“The Internet is showing us what it thinks we want to see but not necessarily what we need to see” - Eli Pariser

In keeping with the theme yesterday of social networks, I came across a graphic today (a portion on the left) that illustrates the average age of social network users.  Churches have to realize that these are the tools people use when they are not in church (or sometimes while in church).  If this is where people are…shouldn’t ministry happen there as well?

See the full infographic here…

What do you think?

From a “marketing” perspective, it is probably a little late to be planning anything substantial to promote what your church is doing Christmas Eve or for any other special services you have ongoing over this awesome holiday season.  You do however still need to be focused on your message through the electronic tools you have.

This is Important

I want to encourage you to be very clear in providing your special services information clearly and distinctly on the front page of your church website, on your Facebook page, and through any other communication channel you use (Twitter, text messaging, e-mail, etc).  Christmas is one time of the year that people who don’t regularly go to a church that are actually looking to go.  Make it easy for them to come to your church!  If they come to your website be sure that they can easily find the information about what is happening, when, and where.

Please communicate clearly – it will make for a great family Christmas for more people in your community!

Having a technology strategy is critical for your ministry. The reason I say strategy is that not every social media tool is a right fit for every ministry – yet as we move towards 2011, church marketing must include some elements that are “social”. Your church website is no longer just an online brochure – it is active and personal.  Integrating a Facebook, Twitter, or Youtube component into your site is an absolute must. Take a few minutes to get further acquainted with the the growing force that is social media:

Please indulge me for a moment.

I need to rant.

One of the core tenants of social media is that it is supposed to be social.  Social means that there is conversation.  Conversation is a two way or multi-player communication channel.  It started out that way at least.  In the past year, I have noticed a very glaring shift.

The Conversation is Starting to Wane

People may be reading, consuming, and filtering information from blogs, Twitter, and Facebook, but the interaction within these channels is not what it was even six months ago.

I subscribe to about 60 blogs in Google Reader.  I have begun to notice that there are fewer people commenting now than there used to be.  Many excellent posts garner few if any comments at all.  On this blog as well, fewer and fewer comments are left (hey maybe in this case, it’s my writing) – It was time for an experiment –  I decided to start leaving more comments across the blogs I read.  Some of the comments would reveal my identity, others would be anonymous.  In the past month, I have left upwards of twenty five comments on almost as many blogs,  The result – not one author or reader of any of these blogs has commented on or followed up on the comments I left.

I opened a conversation and the air is dead.  I am left to believe that no one is listening.

What surprises me the most is that the post authors are silent!  Tons of work goes into writing informative blog posts.  If the author is writing but not responding what does that say?  Maybe I am late to the game and people have already discovered long a go that there is no point commenting because there will be no response.  What is the problem?  Seriously, I am at a loss here!

On the blogs that I do see comments, forgive me, but they are so pithy.

“Great post“. “Thanks man“. “Cool“.  ”Word“.

What is that all about?  The channel has no substance.  No one adding to the thoughts, few disagree, and most say nothing at all.

Is The Conversation Dead?

So can it be that everyone is so busy talking that no one is listening?  Has social media just built up a cacophony of noise and no real substantial conversation.  The problem is not a lack of great content – ideas, teaching, and philosophies.  They abound!  Where is the conversation?

OK – now here’s a gutsy move …

What do YOU think? Come on, don’t just read – speak up (yes, you).

Share what you think!  Start a conversation.  I promise to respond.

Rant. Done.

I have joined the Media Salt team as a summer contributor.  Today, I wrote my first article for them titled Why Every Church Leader Should Be on Facebook.

I believe that every pastor, elder, and ministry leader should strategically leverage Facebook as a practical relationship building tool in their church.

Please click over there, read the article, and join the conversation by contributing a comment of your own.

Some of the more interesting stats are:

• Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the U.S. (and I would expect in Canada too)
• Facebook added over 200 million users in less than a year
• If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 3rd largest ahead of the United States and only behind China and India
• The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year-old females
• 50% of the mobile Internet traffic in the UK is for Facebook…people update anywhere, anytime…
• The #2 largest search engine in the world is YouTube
• 60 millions status updates happen on Facebook daily

So, every church must consider social media as part of the communication strategy.  I personally think that every pastor should be on Facebook and churches should leverage YouTube to bring their ministry to life.  Watch the video, and share your thoughts…