You may have already heard, but Social Networking is beating the snot out of Email in terms of time spent online, as a number of sources have reported.
This shouldn’t surprise you nor me but what it should do is begin to challenge some of you (as you probably already have been challenged) to consider where you’re spending a lot of your time and if how you do ministry and where you do ministry should change.
Read this snippet:
Networking and blogging sites account for almost ten percent of time spent on the internet — more than on email.
Time on the sites ranked fourth, after online searching, general interest sites, and software sites, according to a study released by Nielsen Online..
“While two-thirds of the global online population already accesses member community sites, their vigorous adoption and the migration of time show no signs of slowing,” said John Burbank, the CEO of Nielsen Online.
One in every 11 minutes spent online globally is on networking sites. Between December 2007 and December 2008, the time spent on the sites climbed 63 percent to 45 billion minutes.
Unbelievable. But, not that shocking. I see this number on the rise as well.
Personally, I don’t spend that much time in a traditional “social network;” I spend much more time on my blogs. But I know that a lot of people have begun to use their social networks as their email inbox, or their digital communication medium of choice.
If this is true, does this mean that we should spend more time on the social networks to be “more engaged?” Does this even make sense?
Do you find yourself on this side of the fence or across it?
[Image from LarsKFlem]
Phillip Gibb says
besides the 50 notification of comments to posts/comments I have subscribed to,
I definitely spend more than 75% of my online time interacting online thru other blogs and twitter.
Email, I find, if for organizing and co-coordinating tasks. While blogs, comments and twitter – for me – is about making new connections and engaging – which is way more fun than email (which is very one dimensional)
Ancoti says
I find myself spending more time in blogging and reading and responding to blogs as a form of social networking. I have made deeper connection with previously unknown people this way than through a networking site such as Facebook. Once the connection is made, a site such as Facebook can supplement and enhance the experience. Twitter serves as part blog/part networking to me, and it also is an enhancement of connections I have made through blogging. But for me, it starts with blogging.
Email is a necessary tool to get things done, but is not the primary networking interface for me. Maybe because email was first a business application for me that then turned personal. Maybe.
Phillip Gibb says
yeah – in that sense FaceBook is a natural progression to knowing your connections a bit better.
Like what he or she looks like now and when they were in primary school – ha ha ha
Ancoti says
I agree there is a lot of info on FaceBook that is not of current interest. If you do not connect with a person at a deeper than a fb level, there is almost nothing of interest.
Phillip Gibb says
yes. but to be honest I use FB less and less to engage. I more like a dumping site for me. Dump the photos, dump the links, etc without much interaction.
but blogging is where the discussion takes place – especially when many people contribute π
Aaron says
Is a blog not a social network?
I spend a TON of time with my nose behind Google Reader catching up on a variety of sources, most of it geek & political news.
human3rror says
“traditionally” speaking, perhaps not. it's a blog.
but, the convergence is happening. some would already consider some a social network. the applications and tools available to build out a blog are already here.
Aaron says
Apparently, Google just made Google Reader it's own social network yesterday:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/google-rea…
Phillip Gibb says
ooo – for a minute there I thought that gooreader was allowing blog comments thru the reader. but alas only the notes that you may write when you share. That's not interaction – that's not social; that ever so slightly engaging, bordering on assumption.
Gooreader is definitely a gateway to interact since it gives you a snapshot of the blog you do follow and then when u go to the blog then the real social networking happens π
well that's my opinion π
Matt Harrell says
I do not find myself on the social network side of the fence yet. It makes sense that some are spending exorbitant amounts of time there, but I guess for me my friends, colleagues and partners don't want to communicate through social media. I think it's just hype. Email will survive…it just makes too much sense. It's the closest thing we have to a unique identifier…everyone has an email address.
Graham Brenna says
I spend a lot of my internet time on social networking in general. I'm in contact with a lot of the youth at my church so I use Facebook for that. I use Twitter and blogs to keep up with the rest. It seems that more and more adults are getting on Facebook which I think is great. This whole social media thing started by being aimed at kids, but it seems that more and more adults are getting on board with it and seeing its potential for building community. In fact… I can't get the youth at my church to take any interest in Twitter! They're still tied down to one social media outlet… Facebook. (Which I'm not knocking by the way).
But yes… I've found myself neglecting my email inbox to check up on the blogosphere… that's probably bad since I've only got two other bloggers on staff at my church. π
Jim says
some great info to share with prospective clients, i dread the day when john makes us pay-to-play π
chris%9 says
wow nice blog nice layout excellent articles keep up the good work…ive added you to my rss reader too!
Mikes says
lately i've been spending time in reddit as it generates traffic to my site. when i started getting engaged with it, people noticed me and so was looking after all my links submitted. proabbaly makes sense to balance them out.
Phillip Gibb says
reddit? I use it, but I can't say that I get any hits from it. However StumbleUpon works like a charm for me – yet I can't say if any of those hits translate to comments.
comment rule
Phill
Mikes says
Stumbleupon? I still don't know how to use it. i add links to it but up until now i only see my revie for each link. hope you can shrae inputs
Phillip Gibb says
StumbleUpon has actually been a mixed back for me.
Sometimes it does nothing when I add a link, but since I have started using the Stumble Bar for Firefox and including link to share on my posts, I am getting much love from them through referrals.
An interesting thing that StumbleUpon offers is an Ad Campaign for a minimum of 5$ (http://www.stumbleupon.com/ads/) I have tried this and I don't think that it is worth is.
I still think the best solution is to band together with a group of people that each member will help the other maintain a presence thru these tools.