Posted by Joe Day

Facebook, Twitter and The City

So, let’s get specific about what this means for the church. At the highest level, a church needs to decide what its main goal for using social media is. Is it communication? Is it community? Is it outreach? In all cases, the need for both public and private platforms is essential because different goals require different tools. You wouldn’t host a dinner party in your bedroom, nor would you work out budget issues at a cocktail party. Different communication goals need different tools to reach different audiences. This is where Facebook, Twitter, and The City can become a trinity of community-building communication. 

Playing to strengths

Each of these social networks have a fundamental vision for what kind of communication they excel in. Facebook is about sharing. Twitter is about interacting. The City is about intimate community. Here is a brief overview of their strengths: 

Facebook: Share with the world. You do this by setting up a page or group for your church and sharing things publicly. For instance, if you have planned a fund-raising car wash, you can let the community know in the broadest sense when and where that is happening. It is an open and sharable invitation. 

Twitter: Interact in real time with the world. If there’s one thing you learn about Twitter it is this: be personable! Twitter’s tools for interaction can help you build a constellation of relationships and connections, and develop your public voice. Twitter’s strength is in the real-time, so as the car wash happens, you can post photos, keep a running tally of funds raised, and even offer a freebie to the first person to mention the tweet. 

The City: Intimate community with your church family. The City excels at group interaction (more than individual interaction) with a deeper level of intimacy. It mirrors the actual community that is your church and provides direct communication around prayer requests, bible studies, and even sermon preparation. 

The church has multi-faceted needs for sharing, interacting, and being an intimate community, and the tools it uses should reflect those needs.

 

Tomorrow's post, The Architecture of a Social Networking Strategy (Part 3) will focus on specific tactics in using Facebook for your church.