Just as the web ushered in a new means of communication for the North American church a decade ago, social media online today is again revolutionizing the way churches communicate.  The phenomenon is actually several years old, but has become mainstream in recent months.  By far the “big three” in the social media space are Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. As I write this, MySpace is fading quickly as Twitter rises. Even as the social media space evolves, it provides immediate benefits to the church.  Among the new facets of communication that online social media opens to the church are:

Individual availability. Using Facebook pages or groups, or a Twitter account, you can now connect individually to members and guests.  Because those “following” or “friending” your church in a social media arena make that request themselves, it’s an open invitation on their part to individually contact them and feed them information. Unlike a weekly email that just “blasts” to everyone on a list, regardless of their interest level, social media sites are by invitation—connections are telling you that they desire information from you.

Instant conversation. No longer are you limited to a printed bulletin, posting a web page or sending an e-blast, where the connection to members and guests takes hours or days. Now a post is instantaneously digested, and feedback can be within minutes. Social media is less like a press conference and more like a conversation. The expectation in social media setting is for participation versus just digesting information. When you post something, you should expect and often will receive feedback.

Micro-communication. In a social media atmosphere, we are no longer communicating a broad range of ministry events and activities or big blocks of information at once. Instead, updates are a few sentences, a link, a video, an event notice. This micro-communication is replacing “broadcast”-type communication as an effective means of connecting to the congregation. Instead of an e-blast with 10 articles, social media allows 10 updates a day, each one focusing on an individual opportunity or option. Social media interaction focuses on one thought, piece of information or idea at a time.

Micro-activism. Social media also promotes micro-activism, or instant response to an idea, link, cause or connection. The challenge is to put possibilities for involvement into one or just a few clicks. A social media user who can take 30-45 seconds to make a touch or facilitate a ministry activity in that time very likely will do so. “Click here to do this now” opportunities find response through social media outlets. A great example of this phenomenon is Haiti earthquake response, in which many social media outlets facilitated nearly instant donations of $10 or so by clicking on a simple link in a Facebook status update or Twitter tweet.

Invitation to the Personal Space. A church website is the church’s “property”. Essentially a visit to a website is going on that organization’s turf. Social media channels, on the other hand, are considered “personal space” where participants share their own thoughts, goings-on and family and friend connections. Here perception is that the church is connecting outside their own walls and in the arena of personal observations and ideas. This perception within the bounds of social media chisels a huge chunk of the web’s “impersonal” nature away in one fail swoop. At the same time, the church gives up a tremendous degree of control over information in this space, as the church enters as a participant versus an owner of the media.

A mixed bag. While some social media participants take great care to contribute meaningfully to the online conversation, it’s important to note that social media is a mixed bag. Some believers push information about their involvement, quote Scripture and pose intriguing questions. Other users talk about what they are eating or how much traffic there is on the interstate—essentially useless information. The usefulness of the contribution specific participants, just like in a face-to-face conversation, varies widely.

> Facebook

> Twitter

> MySpace

> Hootsuite

About the Author. Eugene L. Mason has more than two decades of experience in ministry communications and technologies. More...