The ethics of administering neighbourhood social media pages
Social media platforms, particularly Facebook, facilitate neighbourhood networking through pages and groups created for discussion about local issues. Around Australia, for example, many suburbs, towns and remote communities have Facebook pages and groups dedicated to neighbourhood networking. Without exception, all of these have been created by people who've taken the initiative to start these groups where (perhaps) none existed before, and continue to be administered by these people and others who've volunteered to taken on the mantle of triaging requests to join the group and moderating discussions among members. Effectively, these volunteers, who are performing a community service without receiving any remuneration for their work, become the de facto regulators of neighbourhood public sphere interaction. Because social media can now be the only space where communities exchange information about local needs, issues, events and happenings (from the mundane to the ext...