The Church’s Use of Social Media: Harmful or Helpful?
Consider what this recent study has to say to the Church’s use of social media. HT: WordPost
Here’s a clip from the article:
“Social networks are creating a monumental shift in how people communicate with each other and with brands,” said Michael Kahn, SVP of Marketing at Performics. “The results of this study can help marketers better understand where and how consumers interact with social media sites and what types of offers and communications engage them and motivate them to act.”
The study also shows the immense opportunity for engaging with consumers on specific social networking sites:
- Forty-six percent of respondents say they would talk about or recommend a product on Facebook
- Forty-four percent of Twitter users have recommended a product
- Thirty-six percent of YouTube users say that they have gone to an online retailer or ecommerce site after learning about a brand on a social network site
“The numbers are staggering. One in four respondents have four or more active social network accounts and more than one quarter access their Facebook or Twitter accounts at least once a day via their mobile phone,” notes Scott Haiges, President of ROI Research. “We knew that these sites are extremely popular for socializing, but the level of interest for branding and promotional marketing content is surprisingly large.”
There’s an interesting book that was published ten years ago before the advent of most of our “social media” that really did touch on a lot of the issues that organizations had (and still have) in dealing with social networks. The book is written in that dot-com bombastic style that was popular back in that timeframe, but the authors do hit on the notion that institutions (in this case companies) have to adapt to interacting on a more personal level with their customers.
http://www.cluetrain.com/
This is something that (coming from ELCA-land) I’ve admired about things that have cropped up in LC-MS land: a sense that there are people in higher places that “get it” in terms of interacting with a community. For example: how CPH has opened the door to social networks compared to other publishers, the ability of Issues, Etc. to survive despite “the institution”, Matt Harrison’s blog where he ‘dialogs’ with readers through video, and a host of other things that LC-MS pastors are taking up to interact with the public at large.
In direct comparison, the institution of the ELCA can seem like a carcass that is being torn apart from all sides, such as CORE and “luthermergent”. While the ELCA promotes a ‘big tent’ philosophy, the actual institution seems unable to adapt to the ability of people and congregations to organize in different ways. The ELCA seems unable to grow a community in the way that a growing segment of the LC-MS is organizing. (There are, of course, other reasons for that which I expect other commenters to take up.)
I also need to recognize that Lutheran World Relief is growing in a way that allows their organization to interact directly with their supporters and constituencies in a way that they haven’t before.
The use of new media in our time is no different from the new media of Luther’s time: Printing Press.
We need to remember that these are just tools, nothing more. As tools, new ones will be invented. We like our new toys (or tools) so we what to figure out how to use them. But what must not change in the content. If the tool causes us to change the content of the Gospel, then we should not use that tool.
Like most things, I think it can be both helpful and harmful, depending on the situation. Interactions I had on some forums over the course of about 3 years played a large role in my journey to becoming a Lutheran. That was a positive.
However, I recently joined facebook, and I found myself thinking about the earlier blog entry you had about the difference between screading and reading and its effects on the way we assimilate information. I wondered if the plethora of people who are digitally popping up from my past aren’t keeping me from focusing my attention properly on the people right in front of me. And, I wondered whether the digitalization of human interaction might not affect us in ways we cannot now predict. For example, will it exacerbate the current tendency in the evangelical world to view the human body as irrelevant – with the soul being the only thing that matters? I wonder.