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Facebook & other social networks

By Martin Hills.

We are living in an age of instant communication, an age where we no longer talk on the telephone, but prefer to text. It’s an age in which we have traded books for ‘Google’, and rather than buying music on vinyl or compact disc, we now download it in an instant. The whole way that society chooses to communicate has changed - everything is immediate, and I know from living with three teenage children that, when they receive a text message, they have to respond straight away in case they upset the sender!

However, it’s not just the ways in which we communicate with each other that have changed. The way in which we gather and share information has also changed and I believe that it is this change in information sharing that churches and ministers need to understand.

People gather news in (up to) 140 characters and share experiences in the same way. Indeed, I rarely buy a newspaper these days – I can gather all the news information I want via the internet on my mobile phone! People interact with the world of celebrity by following them on social network sites and in this way they can keep up to date with the latest gossip! A picture can be taken on a mobile phone and then, in the space of a few minutes, it can be available to all via Facebook and Twitter. The virtual world created by these social networking sites is huge and gives plenty of scope for the church to engage with a whole new audience as well as build on their existing connections.

There is a growing trend amongst Christian leaders to ‘blog’ (an online diary / Journal and a useful discussion starter), and in doing so, share information and ideas and enter into discussion and debate on a range of topics. I think this is a great way to share a message to a far bigger audience than on any given Sunday! 

So the question is: how do we use Facebook and similar to communicate with our congregations and why should we?

I personally use Facebook to communicate with the young people in and connected to church in a number of ways. First, I have a specific Facebook identity which I have created just for young people and my volunteer youth team. In this way I can protect myself and the young people from child protection allegations and I can maintain a level of privacy by having a separate personal account. Through this identity I can communicate with young people, find out what is happening in their lives and make myself available pastorally for them. I am able to pick up ‘instantly’ on relationship problems, disagreements between young people, birthdays, illness and much more!

I also create special pages or groups on Facebook which enable me to communicate events to the whole youth network with which I am involved as well as target specific groups of young people for certain events.

Social media is the community in which young people congregate. It’s a virtual community, but a very real one for the young people concerned and it’s a community of which the church needs to be a part.

However, it’s not just young people who are using social media. I am ‘friends’ on Facebook with a wide range of people connected to the church with an age range of between 20 and 80! It is true to say that they use Facebook in different ways. Some (generally the younger age groups) use it to be a part of the community, contributing to it with ‘status updates’ or photos, and visiting the community several times a day. Others (generally the older generations) use it to gather information, to keep in touch with family and friends and contribute far less to the site.

Churches can use this virtual community to communicate their message to a wide network with very little effort; posting links to websites, photos, events and by engaging in discussion. Used properly, sites such as Facebook and Twitter are a useful tool in communication and information gathering and sharing.

There are limitations and pitfalls, but, with careful management and common sense, we have a way of connecting with a fast growing, fast moving community which is ready to engage with us.