This is a Guest Post by Vince Marotte.
Social Media has changed a lot since I had my first GeoCities (RIP) site.
Most of us started off on MySpace and then moved to Facebook, some of us had or have a blog somewhere in there and then came Twitter. I am a believer that Twitter bridged that massive gap between web space and real life and we are still trying to figure out what this all means, especially in terms of being missional.
Personally I have been changing my social media voice from one that is geared toward Christian leadership and networking to one that is missional and I want to get that conversation started and see what the ChurchCrunch community thinks.
Here’s what I’m thinking…
Here are the steps I’m taking this year:
Turn down the Christian noise
My main pipeline for this voice is on Twitter and I have intentionally un-followed a lot of high profile Christian leaders and people that are ‘web famous’, not because I don’t want to hear from them, but because I want to stay on mission. I don’t want to get caught up too much in the high level Christian leadership conversations on the same platform that I wish to engage the culture I’m trying to reach. I’ve also un-subscribed a lot of blogs from my reader for the same reasons. I love all you guys, but I need to focus right now.
Engage the culture
Foursquare has been a big part of this, especially in a highly social media savvy town like Austin, TX. I have met a lot of people on Foursquare and in-turn engage even more people as I get introduced to their network. Foursquare makes it really easy to find common ground with people in social media space. Every time I take over the mayor slot, or lose it, a connection is made.
Meet needs
We take a look at our resources, human or other, and see where we can offer some value and meet needs of tribes we are connected with. We’re pretty well hooked up with a mobile internet broadcast rig so one of our first engagements of the year is in a couple weeks when we will stream and record a gathering of all the social media pros in Austin, which is a pretty epic gathering. In may we will be a part of the Linux Against Poverty install fest.
What are some strategies that you and your team are employing to be missional with social media?
[Image from Telstar]
my voice is scratchy.
Sounds like an excellent situation for two twitter accounts. One that you maintain your "Christian" conversations with, and the other that you use to engage culture with…
i'm tinkering with the idea of a second account. I have it, just haven't started.
Awesome!
John
A great post! Your thinking about unfollowing leading voices and being more missional describes what I have been thinking and did not have the words for it.
I've tried to do this too, while on long bus rides I did local searches on twitter trying to connect to people. I also tried foursquare, but somehow I don't see many people participating here in Orange County. Locale is definately the next big step for social media.
I also thought this was an interesting tool for such outreach, http://trendsmap.com/
thanks for this. going to check it out.
It does help being in a hotbed of social media like Austin.
I'm sure i'll re-connect with those people soon…after i have re-invented my voice.
that is cool.
This is basically what I've been doing with Twitter since signing up for it last year. I follow as many local people as I possibly can, only following a handful of "big name" folks, and not all of those are within "church world."
A local tweetup scene has developed – #nwitweetup – and I've gone to as many of those as possible. I've gotten to know quite a few people who live and work here whom I probably would never have met otherwise, and a few have visited the church I pastor. It's been a great way to connect with new friends who don't know Jesus or have any church connection.
It's the same reason I participate in the Chamber of Commerce. I was at one monthly networking event yesterday morning that I've been attending for 5 years. In fact, yesterday was my 60th time in attendance — more than anyone else in the group. I'm like a minor celebrity in this group of 70-100 business leaders. Cracks me up.
And it's led to a handful of people connecting with our church. I love it.
Good stuff rich
Brilliant post, Vince. I'm excited to see where this new effort leads you.
If we're going to be serious about reaching a digital mission field, we should probably be familiar with the way that culture works. Love your commitment! Well done.
I don't know… It seems to be working well for me in Valparaiso, Indiana.
Foursquare hasn't taken off here, but Twitter definitely has. We have 20-30 people together each month for our #nwitweetup, and there are always new faces. Most months it's tied to some kind of charity that's benefiting, and the hosting business is giving food away for free. So I get to meet people in the community and get fed doing it!