Hit the Back Button to Move Fwd by Gavin Richardson

churches doing twitter wrong : churches can do twitter well

i am constantly frustrated with church folks who extol their social media use for their churches. one such statement is the proverbial "our church is on twitter." i am not sure what that means? how is a church on twitter? church, can be there if we are looking at church as a verb, chronicling the interactions of the congregation with the community, but most of what we see is same thing we see so many times with church websites.

1. church twitters often rehash their inner content creation and just throw it out there as if people who haven't graced their walls are all of a sudden interested. much like marshall mcluhan says we do.
2. the face they always show is the church building or fancy logo. again, it works for the people in the church, but doesn't do anything for establishing a relationship with others outside your congregation

so how does a church community use twitter?

1. use it just like you probably are using twitter: making church announcements, posting links to your website/sermons/etc. i am fine with that, just know that you are only talking to the audience that is already invested into your church body. there is value to that, so its okay to do, just don't talk about your media use as something getting outside your church.
2. get personal by:

• make a formal twitter background with images of your church people, not your steeple
• change your avatar to some people. folks want to see how they will fit into your congregation, give them faces (often changing avatars) that help them see themselves as part of your church
• use pictures a plenty
• interact, don't just follow people from your church, but all over your community
• give out helpful information for community events, family building, parenting, schools
• affirm what others are saying
• talk about your people
• be ready to use direct messages to invite folks & let them know where to meet you
• be willing to show weakness/struggles/frustrations as a church body. authentic is the word
• start some helpful "lists" for your followers to plug into (this would involve knowing who to follow and what are important topics for your community)

sorry to the folks at highland park umc for picking on them with my chosen image.. it was just to easy.

return to church : a few chuckles at ourselves

i had some great giggles today watching these videos on 'return to church' (tip from ian at youthblog). it had me thinking of some of the tricks that we are used to get people 'in the door' and that when presented with a disingenuous invitation people run quickly. reminded me of a nice quotable, "what you win them with is what you win them to." i will give this vicar some props, he's not just letting his church become a museum.

i am all a twitter about the news : bud adams gets me air time

so i was rather surprised last night when i get a call from one of my youth. i apparently was on the news.. or rather, my twitter was on the news. yup, christian who does the social media & news coordination for channel two read off one of my twitter postings about the whole bud adams show of guns. not sure what i'm talking about.. well, just watch the story here.