Your thoughts? I’d love to hear them. Let the conversations commence…!
Archives for February 2009
7 Reasons Why Churches Struggle with Social Media
Should the Church engage online and in Social Media?
Absolutely.
There is no question about it and, for the most part, everyone is in agreement with this.
But in terms of “Social Media Ministry” the Church apparently struggles.
Why?
Because the Church, generally speaking, still operates in a system that is defined by “traditional” media. Perhaps a change is in order?
Here are 7 reasons that I’ve identified that have caused more than just a light struggle in terms of Social Media Ministry:
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Who Should Blog For Your Church
In the last post I expounded on “10 Reasons Why Your Church Needs to be Multi-Author.” Perhaps you already agree and are now looking for “those” bloggers.
Here are some thoughts about the characteristics that I would suggest identifying in them potential candidate:
1. Already a Blogger – Biggest mistake for a ministry or church to make is to somehow “force” someone who isn’t passionate about blogging to blog for them. Sometimes (not all the times) the person most interested isn’t the best person either, especially if they’ve never done it.
2. Reliable – Can be relied on to do a good job, meet the requirements set forth by the ministry, and blog on schedule (if there is one).
3. Knowledgeable – About not only blogging but has a firm grasp on the ministry at large and what’s going on.
4. Relational – Someone who is likes relationships and knows how to build and maintain them.
5. Honest – Someone who is “authentic” through their blogging and isn’t a glorified marketing-microphone for your ministry.
6. Good Writer – Someone who can write. Period. And be good at it.
7. Communicator – Should be a good communicator. This isn’t the same thing as writing, mind you.
8. Ego Check – They are interested in the mission and ministry of the church, and much less about themselves.
9. Technically Savvy – Or getting there. Doesn’t need to be a developer but needs a bit more than just word publishing skills.
10. Spiritual – Is a person of the Word and a good representation of Christ and the ministry.
Any that you’d add to my somewhat “fluid” list?
10 Reasons Why Your Church Blog Needs to be “Multi-Author”
I’ve been asked a number of times about how to develop and maintain effective content for church blogs.
Although there’s a number of very simple and pragmatic strategies that can get a ministry started they all exist in light of the “multi-authoring” strategy.
What I am suggesting is that if it is possible the ministry or church should have multiple contributors, multiple authors.
You can probably think of enough reasons why this should be your strategy, but here are 10 Reasons that I’ve come up with:
[Read more…] about 10 Reasons Why Your Church Blog Needs to be “Multi-Author”
7 Elements of a Successful Social Network – #7
We’re now on the final and last part of a 7 Part Series on Elements of a Successful Social Network.
It’s been a great ride, for me especially, since I’ve been able to unpack a lot of what I’ve learned in the marketplace and share it here. I’ve got thousands and thousands of emails stuck in old Microsoft Outlook archives that feed this blog, and this has been a series that I’ve been looking at blogging about for a while now.
The thing about the final element is that it isn’t something that was originally included in the “elements.” Rather, it’s something that I’ve personally added to the list.
But, before we get started, just in case you missed the previous 6, here they are for your perusal:
- Ownership and User Customization
- Getting and Giving Feedback
- Exchanges and Gifting
- Collecting Things
- Earning Points
- Competition
Great. Let’s jump into the final element.
[Read more…] about 7 Elements of a Successful Social Network – #7
The Right Creative Commons License for Ministry Blogs
One of the things that we need to do better as bloggers is actively encourage others to take licensing seriously. CreativeCommons.org should be well known, studied, and understood by us.
The simple fact is that it isn’t.
Typically I tell a lot of people who have questions to go to the site and “learn.” Well, apparently not a lot of those people go and do just that. So, let me tell you what I use for my content that I publish online.
I use this: The Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 for the United States. You can find the exact description right here.
I’d recommend that you use the same, and here’s why:
- It let’s people share your content that you create. That’s a good thing.
- They can “mix” the content up, meaning they can take chunks without the pressure of taking the whole and re-use and re-purpose it for their needs.
- It requests “attribution,” which means that the author gets the respect that they deserve for being the author and creator of the content. Give respect when respect is due!
- It means that others can’t earn anything or make a profit off your work.
- It means that if someone else uses your content they have to abide by the rules set out by the license that you use. No abuse or “grey” lines here!
- It highly suggests linking back to the original work. This is good for link-building, SEO, and helps provide the new audience historical context on the original work. Link love is good stuff.
- It forces a “ask permission” type mentality for everything. It’s simply good practice to “ask for permission” to use stuff. It gives the author the ability to “waive” any of their above aforementioned rights on a case-by-case basis.
- It doesn’t “impair nor restrict the author’s moral rights.” A little ambiguous here, but good anyways.
I think this license is the best license that we, as technoevangelists can use, without limiting the opportunity to learn and use our content. It protects the author and the readers from abuse and misuse. I think it maintains a level of “control” in an open source world without cramping the open source “mentality.”
For myself, I use Feedburner to distribute this license. See the screenshot below for my settings:
I have now included the image of the license on my blog here (see footer) and my other blogs as well.
Want one? Go here to get your copy of the license. Do it, for yourself and for the people that you serve!