A few years ago I joined Facebook.com, and it changed my life.
That may seem like a bold statement, but it’s true. Through Facebook, I have reconnected with lost friends, strengthened existing relationships, and met hundreds of people around the world who share my passion for ministry. Facebook is as useful as you make it, and for me personally, it makes it easy to have more relationships and stronger relationships than I ever could have without it.
Facebook’s Social Significance
If you are a Facebook user, you probably know what I am talking about. Otherwise, it may help to understand how it all began and how it is socially reshaping culture.
Facebook has grown tremendously since its launch in early 2004 as an exclusive social network for college students, staff, and faculty. High school students were granted membership in 2005, and since September 2006, anyone with an email address can join for free. Current membership includes more than 57 million active users, who generate more than 65 billion page views per month. According to comScore research, Facebook is the sixth most trafficked site in the United States and the biggest photo-sharing site on the Web.
Obviously, it is a popular website, but why? Without question, much of the credit goes to the commitment of Facebook’s development team to protect and enhance the user experience. But ultimately, Facebook’s popularity is a direct result of its social significance.
Social networking is reshaping the human capacity for relationships. The most effective social networks have merged the Rolodex with communication, collaboration, and fellowship. You can now have more close friends, more casual friends, and more acquaintances than ever before because sites such as Facebook are streamlining the process of “keeping in touch.” In fact, here are seven ways that Facebook has improved my relationships:
1. Reconnection
Facebook makes it easy to find and reconnect with old friends, classmates, and co-workers. With more than 57 million active users, there are likely to be a few people on Facebook with whom you have lost contact.
2. Acquaintances
Before Facebook, it was not always easy to keep in touch with acquaintances, and unfortunately, I saw a good deal of relationships come and go because of it. Facebook makes it easy to keep in touch with the guy you met at a ministry conference or the girl who volunteers at your church. And these relationships are quite valuable. Author Malcolm Gladwell calls them “weak ties,” and he notes in his book The Tipping Point, “When it comes to finding out about new jobs—or, for that matter, new information, or new ideas—‘weak ties’ are always more important than strong ties.” This is because your acquaintances are much more likely than your close friends to know something that you do not know.
3. Staying Current
Because Facebook allows users to post photos, videos, and information about themselves to their profiles, it is extremely easy to see what is new in a Facebook friend’s life. Best of all, Facebook even alerts you about what is new.
4. Communication
Like email, Facebook allows members to communicate with each other when it is convenient. This is particularly useful when two people both have very busy schedules.
5. Collaboration
Facebook also offers tools called “Groups” and “Pages” that allow users to collaborate with each other via discussion boards and event scheduling.
6. Fellowship
Facebook offers hundreds of third-party-developed applications that give users additional features when added to their profiles. This includes quite a few games such as chess and Scrabulous, a Scrabble-like game, that can be played with friends and family no matter how geographically far apart they may be. I may not see my aunt in Alaska too often, but we can fellowship with a nice game of Scrabulous.
7. Networking
I’ve been surprised how many people I have connected with for the first time via Facebook. It is a great way to connect with readers of your blog, members of your church, or simply people with whom you have something in common.
And there are more benefits than just these seven. As I said before, Facebook is a useful as you make it, and it keeps becoming more practical as more users join —more people you already know and more people to get to know.
The Church and Facebook
Facebook also is useful to churches, and in my opinion, it is an opportunity that both big and small churches should take advantage of. With millions of users, it is a great place for marketing, but more important, Facebook is a great place for relationships. It is a way to do ministry and interact throughout the week instead of just on Sunday. There are quite a few ways that your church can use Facebook, but here are seven to get you thinking:
1. Get a Personal Profile
User profiles are not intended for organizations, but for people. So do not create a profile for your church, but create a personal profile for yourself. After all, the best ministry is one-on-one relationships, and this is a way you can interact personally with the people God has called you to reach.
2. Create a Facebook Group
Facebook Groups and Pages are where you can create an area specifically for your church. Both are free. Groups allow you to tell a bit about your church, post links, upload photos, upload videos, and interact with members of your group via a discussion board and “the Wall” (a bulletin board feature that allows members to post quick messages). Two other useful features of Groups are the abilities to send a message to all Group members at once and to schedule events.
3. Create a Facebook Page
Facebook Pages are like Groups, but a little more robust. With Pages you can add applications, integrate an advertising campaign, and track member statistics. The statistics include gender and age percentages of members, as well as data on page views, unique users, wall posts, discussion topics, photo views, and video plays for your Page. I recommend creating a Facebook Page rather than a Facebook Group.
4. Learn from Free Community Statistics
With your personal profile you are allowed to join a geographic network of users. For example, I am part of the Tulsa, OK network. By clicking on “Networks” in the main navigation, you can see content exclusive to the members of your network, including network statistics. These network statistics include percentages of members’ gender, political views, and relationship status and top-10 lists of cultural preferences such as music, movies, interests, TV, and books. Currently, the majority of Facebook users in Tulsa are single, female, and politically conservative, and they prefer country music, The Notebook, Family Guy, and the Bible. It is a convenient resource for learning about the culture of your community.
5. Conduct a Poll
If you are interested in doing some research of your own, Facebook also offers a polling feature. For a small fee (25 cents to $1 per response), you can create a poll targeted to Facebook users of specific gender, age, location, interests, and other demographic data.
6. Use Advertising
Facebook also offers advertising options that can be targeted like Facebook Polls and that include performance metrics of who responds to your advertising. You can choose to pay by the click or by the view.
7. Develop an Application
If you like web development, you could even consider creating you own application. That is what LifeChurch.tv of Edmond, OK did. Their application markets their Internet church campus by giving information about the current sermon series and showing a countdown until the next service.
There are plenty of options for how your church can get involved on Facebook. It is still a new tool for churches, and many have been experimenting to discover how to use it most effectively. One thing is certain—it is an exciting time for Facebook and the Church, and you should be a part of it.
Kent Shaffer is the founder of ChurchRelevance.com, an online resource created to inspire and train ministers to be more relevant and effective. He also co-owns Bombay Creative, a ministry-oriented design and marketing firm.