New Media for Unitarian Universalists
Posted by: InterConnections, a UUA publication for lay leaders, has a new article exploring how “Congregations Utilize Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Podcasting.” The piece provides a newcomer-oriented overview of the major tools in use by congregations and is based on interviews with growth consultant for the Ballou Channing District growth consultant Peter Bowden and me.
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To Shelby Meyerhoff: I’ve read your InterConnections article on Facebook Twitter, etc. WHY use these when a church already has a website that is accessible via the Internet???
Hey, thanks for being this resource. We’re trying to get our feet wet in using Facebook as a useful tool in our congregation.
I read the article and then went to visit the West Virginian’s Facebook page. It doesn’t seem like the “registration” or “status” of the page is quite right. The messages at the top of the Wall “Send Unitarian a message” and at the top of Info “Know Unitarian? Send her a message” don’t seem perfectly desirable.
Isn’t there like an “Organization” status that you can register as? And isn’t there the opportunity to register your connection to an organization (or event?) as a “Fan” as opposed to a “Friend”? I think I’m a “Fan” of Standing on the Side of Love and not a friend. Thanks. P
Hi Paul,
Good catch! It looks to me too like the congregation is using a “friend” profile on Facebook instead of a page.
Thank you for pointing this out. I’ve e-mailed your comment to Interconnections.
In this particular case, a friend profile seems to be working out ok for the congregation. But as you noted, the standard and strongly-recommended practice is for organizations to set up pages (like Standing on the Side of Love), not personal profiles. More information about why pages are beneficial to organizations is available here: http://tinyurl.com/y9ebfon
Also, since your congregation is just starting out on Facebook, you might find helpful the UUA’s suggested “Dos and Don’ts for Unitarian Universalist Congregations Using Facebook”: http://tinyurl.com/yby8k2m
Additional how-to resources on congregational new media use are available at http://www.uua.org/newmedia
Thank you for getting in touch and please let me know if you have any other observations or questions.
Hi Diane,
Thanks for your question! I’ve e-mailed you with more information and also published part of the reply as a post on this blog (at http://newmedia.blogs.uua.org/2010/02/01/q-why-should-my-congregation-have-a-facebook-page-when-we-already-have-a-website/ ), so that others can read the answer as well.