[Lnc-business] cosponsors requested to have staff manage social media

Fri May 26 02:23:45 EDT 2017

For that to work, they would need to hire a social media professional to do
it, that is the only way it works.  This is unworkable for any vibrant or
effective social media scheme.

We lose spontaneity and we lose creativity.  Already the original material
is drying up in what is perceived as a top-down control seizure by some.

Further, this tight control we believe we will somehow secure is illusory
when there are hundreds of affiliates who will not be doing such, and as a
reaction will likely push the envelope.  That is just how Libertarians tend
to roll.  Whenever I hear about such tight control, I am reminded of Leia -
"The more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip through your
fingers."

Our social media page had tremendous reach because it was a bit risky.
Libertarianism is not safe.  It is cutting edge and risky with all the
rough edges that implies.  When "problem" posts are pointed to, it still
amazes me that in this organic system that there have been so few.

Playing it safe is not going to move the needle.

And reading through here, without a specific answer, I guess I have to
guess what this new issue is with alleged conflict of interest
electioneering, and that would be Arvin's signed posts.  No others are
signed - if there is something else, I would love to be enlightened.

I do not believe that Arvin's signed posts are promoting an internal party
candidate - I honestly think that is a real stretch for several reasons....
one, it is my understanding that the Chair has delegated this permission to
speak on the page in his role - and it is the Chair's prerogative to do so;
two, Arvin has not even announced he is re-running and certainly being VC
enables him to speak as the "second" all the time-- it is part of his
duties as approved by the Chair; three- if that is promoting an internal
party candidate, I find it far more problematic for an internal party
candidate other than the chair to be given main stage time for any reason,
including presenting committee proposals - which is outside the expected
role such as giving position reports - yet we do allow that and is often
(but not always) the case.  I think that is far beyond any impression that
a social media post would do.

And is that possibility truly not open to any LNC member or LNC candidate?
I would love to see more posts like that similar to Starchild's proposal of
opening up the blog more.  Certainly Larry Sharpe - who is likely to be
either an internal party candidate or a contender for our nomination also
gets a good deal of attention through his wonderful videos - how far do we
take this?

These are pertinent questions not only for this motion, but also for the
review committee which I am sure will take note of them, or as was
discussed earlier on FB- they intend upon interviewing current volunteers
or other people with knowledge, I can bring up at that time.  I hope Matt
Hasty is on the docket for an interview, but I am sure he is.

-Caryn Ann

On Fri, May 26, 2017 at 12:05 AM, Trent Somes <tsomes3 at gmail.com> wrote:

> How will this work for Snapchat? What about Instagram and Facebook Live?
> How can volunteers submit tweets for approval in a world where a tweet has
> to be sent out within minutes of an event in order to be effective?
>
> On Thu, May 25, 2017 at 11:45 PM Caryn Ann Harlos <
> carynannharlos at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Sam said supervising staff not volunteers.  Not that I agree with the
>> motion but if I had to pick out of something I disagree with, who I agree
>> with more, it would be Sam's point.
>>
>> I will stay say that the content will become bland and we will not have
>> vibrant page we have no.  Volunteers are not going to be as passionate and
>> creative as they are now with the more bottom-up strategy.  Eventually it
>> will go to a marketer, and the bulk of vibrant alive content will be at the
>> affiliate level as we suck the life out of the page.  I have said that at
>> the meeting, and it remains my position.
>>
>> But to speak to Daniel's point on his not supporting this even though it
>> was his original motion, this failed at the meeting.  We decided something
>> different.  Someone having voter's remorse for having misjudged the room is
>> not grounds to backtrack a decision made.  Let the committee do its work.
>>
>> -Caryn Ann
>>
>> On Thu, May 25, 2017 at 9:38 PM, Joshua Katz <planning4liberty at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> I disagree.  Not enough to say I wouldn't still consponsor if it were
>>> there, but I disagree.  My largest objection is a simple
>>> governance/management divide - as discussing in Carver's, tasks shouldn't
>>> be delegated to staff and then still performed by the board.  Board
>>> members, in my view, should be governing the party, writing the budget, and
>>> setting strategy, not supervising volunteers.
>>>
>>> Joshua A. Katz
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, May 25, 2017 at 10:29 PM, goldsteinatlarge <
>>> goldsteinatlarge at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> My preference would be for members of our governing board have
>>>> supervision responsibility rather than just employees.  The most recent
>>>> dust up was not on lp social media.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Sam
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S®6 active, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone
>>>>
>>>> -------- Original message --------
>>>> From: Alicia Mattson <agmattson at gmail.com>
>>>> Date: 5/25/17 8:34 PM (GMT-05:00)
>>>> To: lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>>> Subject: Re: [Lnc-business] cosponsors requested to have staff manage
>>>> social media
>>>>
>>>> Sam, do you think that's a good idea in light of the policy requiring
>>>> fairness for candidates for internal party office?  Our most recent uproar
>>>> came from a post by an LNC member.
>>>>
>>>> -Alicia
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, May 25, 2017 at 6:00 AM, Sam Goldstein <
>>>> goldsteinatlarge at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Alicia,
>>>>>
>>>>> Would you consider adding "members and alternates"  to your motion
>>>>> following "LNC"?  If so I will
>>>>> co-sponsor.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Sam Goldstein
>>>>> Libertarian National Committee
>>>>> Member at Large
>>>>> 8925 N Meridian St, Ste 101
>>>>> Indianapolis IN 46260
>>>>> 317-850-0726 <(317)%20850-0726> Phone
>>>>> 317-582-1773 <(317)%20582-1773> Fax
>>>>>
>>>>> On Thu, May 25, 2017 at 8:38 AM, Alicia Mattson <agmattson at gmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm asking for co-sponsors for a motion to insert a new Policy Manual
>>>>>> Section 2.06.5 Social Media to read as follows:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Only LNC employees and contractors shall serve as administrators of,
>>>>>> serve as moderators of, or post content to, the Party’s social media
>>>>>> accounts. Volunteer content creators may submit content for approval.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> At the LNC meeting there was majority support for the motion to both
>>>>>> do the above and also to create a committee to review our social media
>>>>>> processes.  I could have supported it, but if we know what we need to do to
>>>>>> fix the problem, why spend the time to have a committee study it first?
>>>>>> Just fix it.  I thought there was majority support for the other motion to
>>>>>> simply turn control of our social media back over to staff.  Turns out that
>>>>>> I was mistaken, and one person was not willing to turn control back over to
>>>>>> staff without the creation of the committee, so then the other motion
>>>>>> failed.  Because I misread the room, an option that actually had majority
>>>>>> support didn't pass.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Now that we have separately created the committee, I want to go back
>>>>>> and re-visit turning control back over to our staff.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Please note that the motion welcomes volunteers to submit material.
>>>>>> It does not eliminate their opportunity to contribute.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I want to add some details to the discussion we had in Pittsburgh,
>>>>>> with two Facebook PR blow-ups on our minds at the time.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Since Pittsburgh, we have had yet another PR disaster.  Granted it
>>>>>> was not on our official FB page, but on the personal page it was posted to,
>>>>>> the person's party position was touted right there in the sidebar, and we
>>>>>> took a lot of damage from it.  The Convention Oversight Committee lost two
>>>>>> very valuable volunteers over this latest disaster -- volunteers who did a
>>>>>> lot of work for us in Orlando and were again helping for New Orleans.  Gone.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> There are no group votes before volunteers post on the party's FB.
>>>>>> One person puts it into the schedule, and unless someone else sees it and
>>>>>> objects, it goes public.  We publish so much material that the APRC doesn't
>>>>>> always have time to review everything in advance.  Though the group has an
>>>>>> informal rule against people posting their own material, people sometimes
>>>>>> do it anyway.  The comments about the military could easily have been
>>>>>> posted on our page.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> There was a very recent incident in which a new volunteer was driven
>>>>>> to quit on the same day she joined for the crime of suggesting that we post
>>>>>> more positive material and less negative material.  I don't want to hear
>>>>>> that the LNC giving final control to staff is somehow disrespecting the
>>>>>> work of the volunteers, when that new volunteer's desire to contribute was
>>>>>> so summarily disrespected.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> We have some important policies that I don't believe the volunteers
>>>>>> have even been informed about, and volunteers are not really accountable
>>>>>> for following policies in the same way that our staff is.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Policy Manual Section 2.09.6:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Party resources shall not be used to provide information or services
>>>>>> for any candidate for party office unless:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>    - such information or services are available and announced on an
>>>>>>       equal basis to all Libertarians who have declared they are seeking that
>>>>>>       office, or
>>>>>>       - such information or services are generally available and
>>>>>>       announced to all party member
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Not all party members have access to post on our Facebook page.  Not
>>>>>> all candidates for internal party office are offered the chance to post on
>>>>>> our Facebook page.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I think some of our Facebook posts cross the line into personal
>>>>>> promotion of people who intend to run for internal party office at the next
>>>>>> convention.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> There was a time in the past when staff established criteria to try
>>>>>> to manage application of this policy, with criteria for what constituted
>>>>>> "news" or "earned media" that involved a candidate, etc.  I don't believe
>>>>>> there is any such attention to his policy right now for our social media.
>>>>>> Some candidates have already declared.  The closer we get to a national
>>>>>> convention, the more these posts will be perceived as self-promotion that
>>>>>> unfairly isn't available to their opponents.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So I'm asking for co-sponsors for this motion, to return final
>>>>>> decision power to our staff, who are expected to know and follow our
>>>>>> policies, and who are accountable to the LNC.  The volunteer groups can
>>>>>> continue to generate material just like they do now, but staff would
>>>>>> schedule the actual posts.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If the Social Media Process Review Committee comes back to us with
>>>>>> suggestions for reasonable ways to manage this later, we can amend this
>>>>>> policy.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -Alicia
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> Lnc-business mailing list
>>>>>> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>>>>> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Lnc-business mailing list
>>>>> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>>>> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Lnc-business mailing list
>>>> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>>> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> *In Liberty,*
>> *Caryn Ann Harlos*
>> Region 1 Representative, Libertarian National Committee (Alaska,
>> Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Washington) - Caryn.Ann.
>> Harlos at LP.org <Caryn.Ann.Harlos at LP.org>
>> Communications Director, Libertarian Party of Colorado
>> <http://www.lpcolorado.org>
>> Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus
>> <http://www.lpradicalcaucus.org>
>> Chair, LP Historical Preservation Committee
>>
>> A haiku to the Statement of Principles:
>> *We defend your rights*
>> *And oppose the use of force*
>> *Taxation is theft*
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Lnc-business mailing list
>> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>
> --
> *Trent Somes, III*
> Region 5 Alternate, Libertarian National Committee
> Founder, Westmoreland County Libertarians <http://fb.com/wclibertarians>
> National Chair, Libertarian Youth Caucus <http://fb.com/LYCaucus>
> Facebook <http://fb.com/trentsomes/> Twitter
> <http://twitter.com/TrentSomes/> Instagram
> <http://instagram.com/trentsomes/> Address
> <https://goo.gl/maps/gWqJw21CJZs>
> Cell: (412) 496 - 8552 <(412)%20496-8552> Home: (412) 646 - 1872
> <(412)%20646-1872>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
>

-- 
*In Liberty,*
*Caryn Ann Harlos*
Region 1 Representative, Libertarian National Committee (Alaska, Arizona,
Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Washington) - Caryn.Ann.
Harlos at LP.org <Caryn.Ann.Harlos at LP.org>
Communications Director, Libertarian Party of Colorado
<http://www.lpcolorado.org>
Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus
<http://www.lpradicalcaucus.org>
Chair, LP Historical Preservation Committee

A haiku to the Statement of Principles:
*We defend your rights*
*And oppose the use of force*
*Taxation is theft*
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