Facebook is making me rethink a lot about how the Church needs to engage the world wide web; in fact, it’s really challenging some very foundational paradigms about strategy, tools, and platforms that I have.
And that’s a good thing.
I have spoken explicitly about how a tool is not a strategy and I still stand there strong. Facebook, at the end of the day, is still a platform and tool in the much larger and global webs space, and yet as it grows larger and is used by more and more people the edges will begin to bleed.
But in terms of search and relevancy of return on information, Facebook is becoming more and more like Google and is challenging the behemoth for utility. You see, the best tool in terms of those aformentioned items is the one that gets the best (and most relevant) information the fastest and as more and more people are hanging out in Facebook the more data is going to be stored there and the more search is going to become highlighted.
If this is the case then more and more time needs to be spent cultivating a strategy of engagement that includes Facebook as a foundational “search” tool, just like we all think about our search ranking through Google and organic returns.
This article in Wired is spot-on with some of the tensions and it’s definitely worth a very good read; in fact, I highly recommend you read it because it helps establish the framework of thinking that’ll be critical in your future (or current) efforts in the online ministry space.
A quote from it:
For the last decade or so, the Web has been defined by Google’s algorithms—rigorous and efficient equations that parse practically every byte of online activity to build a dispassionate atlas of the online world.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg envisions a more personalized, humanized Web, where our network of friends, colleagues, peers, and family is our primary source of information, just as it is offline. In Zuckerberg’s vision, users will query this “social graph” to find a doctor, the best camera, or someone to hire—rather than tapping the cold mathematics of a Google search.
It is a complete rethinking of how we navigate the online world, one that places Facebook right at the center. In other words, right where Google is now.
Yes, it’s very, very true.
What are your thoughts?
[Image from Robert, Facebook Logo added by ChurchCrunch]
Paul Steinbrueck says
I agree that Facebook is beginning to rival Google as a utility but I don't see a lot of overlap in terms of search. If I want my friends' opinion on something, I can ask them for that via Facebook or Twitter. If I want an objective/expert opinion I will ask Google to find it for me.
I do see Facebook as being a hugely valuable too for helping people get and stay connected within a church. I think churches ought to find better ways to integrate their sites with Facebook to help people connect with each other in a similar way to how many churches currently use their websites to help people connect with each other in small groups.
human3rror says
paul,
did you happen to read that article?
stephenbateman says
FB has work to do, but "querying the social graph" sounds very interesting. Most people already look at ratings for a product, and it's seller, before buying it.
I imagine it as Google-Shopping, Ratemyprofessor.com, and Craigs List all mashed in together.
human3rror says
ahh, interesting relationship there.