Social MediaHow Can This New Technology Possibly Help

My Congregation?

A few Statistics

• 32% of congregations had a Facebook or MySpace Page for the congregation

• 60% said it enhanced communication

• 50% of clergy have a Facebook page or blog

• 20% of congregations report use of blogs

Blogs• Online, virtual journal or diary

• Easy way of communicating with lots of people at one time

• You can set up a free blog at a site or download free software for your server

• UUA has lots of information about blogs

• OMD Staff and CERG Staff have blogs

• #1 problem - keeping them current!

Social Networking is for Young People,

Right?• 57% of people have this perception

• average age of Twitter users is 30-49

• largest group of Facebook users 35-45

• fastest growing Facebook demographic is women over 55

Facebook

• Most popular site

• Share information, photos, events, videos, links

• Allows individuals to control privacy

• Should congregations have a group or a page?

Pages Vs. Groups• Pages are public

• Individuals “like” the page (fans)

• Posts appear on fans’ walls

• Track visitor traffic

• Use applications and features

• Groups can be public or private

• Individuals join groups

• Messages appear in Facebook inbox

• No visitor tracking

• Only a few features available

• Check out the UUA resources!

• “Like” the OMD, CERG and UUA

• MySpace has reputation issues

• Other similar networks exist like ning.com, LinkedIn, etc.

• “mini” blog - 140 character limit

• Can be done from web or cell phone

• “Followers” receive “tweets” every time they are updated.

• OMD and UUA have Twitter Accounts

• There is a “Wayside Pulpit” tweet line

Twitter

• This is a public venue - anyone can search and read your tweets

YouTube• Is a video library

• You can post your own videos up to 15 minutes long. But shorter is better.

• Be sure to keyword your videos

• You can embed these videos in your website

• Comments by viewers can be nasty, you might want to embed videos instead of link to the YouTube site.

• You can create a channel like the UUA, CERG

• UU Planet is another posting option.

Time• You need to create a Facebook page

• Should have several folks working on this

• Update Facebook Pages twice a week, Twitter once a day, blogs once a week.

• Facebook groups are more participant driven but need monitored

• Be sure to check your page daily

Publicity Policy• Best to make this a part of your

publicity policy along with your website

• Needs to be owed by the church, not individuals

• Facebook pages and twitter need the same rules as a website for personal content

• Closed groups can be more lenient

Good Luck!