Property manager monitoring HOA membership communication forum?

Teresa,

IMO, the Board (and, by extension) PM, should not be posting nor sponsoring social media networks.

Social media for HOAs sounds innocuous at first, but turns into a mess. Best to just stay out of it.

The Board should have a website that allows communications to HOA members, and members should be welcome at Board meetings, but constant back and forth is usually a bad, very bad, idea.

I am a property manager for a master planned community who reads and sometimes posts to the community facebook page. My experience is that most managers don't involve themselves on NextDoor, email lists, or other resident social media because it's usually a cesspool of negativity and complaining, and it's time consuming to keep up with. In my case, I chose to join the page because realistically, that is where the residents ARE and I need to be able to communicate with them. (Only a third of the residents have signed up for my email newsletter).

I guess my feeling is - what are residents saying on the email list that they don't want to say in front of the manager? If they have issues with the upkeep of the property, the actions of the board, or even the performance of the manager - those are things the manager should know. Are you worried about retaliation?

Residents would post things on facebook like "I wish the pool hours were longer" or "We should have more trash cans in the park" but no one ever thought to email me or speak up at a board meeting. I also found that lots of misinformation was posted on the page: rumors, inaccurate interpretations of what was said at the annual meeting, incorrect answers to questions about the CCRs.

I joined the page so I could see what owners were concerned about, answer questions accurately, and debunk rumors. I have noticed that since I joined, there are less posts about how much the HOA sucks and they hate it, or complaints about neighbors (complete with pictures of their yards!) and honestly I'm fine with that. If people are embarrassed to post something maybe it's a clue that they shouldn't be posting it. There are still some complaints about me posted on the page (usually a day or two after I've sent out violation letters) but early in my career and I had a homeowner stick a gun in my face and threaten to kill me if I ever wrote him another violation, so mere insults don't even register with me anymore.

You could always move to NextDoor or a closed facebook group if you feel you need a private outlet.

I agree.