New Facebook policy forces MCK off social network

09/13/2011

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) announced today that it has been forced to discontinue posting information on the Facebook social network system.

On 7, Seskehkó:wa/September, Facebook changed its privacy policy and removed a key feature that MCK Communications used for moderating information on their profile.

Until today, MCK Communications used Facebook as a bulletin board where only administrators could post information. Prior to changes in the Facebook policy, the site had allowed the MCK to promote its services and information on the popular site without the cost of hiring additional staff to moderate comments all day, especially after hours.

Please note that MCK Communications has only limited access to Facebook and is not permitted to post from the workplace, in accordance with the MCK’s internal information systems security policies. These policies are in place to prevent possible network threats (‘viruses’) from infecting the MCK network, which are often found online. An automated system had been used to post information through e-mail and third-party services, which only allowed MCK Communications to monitor sent items without the ability to respond to comments. This no longer applies.

Given the new Facebook policy, it is simply no longer feasible for the MCK to be an official user of the popular social site. However, the MCK remains committed to giving community members every opportunity to express their opinions and welcomes e-mails at communications@mck.ca.

Should Facebook return to its previous policy or the MCK be in need of hiring a person to work from home to answer Facebook comments and questions, the MCK will gladly resume using the site.