Last March, we had the spring board meeting of the General Assembly Mission Council of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. (The Kronicler is vice-chair of this body. During the plenary, there are forty members, about fifteen corresponding members, and a few dozen staff, press, and other observers … easily more than 100 people in the room.) Twitter entered the mix for the first time at this meeting.
At least five board members were tweeting during plenary, including yours truly (though I mostly read tweets without sending much) and our esteemed moderator (Twitter extraordinaire) Bruce Reyes-Chow. A few staff people were in the mix and others weren't at the meeting. Tweets appeared every few minutes … not every few seconds.
At one point, I chaired a portion of the meeting that went into closed session. At the beginning of that time, I reminded folks that what was being discussed was confidential and that they should not cellphone, text, email, tweet, or carrier pigeon the contents of this meeting to others outside it. Whether everyone agreed they needed to cease communications or tweeting altogether, I most appreciated the need to be confidential.
I know some members of the GAMC object to the idea of Tweeting at all during a GAMC meeting. The feeling is that people, especially board members, should be giving their undivided attention to the proceedings. Yet others perceive this as an opportunity for outsiders to the meeting to participate in the event … it informs and includes others in the Church's work. I've heard other reasons, pro and con.
So here is my question to you: Should people, especially board members, tweet during the meeting of a deliberative body? Why or why not?
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