Viber Group Use Guideline

It is imperative for the efficient operation of our club to have quick and reliable methods of communication. In recent years, exchanges of messages among members and with the secretariat have increasingly been made through the Viber mobile app. Accompanying this development have been requests by members to reorganize existing Viber groups and to formulate guidelines for each. To avoid further confusion, please be advised accordingly:

RCM Official Viber Groups

1. Attendance. This is strictly to confirm or decline attendance to luncheon meetings and other RCM events. This is created ONLY to get an advanced headcount, to more or less determine the minimum reservation at the venue, so that shortage of tables and food would be avoided. NO other matters to be posted.

2. Announcements. Weekly Program, including Guest of Honor and Speaker, club projects, district events, Rotary International events, website developments, etc.

3. Well Wishes & General Info. Birthdays, CLEAN Jokes, inspirational messages, get well soon, non-political news, general info like weather warnings, etc.

4. Sympathies. Messages of condolences.

For All Groups

1. All members are encouraged to join the official RCM Viber groups as this is the fastest means now to post and exchange club announcements and messages. New members will be automatically added by the Secretariat to these groups. If you do not like to have frequent notifications, you may set that group to mute and just check messages when you want to.

2. If you want to clear your phone memory of all or multiple Viber messages, the only way right now is to leave the group temporarily. You may notify the chat admins to add you back.

3. NO posts that may be interpreted as offensive to the personality or the political or religious views of other members.

4. You may NOT add non-RCM members.

5. Your Viber profile should state your full name. Nickname together with last name will do, as long as it is familiar to RCM members. No unfamiliar aliases please. Chat admins should not add RCM members who have no or unfamiliar Viber names, even though they know the number belongs to an RCM member.

6. Viber accounts that have been hacked or deemed hacked will be removed immediately by the chat admins. The persons affected will be contacted via other means by the admin. Only after the removed member's account security issues have been resolved will he be allowed back to the group.

7. Disagreements that arose among the group members should be resolved privately, not in the Viber group.

8. Please be a responsible group message user. Remember that everybody in the group receives each of your messages. Do not clog the chat with unnecessary posts. Go through first your unread messages before posting, to check if your query or subject of interest has been previously discussed already.

9. Viber messages deemed inappropriate may be deleted by the admins.

10. Exchange of ideas with regard to club matters is welcome in RCM Viber groups. Please bear in mind though that no club decision may be made through Viber messages. The RCM constitution states that the Board of Directors is the governing body of the club. Therefore, club decisions will only be made through proper board resolutions. If an RCMer uses Viber to bring up an item for board decision, he should make sure that this is properly acknowledged by any director, executive officer or the secretariat so that it would be included in the agenda of the next board meeting.

Viber Groups of Committees

The head or the secretariat of club committees may create a Viber group if they deem it necessary. Examples: RCManila Foundation, Centennial Committee, etc. If a committee member would like to unsubscribe from a particular committee Viber group, he may do so and just request to be informed via text or email.

Viber vs Email

Although the Viber app is a quick means of communication, it does have its limitations. One is that it is not easily recorded as an official communication of the club. For this reason, official club announcements and records will still be sent primarily by email. The same may be sent via Viber but only as an advanced copy. Besides, not all RCM members are currently subscribed to Viber.

Final Note

We do not need to officially create a Viber group that is free for all messages like “green” jokes. Members can create them on their own and only involve those whose sensibilities will not be offended. Anyway, “Fun Group”, which is like that, already exists. If you want to be part of that group, you may ask any of the chat admins Albert Alday, Joe Assad or Mon Ko.