The Heresy of Quantity

My friend Tripp doesn't read my blog. No really. He told me so.

Not Tripp Hudgins

I resonate with Tripp's reflection. I do a lot of reading. A lot. But I miss out on way more than I read. It often takes someone sending their article directly to me (as Tripp did) to make sure that I don't miss things.

In fact, something Tripp wrote a while back caught my eye. He wrote about paying attention to the quality of the information we consume each day. It was the kick in the pants that I needed.

There is a lot of information thrown at us each day. Television. Radio. Social media news feeds. Magazines. Newspapers. Information. Enough information to make your head explode.

MORE MORE MORE

That's our mantra. Supersize my information! In the world of social media this usually means growing our number of conversation partners - more facebook friends, more people to follow on twitter. Quantity, quantity, quantity.

Following Tripp's kick in the pants, I realized I couldn't keep up with my twitter feed - and even more than that - I didn't want to. There was so much junk.

I was overwhelmed by the information sent my way every day. I was reading stuff that didn't feed me, and I was missing out on stuff that would feed me. I didn't read Tripp's blog (among others). Tripp didn't read mine. More is not the answer.

Better is the answer. I am becoming more intentional about filtering the information I consume - in all the ways that I consume it. More is not better. Better is better.

And the same is true in the content we produce. "Put up an article every day." That's what the gurus tell you. You NEED to publish something. More is better.

But it's not. People are not reading - I am not reading - because we are overwhelmed by quantity.

Content producers - myself and all of us who blog included: overwhelm us with quality, or else you will get lost in the white noise of quantity.

I want quality information. Quality relationships in social media. Quality, thought provoking articles in my feedreader. I am stepping out of the cult of quantity, the deification of more information.

2014. The year when BETTER beats out MORE in my life.

The Vanilla Ice Plan

There are lots of different approaches to using social media. After giving presentations to many groups about using social media for ministry, I have come up with my own strategy for getting started with social media. And it works.

Whether you are a pastor getting started on social media or a church looking to start using social media for your ministry or an author looking to get the word out about your latest offering, it will work.

The plan? Listen to Vanilla Ice.

Yup.Vanilla Ice has some wisdom to drop. Namely: Stop, Collaborate, and Listen. 


Stop
Before you jump into social media, stop. Many people rush into social media, or move from one platform to another, without thinking about it. They want to be doing the latest thing, or know that they should be on social media, but they don't think about what that means. Rushing in most often results in ineffective communications efforts, and a mess that has to be cleaned up later. So stop.

Spend some time thinking about how you are going to use social media, and how it fits into your other communication methods. Think about which platform would be most effective for you, and where your audience is. Read up on social media strategy - I recommend The Social Media Gospel and Click2Save for people who are using social media for ministry.

Collaborate
You are not the first person to consider using social media for your ministry (or business, etc). Seek out the people who are doing it well. Sit down with them. Work together with them to develop a plan to help get you on your feet. Here's a secret: most of the people who are using social media for church communications want to help others do the same. And very often, this sort of experienced help from peers in the field is free or remarkably inexpensive.

Get together (in person or virtually) with others in the same field, people who share the same sorts of goals. Share ideas about how you can creatively and effectively use digital tools. If you are using social media for ministry check out the Church Social Media (#chsocm) community, where some of the best church communicators are collaborating and sharing ideas.*

Listen
Most people get on social media and they immediately start talking. "BUY MY PRODUCT" "COME TO MY WORSHIP SERVICE" "CLICK MY LINKS."

It's about as much friendly as the guy standing on a street corner with a bullhorn. Before you start talking, listen. Learn what are the people in your community are talking about. Learn how your church/product is perceived by others. Listen for the needs, desires, and hurts among the people you are hoping to reach. Before you can talk, you need to earn respect. And the best way to do that is by being attentive and listening.

Even once you have a plan, have collaborated with others, and have listened to the community, it is important to remember to listen more than you talk.

That's it. The "Vanilla Ice Plan" for social media. Stop, collaborate, and listen. 

Well, there is one more step. Repeat. Over and over again. Continue to revisit your plan and strategy. Continue to seek out the best practitioners to learn from an collaborate with. And continue to listen to your community.

Stop, Collaborate, and Listen.

Want to connect? Find me on twitter or facebook. I'd love to hear from you. 

*The Church Social Media conversation happens on Twitter on the hashtag #chsocm, especially on Tuesday nights at 9pm Eastern during our weekly chats. You can also find us on Facebook.

You've Been Hacked!

In my Twitter direct messages today:
"You won't believe what people are saying about you <link>"
"I recommend this resource for you <link>"
"Hey, check this out <link>"

And that was just what arrived overnight. Every day, thousands of Twitter accounts are hacked. Maybe it has happened to you: all of a sudden your Twitter account starts sending out direct messages and tweets that you never intended. Nasty links. Virus-laden links. And the same thing can happen on Facebook.

If you have been hacked, there are some simple steps you can take to get your account back under control.

Step 1: Remove the authorization of applications you don't recognize. 

In the course of browsing the web, we give permission for websites and applications permission to access our social media. Too often, we don't think about it. Some of them are trustworthy. Many are not. Many others start out as trustworthy and wind up being bought or taken over by less trustworthy operators.

On Twitter:

• Click on the gear box on the home page (top right)
• Go to "Settings"
• In the left-hand column, click on "Applications"
• Go down the list, clicking on "Revoke Access" on any application you aren't 100% sure of.

On Facebook:

• Click on the gear box on the home page (top right)
• Go to "Privacy Settings"
• In the left-hand column, click on "Apps"
• Go down the list, clicking on the "x" on the right hand side to remove any application you aren't 100% sure of.

Step 2: Change your password.

In the course of being hacked, your password may have been compromised. Better safe than sorry. 

On Twitter:

• Click on the gear box on the home page (top right)
• Go to "Settings"
• In the left-hand column, click on "Password" and change your password

On Facebook:

• Click on the gear box on the home page (top right)
• Got to "Account Settings"
• On the next page (under the "General Settings" tab) click on "Password" to change your password.

And hey - while your're at it - feel free to connect with me on Twitter and Facebook! 

An Open Letter to the New Presiding Bishop

Last month, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the denomination that I belong to, elected the Rev. Elizabeth Eaton to be our new Presiding Bishop. Pastor Eaton currently serves as the bishop of the Northeast Ohio Synod, and will begin in her new role in November. 


Bishop Eaton:

Congratulations! There is much to be said about your election as the 4th Presiding Bishop of the ELCA. Your election has sparked energy across our church, and for that I am grateful.

In interviews following your election you said that congregations that aren't online are invisible; that we need to become more creative in using social media to share the faith. Such statements from our new Presiding Bishop excite me and fill me with hope for our church.

I have watched my generation move our community centers from the local park to social media. We value and deeply desire community; and often the desire for community overflows into the digital world where we talk about our lives and those things that matter most to us. I then watched as our parents and grandparents joined us at those online water-coolers. I have watched our children find new ways to use digital media to make meaning of their world.

And far too often I have watched the church -- our church -- sit on the sidelines. People are gathering at the digital community centers to talk about the world in which we live, and discuss how we make sense of the events of the news and our lives. And the voice of the church is silent.

As a pastor who teaches technology, I have learned that organizations are only effective in treading new paths if their leaders are out in front. Or -- to put it another way -- the congregations that have an effective online presence are those congregations in which the pastors are leading the way with their own digital presence.

Bishop Eaton, if the ELCA is going to have a voice in the digital conversation, we need you out front.

Show us by your example what it looks like for the church to preach hope in the digital age. Grant permission by your example for congregations and ministries to reach out to their communities using digital tools. Help us by your example to transition from being an invisible church being a church that creatively proclaims the Gospel.

It can be daunting, and there are certainly challenges to online ministry. But there are many of us (both within the ELCA and without) who have been using digital tools for ministry, and exploring what online communities mean for the church. We are eager to help. Reach out to us, talk with us, and ask for advice. We are all in this for the good of God's Kingdom.

The birth of our Lutheran tradition was made possible by a revolution in communications. Finding ourselves in the midst of another communications revolution, we are presented with a wonderful opportunity for rebirth and renewal within our church.

Thank you, Bishop, for your willingness to accept this call to serve as our Presiding Bishop. And may God bless your ministry!

6 Objections to Online Church Communications

I have been privileged to be able to help congregations and pastors work on how they communicate. In particular, I often teach about social media and online tools for ministry. And in doing this, I have heard the same objections many times.

Here are the 6 most common objections to having an online presence that I hear from leaders in congregations, and my answers to them.

1) People just use social media to avoid real relationships.
This is far and away the most common reason I hear for churches avoiding an an online presence. It also comes in the form of "I don't care what you had for lunch."

It's true. People talk about some pretty inane stuff online. Things that we may not care about, or which we might think are pointless or meaningless. But this is true of every mode of communication!  Traditional print publishing has giving us both the works of William Faulkner and trashy romance novels. The same medium gave us both the Washington Post and the National Enquirer. And in the same way, along side the trivial conversations on social media are very deep and meaningful conversations about faith, community, and the world.

And even more importantly, some of the most important conversations are built on these "trivial" conversations. At the end of the day I spend time with my spouse, and we talk about our days: what we had for lunch, who we talked with, the things we did at work. Those so-called trivial conversations are often the mortar that bind together the relationships in our lives.

2) No one in our community is online.
I don't believe you. Period.

It's true, some communities are more wired than others. Communities that are near large cities tend to have better connectivity; younger communities tend to be online more than older communities. I get that. I live in a rural area. High speed internet access was not easy to come by when I moved to this community. But mobile connections have changed everything.

As of 2012, 78.6% of the North American population is online. 50% of all Americans have a smartphone. More people in your community are online than you think. The number of older adults online (and on social media) is growing exponentially.

Even if the people currently attending your congregation are not online, the rest of the community around your congregation are. The people that you want to invite into your congregation are online.

3) Social media is just a fad.
Next year, Facebook (the current social media leader) will turn ten years old, and it continues to grow every year. The world's first website is 20 years old (and still online, an archived info page about the CERN "world wide web" project). The first BBS (bulletin board systems, an early form of online community) came into being 40 years ago!

Social media will change. New platforms will become important, and others will fade away. But people will continue to use online media to build community and communicate with one another.

4) We can't afford to be online. 
You can't afford not to be online.

The days when you could just be listed in the phone book or put an ad in the newspaper and be done with it are over. 60% of people start their searches for information online. If someone in your community is looking for a new place to worship, the chances extremely good are that their first stop will be online - either a google search, or via a friend's recommendation on social media. You want to be there.

More to the point, it is very easy to develop an online presence with little or no budget. It is free to develop a presence on all of the major social media platforms. FREE. There are many ways to build a website for free, or on a very limited budget. FREE.

5) Social media is just for ________ (large, suburban, wealthy, young, etc) congregations 
Some of the best social media ministries that I have seen come out of smaller congregations. In truth, larger institutions often have trouble with new ways of communication - it has to go through the proper committees, and be voted on ten different times, etc. Smaller institutions tend to be more nimble and able to adapt to new ways of being.

In addition, smaller congregations need online media more. The large, wealthy, etc, institutions have lots of resources for building a community and raising awareness. It is smaller communities that are often looking for the low cost alternative (see #4).

6) Online interaction will never replace face-to-face interaction.
You are absolutely correct. There is no replacement for face-to-face interaction. But nobody is suggesting that congregations and pastors abandon face-to-face interaction! It is not an either/or choice.

Your newspaper ads do not replace face-to-face interaction. Your phone line does not replace face-to-face interaction. Your print newsletter does not replace face-to-face interaction. They are all tools to help facilitate good face-to-face relationships, and help your congregation proclaim the Gospel.

And the same is true of your online ministry. It is one tool (among many) to help facilitate communications in your congregation and your work of proclaiming the Gospel and building community. It does not replace anything. It works alongside other tools.


If you are just getting started using online communications for your congregation, I highly recommend the books The Social Media Gospel and Click2Save as a starting place. 

As you get online, I would love to connect with you on Twitter. 

"Real" and "Virtual" Relationships

As someone who teaches about social media, I have heard the common refrains of worry and caution about living life online. Especially among people in ministry, there is one concern that surfaces again and again.

"You can't establish real relationships online."

Or, people will ask me, "How many people do you really know, and how many do you just know online?"

There is an assumption that online relationships are qualitatively different than in-the-flesh relationship - that relationships that are developed online are in some way deficient. We (people in ministry) are in the community-building business, so this is an important concern. 

So let me be clear: Whether online or in the flesh, relationships are relationships. Period. End of sentence. 

In our lives - in the flesh - we have acquaintances. People with whom we have countless superficial interactions, and no meaningful interaction. All of us have these casual relationships.  We all also we walk past countless people every day without really seeing them. They are there, right in front of us, in the flesh, and we barely acknowledge there existence. Not every in the flesh relationship is automatically a profoundly deep and abiding relationship. 

But the relationships that we invest in, the relationships that we spend time on and that we care about can become deep and abiding. If we care. If we put the time and the work in. 

And what is true in the flesh is also true online. It's true: many online relationships are superficial and have little affect on our lives. The same sort of casual relationship that we have in the flesh. But if we invest time and effort and care, we can develop real and meaningful relationships that include online  interaction.

My good friend and frequent collaborator Meredith Gould (whom I have never met in person) often says that who we are in "real life" is who we are online. If we have superficial relationships in which we don't invest time and attention in the flesh, we will have superficial relationships online. If we care to invest in deep and lasting friendships and community, we will find them both in the flesh and online.

Last week, an adolescent in my community was severely injured. We offered prayers in our community, and ministry in our community. I also posted about it on Facebook, inviting prayers for her healing and recovery. Messages of prayer and support and love flooded in from all over the world. From Lutherans and Catholics and Baptists and Pagans and Agnostics. And they have continued.

And not just messages typed on keyboards. Phone calls. Text messages. Real prayers, offered up by real caring and loving people. A congregation in Florida (none of whom know me in "real life") who spent the entire Sunday School hour crafting handmade cards to let this young girl know that she is not alone and she is loved. All thanks to social media. 

This is community. Real community. 

Whether online or in the flesh, relationships are relationships. Period. End of sentence.

(PS - You should all go tell the intergenerational Sunday School of Trinity Lutheran Church, Pembroke Pines how awesome they are)

The Social Media Gospel - Author Interview (& Free Book)

Do you like free things? Then have I got a treat for you! My first order of copies of Meredith Gould's new book, The Social Media Gospel, are arriving today, and I have two copies to give away. More about that in a bit.

First, a little about the author. Meredith Gould founded a weekly conversation on twitter about using social media for ministry, called Church Social Media (or #chsocm). Over the last two years, this conversation has continued and developed into a community of individuals who are passionate about the Gospel and about technology. She has also consulted with congregations, organizations, and synods/dioceses about their communications strategies.

It is my privilege to count Meredith as a friend and collaborator (co-conspirator?) and to have been able to have a hand in this project. I asked Meredith to share some of her insight about the book and about using social media in ministry on this blog. Here is my interview with Meredith:


With an ever-growing number of resources for using social media, what sets The Social Media Gospel apart?

Yes, resources for using social media are ever-growing, but because most focus on “how to” use social media, they’re quickly obsolete. Digital platform design (i.e., what the social media looks like) and functionality (i.e., how the social media works) change quickly. I wanted to write something more durable, but that wasn’t my primary motivation.

I saw a more pressing need – a book explaining why these tools are valuable and when to use them. In The Social Media Gospel, I invite readers to think strategically and tactically before choosing tools. I invite them to think about the impact of context (e.g., demographics, learning styles, personality types) on social media adoption (or rejection). I also include questions for reflection, cleverly called, “Thought Bytes.” And more!

I was determined to write a book for newcomers as well as those already using social media. Comments from early reviewers and those who have already received pre-ordered copies assure me that I achieved my goals. I’m also happy to know that readers are having LOL moments. My favorite public tweet from today: “…what I’ve enjoyed most in your new book are the little cmts (sic) that highlight your personality; creates a sense of familiarity.”

What is the biggest blind spot congregations have when it comes to communications?

Great question. At first, I was going to respond with, “failure to see that communications tools must be integrated across digital platforms.” But the biggest and most dismaying blind spot? A persistent inability or unwillingness to see that communications is a ministry. What, pray tell, is evangelism if not communication?

In an earlier book, The Word Made Fresh: Communication Church and Faith Today, I wrote about structural and cultural obstacles to embracing communications (i.e., creating, producing, distributing content that informs, educates, and inspires action) as an essential ministry. The obstacles I identified six years ago have not been removed, so this new book builds on that point.

I could almost forgive local churches for not yet understanding that communications ministry is as important as, say, music ministry. But at the judicatory level? I’m appalled by how communications budgets and professional staff are being completely eliminated rather than reconfigured. Digital tools, used strategically, are very cost-effective. I could go on and on…shocker!

How do online communications move from broadcasting to community building?

Some online tools are perfect for broadcasting and that’s enough. Others can be used to build community. Whether you want or should move from broadcasting to community building is a strategic issue.

Key questions: Why to build community? What are the defining characteristics and parameters of that community? What do you want the community to do or be as a result of being built? Strategy before crafting tactics and choosing tools.

At the tactical level, community building requires ongoing, consistent interaction that’s stimulated, supported, and monitored by a community manager. To those who are unfamiliar with online social networking tools, this might seem like a lot of work but I think it can be easier than getting church council or vestry members to play nice!

One last question: How did you find someone to write such a brilliant foreword?
Social media, of course!

I am thankful to Meredith for taking the time to talk with us during this busy week of publication! Please visit Meredith's blog, learn more about the Church Social Media (#chsocm) community, or drop in on the book club discussion of The Social Media Gospel over at Patheos.

I am excited about this book, and think it is one of the best resources available for people who are thinking about how new technologies can help them to share the Gospel. Lutheran pastor and blogger Clint Schnekloth said of the book: "This brief and compelling book packs a punch, combining immense insight into the phenomenon of social media with practical wisdom on the how of communicating gospel in social media contexts. It has become my go-to book to share with anyone interested in a combination of the why and how of social media ministry."

I think this book is so good that I want to give you a copy. Here's how:

1. Share this interview publicly on Facebook, Google+, or Twitter. 
2. Add the hashtag #SocMGospel to your post
3. Come back here and leave a comment, letting me know that you have shared the post
4. In a week I will give away two copies of The Social Media Gospel, drawn from people who shared the post. The more you share, the more chances to win! 

Also, you can order your own copy - or two or three - right here. 

The Rough Life of a Commuter

Commuting to and from work is so rough.

I'm figuring out the video social network, Vine.
Are you on Vine? How are you using it?

Connect with me on Vine, too! 

Scheduled Social Media?

Buffered tweets. Scheduled Facebook posts.

Almost every social media guru you consult suggests it. I get why. Sit down and do all that sort of stuff at once, then schedule it to come out at the best times for your audience (which may or may not be the best times for you as a content creator). I get all the very good reasons why you should schedule your social media.

But I don't. I won't. Here is what often happens during and following a crisis when people have scheduled tweets:

(This is not a one time occurrence. Someone does this every time - it just happened to be @ArtieDavis this time).

There are lots of good reasons to schedule tweets. There is one exceptional reason to not do so: It is called social media. Your audience can't have a conversation with a post scheduling app.

Do you want to excel at social media?
Quit talking at people, and starting talking with them.

Can You Hear Me Now?

The constitution of the congregations of the denomination in which I serve (the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) include a chapter which lists the duties of the pastor. In most congregations, those duties include this charge:

The pastor shall speak publicly to the world in solidarity with the poor and oppressed, calling for justice and proclaiming God’s love for the world.

Public witness. That is an important piece of what the church is called to be (A city on a hill, the salt of the earth), and also what we who work for the church are called to do. And yet, far too often, our witness has consisted of "Come join us for worship!"

One reason that I advocate for clergy and other church leaders to get involved in social media is that it gives us a voice in the public square in a way that we have never had before. The Rev. Evan Dolive is a great example of this. Perhaps you have heard of Victoria's Secret's new line, aiming at ever younger girls? Chances are, you heard of it because of Pastor Dolive, a Disciples of Christ pastor in the Houston. He wrote an open letter to Victoria's Secret and published it on his blog, and to date it has been viewed 3.7 million times.

I've had the opportunity to ask Evan a few questions about his experience.

David Hansen: How long have you been blogging? Why did you start?
Evan Dolive: I have been blogging for a little over a year now. I started when I began writing for a local paper. I wanted a place to host all of my writings. After a few posts, I began to write pieces just for the blog. My goal was twice a week and some weeks I did that and some weeks I didn’t. I wanted my blog to be a place where Christianity was seen as multifaceted and rich not bland and boring. When I was in seminary at Lexington Theological Seminary we were taught that we were not being trained just as ministers, but rather ‘public theologians.’ I use this mind set when I approach a topic or situation that I am blogging about.


DH: Prior to this post, who was the primary audience of your blog? 
ED: My primary audience were Christians, non-Christians and those disenfranchised with the modern church. I wanted to provide a place where the public life seen in a different lens and Christianity was not viewed as a literalist, legalistic religion. I wanted people to know that a life lived for Christ didn’t have to look like the 700 Club. :-) The primary readership were my Facebook friends and Twitter followers.


DH: What was your traffic like before?
ED: Not all that great... a deemed a success a post that received more than 50 hits :-). The best post I had before this one was a reflection on the “Chick-fil-a Day back in August 2012- it received 2500 hits in two days.

DH: At what point did you know that this was going viral?
ED: I would say when I hit 60,000 page views in a day and then the next day I had 60,000 page views before 8 am.

DH: Tell me about traditional media reaction.
ED: I have been interviewed by four local Houston stations- CBS, Fox, NBC, CW. I have been interviewed by two national news organizations- CNN and HLN (Headline News).
I know of about 20 print articles that talk about my post -- I would say that is a low ball number.

DH: What advice would you offer to pastors about social media?
ED: Don’t think it is waste of time. Social media is the ONLY reason why my letter went viral. I once had someone tell me that they didn't use social media because “they didn't care when I went to the bathroom.” (implying that only useless information is posted on social media outlets). While is true for some people, it not for the majority of people using social media. The world is changing and more and more people are using social media. It is a valuable resource for connecting people together. In the emergent and younger generations (the ones that every church says they want to target) the understanding of community is vastly different than the “Baby Boomer” and “Greatest” generations. In these particular generations, people will take spirituality and community where ever they can find it and that includes the internet.  Social media is not going away it is only going to become more integrated into our lives like the new Facebook phone. Social media connects people from around the world and in the same congregation and therefore should be used effectively.


Most of the commentary I have seen has been debating Evan's criticism of Victoria's Secret. Is Victoria's Secret out of line, or is Pastor Dolive over-reacting?
Such questions absolutely miss the most important point. 

With one post, Evan got us all talking. Church people. Non-church people. News commentators. Cultural commentators. All asking the same questions. Whether or not you agree with "An Open Letter to Victoria's Secret," it changed the conversation.

Facebook is the new public square.Twitter is the new public square. With the click of a mouse, Evan Dolive changed the focus of the public conversation. He was not a celebrity blogger. He was not a nationally known theologian. He didn't be a full page ad in the local paper or a tv spot during the SuperBowl.
Just a pastor, striving to be a public witness. Just a pastor, who one day clicked "publish" on his blog.

And what about you? What about your church?
Will we speak publicly to the world?

(I am grateful to Evan Dolive, whom I have gotten to know on various social media prior to this, for taking the time to answer my questions and provide some background. Bookmark his blog to keep up with his fantastic posts.) 

Making the Most of Facebook

After my recent post about churches who use social media in anti-social ways, my inbox was flooded with requests. "What does good social media look like?" "How can we be more social?"

For most congregations, Facebook is the primary social media. Most of our members are on Facebook and it is the logical way to reach them.

First of all, we've all figured out that Facebook pages (for organizations and companies) do not work the same way as Facebook profiles (for individuals). With a page, you cannot comment on the status updates of posted by other individuals, so how do we keep the church Facebook page from becoming a virtual bulletin board?

Here are my best practices.

1) Profile Picture: This will be the widest-reaching impact of your page. Every time a post of yours is shared, this image will show up. An image of an empty sanctuary or of the outside of your church building will not tell me anything about your congregation. A (well-designed) logo is slightly better. But the best is to show people involved in ministry. The church is the people -- show the people!

2) Cover Image: Facebook has given us a huge piece of real estate to take advantage of - use it! Use that space to give some insight to your ministry. A collage of images, info about the most important upcoming events, or an image that shows us what makes the congregation unique. (What size is your cover image? Here is a quick guide sizes for all sorts of social media image sizes.)

3) The Basics: How quickly can a visitor find your website and worship times? There are some natural places to put them in the "About" page. Forget about that. Get this most important information on the very front page, so that a visitor sees it without having to click through to a second page.

Ok. That's covers all the layout set-up issues. Now comes the fun part. Be social! You are a little bit limited on a page, but your hands are not tied.

1) Share information & images from other connected organizations. Whether is another local congregation, the local chamber of commerce, or a local business, use that share button. If someone else is posting information that is helpful community information, share it. Use the share button, so that your post shows where it comes from. The economy of social media is one of generosity -- the more you share your influence, the more influence you gain.

2) Share posts that are just plain fun. Yes, we are a church and we take seriously our task to proclaim the Gospel. Be we are also called to be joyful. Have some fun with it.

3) Pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. Don't tell us about your congregation, show us! Show us pictures of people involved in mission and ministry; show us joyful people, worshiping people, working people, singing people.

4) Questions. What is the best way to get people to respond to something? Ask them a question! It really is that simple sometimes.

Use Facebook as your page.

5) Comment. Yes, you can comment as your page. Not on individual profiles, but on other pages. Click on the top right gearbox to "use page as" and use it as your church. Now go forth, and comment on the same sort of community and connected organizations as above. The more you comment, the more visible your page will be.

6) Post. Post. Post. I have found the sweet spot to be 2-4 posts a day. It might be different on your page. But remember -- every day that you do not post something, you lose some of your audience. So try to post at least one thing every day.

Here is the question to ask yourself: If I was not a member of this church, would I follow this page?

Your goal is to provide quality, engaging content for the wider community. That is how you build the audience, who will then be there to take notice on the occasions that you post an announcement about your ministry.

Is Your Church Media Social?

Social: Marked by pleasant companionship with friends ... tending to form cooperative and interdependent relationships. (Merriam-Webster)

As one who teaches about social media, you would think that I'd be happy that more and more churches, religious leaders, and organizations are using social media. They have heard the stats (1 billion people on facebook! 1/2 a million tweets every day). And so, realizing the capabilities of these platforms, they have jumped on board.

But once on social media, they've done nothing but talk about themselves. "Come to our event! Buy my book! Visit our website! Read my blog!"

Here's an analogy to help see that this looks like.

Let's go to a party. A big room full of people, talking about shared interests and getting to know one another. As you walk into the party, you notice that there are three types of people. There are the people who are standing on the wall, choosing to not talk to anyone. There are the people having a great time, moving from group to group and enjoying one another. 

And then there is the guy (it's always a guy for some reason) moving from group to to group, talking about himself. He has a story for every occasion - he is the hero in these stories, of course. If you know about something, he knows more. And if you manage to get in a word edgewise, you can tell that he is not really listening - he's thinking about what he will say next. 

Social

No one likes "that guy" at the party. He will go home, likely convinced that he was the life of the party, but in reality he caused everyone else to have less fun.

Too many churches sit on the sidelines of social media, refusing to join the party - and that's not a good place to be. But once convinced to jump in, many become the loud guy just talking about himself. Not listening to what others are saying, always talking about ourselves. That is not social media - that is broadcast media. And if there is one thing people love about social media, it is that it is not broadcast media. 

So who are you / your church / your orginazation at the social media party: the wallflower, the loud guy ruining the party for everyone else, or the ones enjoying the social interaction? 

Is your social media social?

(Up next: Signs that your social media might really be broadcast media)

Oreos in the Dark

$4,000,000 for 30 seconds. That's how much airtime for a Super Bowl ad cost this year. $130,000 per second. And that is just the airtime. Don't forget all the money paid to the advertising agencies. And the celebrities who got paid to appear in those ads.

And for all that, the best ad of Super Bowl XLVII was not even on TV.

In the middle of the Super Bowl, the lights went out at the Superdome in New Orleans. A power outage. CBS put up its best talking heads to try to fill the time. And over on Twitter, everyone at home was having a great time making Super Bowl Blackout jokes.

In the midst of it all @Oreo posted this:

No need to pay for air time. Oreo captured the moment perfectly. Or rather their social media team did. 15,500 retweets later, Oreo had a viral hit their hand. And how much does their Twitter presence cost the company? Oh yeah, that's right. Nothing. Nada. (Sure, sure. They pay their social media team. But no air time cost. No celebrity endorsements to pay.)

And here is the kicker. Your congregation has the exact same tools at their disposal.

That is the power of social media. The playing field is leveled. Everyone has the same tools. Everyone has the same power to share their message. Everyone has the same megaphone to talk about their work.

Which really only leaves me with one question: Why is the church not making better use of this tool? Why would the church pass up this opportunity to share the good news with the world?

Interest Lists - How To

You've decided to use interest lists to help streamline your facebook experience. So, how do you use interest lists? (Here's why I like them!)

To create your own interest lists, go to a page you want to add to a list. Click on the gearbox symbol to get a pull down menu, and select "Add to Interest Lists." All your interest lists will show up, and you can select the one you want to add the page to. If you don't have any lists yet, you can "Add New." (This same method works to add people to interest lists). As you are setting up interest lists, Facebook will ask you whether you want the list to be visible only to you, to your friends, or to be public.

Often, other people have already organized awesome news and information into interest lists that you might like to follow - For example my awesome Brenham, Texas and ELCA News lists. Click on the lists, and then click the nice big button at the top right that says "Subscribe." 

Now that you have subscribed to some Interest Lists, or made some of your own, you can view the news feed of all the posts from the pages/people on that list. On the Facebook homepage, you will see a category in the left-hand column titled "Interests." (If you don't see it, you might need to click on the heading that says "More" in that column, then it will show up). Once you click on the Interest List, you will see a news feed of every post from the pages and the people on that list:

How are you making use of lists? What are some great lists that you have found to follow?

Interest List - Who Cares??

Over the last few weeks, maybe you've seen something about "Interest lists" on facebook. If you are remotely like most people, this has produced in a you a giant shrug of the shoulders and a big, "So what?" I am an social media user, and even I didn't care.

The reason for interest lists is simple - organize the information that you are receiving through facebook. I already use lists on Facebook - lists that I created for myself. So I didn't see a need for facebook's interest lists.

As the manager of many pages on Facebook, I'll let you in on a secret. You are only seeing a fraction of the posts from the pages that you have liked. On my pages (which have pretty engaging content, of I do say so myself), only about 20-30% of the people who like my page see the things I post. So I decided to play around with interest lists. And I like them.

If you are making a list, you have the same privacy options that you have for any Facebook post. That means that you can create a public list, and share your information sources with a broad set of people. Or you can adjust the privacy, and conveniently connect your friends together. Or, you can make it only visible to you as a way to organize your newsfeed.

Regular lists on Facebook are nice. I have all of my facebook friends neatly organized into them. But the option to easily add pages - and to share these lists by making them public - is a great way to adding a new layer to the connection provided on facebook.

What do you think? Have you tried out the new interest lists?

Get out of the Garage

Yesterday, Bruce Reyes-Chow posted an open letter pastors who are using social media, warning of some of the dangers and pitfalls.

As usual, Bruce is dead-on in his observations about ministry in the digital age. What he has named here are very real risks. I’ve seen each of these things happen, and if you are involved in ministry on social media, I’ll bet you have, too.

And yet I worry.

I worry that the very real pitfalls that Bruce names here will become causes for clergy, leaders, and congregations to stay away from digital ministry. Yes, Bruce rightly says that such avoidance of social media is not his point. However, there are those who are going to look right past that, and only see the dangers that are Bruce points out.

Let’s be honest. In most of our denominations, we do not need to worry about an over-use of social media. For example, in my synod there are 120 congregations. On a good day, maybe a third of our leaders are using actively social media. Of those, a very small portion are the high-volume social media users to whom Bruce's letter is really addressed. If social media is the “information highway,” the leaders of the mainline church are sitting in the garage.

And while we are sitting in the garage, we are getting messages about the dangers of driving too fast ... Not just a little bit too fast, NASCAR fast. Sure enough, the dangers are very real. For the very small percentage of leaders who are out there, doing ministry and living life on social media, these are real dangers. And we should find ways for leaders who are using social media intn tese ways to be equipped with the tools they need - just as we give NASCAR drivers the proper safety equipment. But meanwhile, the dangers of going too fast are stoking fears, and keeping everyone else in the garage.

Ask anyone who advocates for the church to use social media as a tool for ministry. People are already afraid of it. Those who are not using social media have a laundry list of fears. Yes, some are real concerns, like what Bruce has named here. They are possible. But just because they are possible, does not mean that they are probable.

Let’s get people out of the garage and onto the road before we start handing out NASCAR safety equipment. Warning signs are not for those who are in the garage, but those who are on the road.

Social Media Basics: Facebook Post Privacy

Unlike Twitter, where your posts are either entirely public or entirely private, Facebook allows you complete control over how visible your social media life is to the world. You can decide for each post just how public it will be.

When you post your status from the Facebook website (or from many mobile apps), you have the following pull-down menu available to you, from which you can decide exactly who to share your update with:

Facebook remembers your selection, and your next post will default to the same audience. If you regularly change between making public posts and posts only for friends, remember to double check this setting when you post.

If you accidentally post to public, meaning to share with only your friends or a list, this is easy to fix. Simply go to the post on your timeline (in my experience, you cannot do this from mobile apps. You need to be on the full website). Go to the post, and you will find the same pull down menu next to the date that you posted the status or picture:

From there, simply select your intended audience, and voilà, problem solved.

Electronic Mail??

From time to time, I have the privilege of teaching about social media to groups of pastors and other church leaders. It is truly a joy. Unfortunately, sometimes it can feel kinda like this:

Facebook asks: Who is Andy Williams?

Wow.

Sitting in a meeting today, I glanced at my Facebook newsfeed (It's ok, it was a meeting about communications and social media, browsing is allowed). As happens whenever a celebrity dies, I expected there to be a glut of stories about the death of Andy Williams - pictures, videos of Moon River, obituaries. You know, the usual. So imagine my shock to see this.

Apparently, according to the brilliant minds behind Facebook, Andy Williams - the former drummer from Casting Crowns - has died.

This is what we call an "Oops moment"

Twitter Matrimony!

Ours was a wedding that embraced everything that technology can do to enhance the sense of community and our worship. More about that later, I am sure, as I continue to reflect on the events of last weekend. For now, here is our twitter stream.

This are all of the tweets about our wedding (as marked with our two wedding hashtags, #epicenterofmatrimony and #megarev). Our many friends who have protected or locked accounts also participated in this wonderful online worship experience, but their tweets are not captured by programs like this (Megan & I saw your tweets, thank you!). 

Enjoy this glimpse into what the community of Christ looks like when it gathers from around the world to rejoice together.