September 2019 - Parks & Recreation - 24

MEMBER TO MEMBER
How a Bad Social Media
Experience Can Be Good
By Thomas Venniro

e are always being watched. "
This concept is tough to conceive, but the truth of
the matter is: As individuals and institutions, we are
always being watched. Social media and other social
platforms have magnified this concept to an entirely different level. Traditionally, from an institutional perspective, we have " watched " our patrons
by means of individual program/event/facility evaluation, general surveys
and surveillance videos, to name a few. We then take our findings, evaluate
them and act accordingly. In this form of surveillance, the institution holds
all the data or information and may choose what to share, if it chooses to
share anything at all.
Thanks to modern technology,
such as smart devices, paired with
social media and other platforms,
such as Yelp or Google, individuals are also able to regularly and

publicly survey institutions. This
can be a wonderful tool for park
and recreation agencies, especially when agencies receive positive
feedback and praise. After all, our
goals and missions are to provide
our constituents with positive and
enjoyable leisure-time experiences.
But what happens when we receive negative feedback? It's possible it has happened to many of
us, and generally, it seems to come
out of nowhere. I am not talking
about the email that comes from
an individual to one or several individuals in an organization, but
about the Facebook comment (or
review) that is posted for the entire world to see. How are we to
manage, react to or respond in
these situations? This is where the
following story begins and can,
perhaps, be viewed as a caution-

ary tale for navigating this era of
person-to-institution surveillance.
A Social Media Lesson
Not too long ago, the team at the
Hilton-Parma Parks & Recreation
in Hilton, New York, decided to
conduct a simple, lighthearted contest on Facebook. We asked people
to help us choose our next Parks
& Recreation Experience Guide cover photo by " liking " their favorite
mocked-up cover. In our community, the cover of our brochure regularly features professionally taken
photos of participants at our programs and events. When someone
finds out they have made the cover,
the excitement and aftermath are
always special. In the Facebook
post, we included four possible
cover photos based on image quality and fit within the layout. Simple, innocent and fun, right? What
could possibly go wrong?
Within an hour of posting the
contest, we received our first comment. We expected it to say something like, " How fun " or " (insert
tagged name) you made the Hilton-Parma Parks & Recreation cover photo contest! " Instead, it said:
" How about some diversity?? Why
so white (teardrop Emoji)? "
Our world stopped for a few anx-

We've adopted the 24-hour rule regarding
disgruntled or controversial correspondence,
so as not to let emotion or initial feelings
cloud our judgment.
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Parks & Recreation

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September 2019 - Parks & Recreation

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