefits of a well-maintained

website4. Websites vs. domains5. Website recommendations6. Content Management System7. Access and recommendations

(Policy review)8. School Council options

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Social Media Strategy

• This fall we launched a new social media strategy that focuses on maximizing TDSB’s social media presence.

• All social media platforms have a lighter and engaging tone.

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TDSB Social Media

PromoteInformEngageSupport

5TDSB and Twitter

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We already have a community of over 450 tweeters in the TDSB

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Why Use Twitter?

• Twitter tells the stories of your school and students in real-time

• Gets information out quickly, easily, and officially

• Excellent tool for engaging community (other schools, parents, students, community partners)

• Can be used to promote and drive traffic to school website

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Speak for yourselfUnofficial and ‘mean’ Twitter accounts are popping up frequently for our high schools.

If a search is done for your school name on Twitter, every account with your name reflected will show. This includes parody and unofficial accounts. Tell the world you are the official account.

Without your own official account, Twitter will not recognize reports of copy-cats.

EmeryProbz

EmeryProbz tells the world about student problems at Emery CI.

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Ideas for tweeting

- What students are learning and doing- Sports events- School announcements, meetings, trips, etc.- Reminders- Student art- Teacher displays- Funny moments- Proud moments- Quiet moments- Lost & Found (really)

Be creative and share the life of your school

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Twitter for Elementary Schools

Summit Heights PS

Twitter is used to share the day-to-day work and life in an elementary school

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Twitter for Secondary

• Twitter is the #1 social media channel for teens

• Teens are already on Twitter, engage them there

• Secondary schools are big, so consider multiple Twitter accounts outside main school account

• Phys Ed• Announcements• Music/Arts• Sports• Departments

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Twitter for Secondary Schools

Northern Secondary

Northern has several accounts. This is a one-way account for tweeting student announcements.

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Twitter for School Councils Bowmore School Council

This account keeps parents informed of school annoucements and happenings

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Don’t feed the trolls

Many reasons why people may troll. You need to decide how to handle it.

Your options are:- Ignore- Block- Engage privately- Call them out- Investigate and

report (students)

Always be respectful!

What is a troll?

In Internet slang, a troll is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online either accidentally or with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion. (Wikipedia)

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Addressing trolling directly and respectfully

Don’t feed the trolls

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School Websites + Social MediaSchool websites are the anchor of a school’s online image/brand.

Social media complements a school website. It does not replace it.

Twitter widget

19Facebook

20Instagram

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Remember

• Any photos of children posted to social media MUST have a media release. If you’re not sure, you can tweet photos without faces

• Adding images to your tweets increases engagement by 2x

• Be sensitive and aware of the material you’re posting

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School Websites

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• Keep the parent community informed quickly and easily

• Allow ‘self-service’ for getting information anytime, anywhere

• Give parents a single-source to find information

• Cut printing costs, lost papers, easier to update, less chance for ‘permanent’ errors

Why do I need a school website?

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• One of the top areas for TDSB website (Find Your School) – some schools get ~3,000 visits per month

• Parent demographics – new parents in the system are used to finding information online, and expect info online

Traffic to school websites

Visits Pageviews

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• Updates on the landing page – key information for parents

• Social media options (Twitter, Facebook, Google Calendar, etc) – embedded or linked from the website

• Photos of past events

• Archives of newsletters, yearbooks, event photos

What makes a good school website?

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Examples

Upcoming dates/events

Clear navigation

Link to social media

Photos/gallery

Clean and easy to read

Contact information

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• Improved parent engagement – they’re informed!

• Reduce cost/environmental impact of printing communications

• Reduce staff time in answering calls/emails from parents

Benefits of a good school website?

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Domains vs. Websites

Domain: www.YourName.???

Used to provide a ‘friendly’ address to use in communications

Is purchased and owned by someone

Can be transferred or pointed to other locations

Needs to be renewed

Default: schools.tdsb.on.ca/schoolname

Made up of code that displays content and images via a browser

Can use different technologies

Is ‘located’ on a web server

Can be made up of a combination of content sources (i.e. like lego)

Can be ‘static’ or ‘dynamic’ in nature

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• Should be registered and owned by the TDSB for the school’s official site

• School Principal can initiate the purchase with TDSB’s IT department

• Domains will be auto-renewed, and can be pointed internally (TDSB’s servers) or externally (ISP)

Domain Recommendations

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• TDSB offers an in-house Content Management System to simplify website creation/maintenance (AODA compliant)

• We provide training and support to TDSB staff

• School Principal/VP has full access to create pages/content

• Websites can ‘embed’ content from other sites (Google Calendars, Twitter feeds, YouTube videos)

• Be careful of copyright issues

Website Recommendations

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School Website Samples

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• Manual HTML pages – TDSB can host manual HTML sites with FTP access to upload files

• External hosting – sites can be hosted at an ISP*

* Not recommended, as when a site is externally hosted, there is nothing we can do to help if something goes wrong

Other Website Options

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• Edit your website similar to editing a Word document

• Ability to upload images and documents

• Keeps old versions in case you make a mistake

• Several page layouts to choose from

Content Management System

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Access and Recommendations

• School Principal and VP have access by default, and they can add other school staff

• Ability to access and edit from home

• Non-TDSB staff access is technically possible but not recommended

• PR581 section 4.8 c: “Final approval and responsibility for content rests with the principal”

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• A page on the school’s official website – content provided to the school admin for review/posting

• Social media feed embedded on theschool website

• Link to external site from the school website, maintained by the school council

Rules: TDSB’s Online Code of Conduct

School Council Options

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Questions?