What’s Cool:
LiveKite is a social networking site that is exclusively Christian and targeted at bringing small groups together online. Right off the bat you’ll notice that the site is very intuitive and its simple yet beautiful design resembles that of Twitter and other Web 2.0 sites. Similar to Facebook or MySpace, users can create a profile, join groups, blog, share photos and videos, and even post music. The LiveKite team has even posted a helpful video that shares ways to use the site to connect your small group on a whole new level. As a free tool, the only things church leaders risk when investing in LiveKite for their ministry is time and energy (not that we’re implying church leaders have an abundance of either).
What’s Not:
Pastors and small group leaders might have a hard time convincing people to join another social networking site and start a new profile on an exclusively Christian site. Though the site is good, it doesn’t yet offer the kinds of unique features that would convince users to walk away from the big boys, Facebook and MySpace, and network exclusively on LiveKite. This isn’t exactly LiveKite’s fault, but as a new resource, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of activity established on the site. That means you’re unlikely to discover existing friends and contacts on LiveKite among the limited user base (less than 1,500 people at the time of this review). Also, the artist profile pages on the site lack a lot of star power and are instead heavy on unknown and unsigned acts.
Bottom Line:
LiveKite is well designed and holds great potential for church small groups, but the majority of its features are available elsewhere in the world of social networking. Going forward, we’re interested to see how LiveKite evolves. If the site adds more features as it says it will, LiveKite could be one of the best social networking resource for small groups and their leaders (assuming those leaders can persuade their group members to dive into LiveKite).
Since this review was published in the July/August issue of COLLIDE, LiveKite has made some changes and added a few more features to the site. Visit their site and help them become even better.