Social Media are taking the world by storm. We increasingly connect with others electronically more than through any other medium. Should churches and ministries utilize this new phenomenon? Does it at least demand serious investigation?

Social media isn’t really new. While it has only recently become part of mainstream culture and the business world, people have been using digital media for networking, socializing and information gathering – almost exactly like now – for over 30 years.

The original social media network is called the telephone. Other methods of social networking through the 1970's and 1980's included several attempts at chat rooms, podcasts via voicemail, and electronic bulletin board systems. Social networking as we know it today began when the world wide web became publicly available on August 6, 1991. By the late 1990's, internet forums grew in popularity and began replacing the old systems. The first social networking website was SixDegrees, which let people make profiles and connect with friends in 1997. This kind of interactive, social web application style became popularly known as “Web 2.0” and it really gained momentum with Friendster around 2002-3, followed by MySpace (2004 – 2006) and then Facebook (2007 -> ). The big trend on the web is moving away from static “pages” and into real-time stream of status updates on what is hot and happening right now. The most popular mediums capitalizing on this demand are Twitter and Facebook. Although is trails in actual use, Twitter has caught up with Facebook in awareness and brand recognition.

The significant problems that arise in the realm of social media are human. For example, with this great new way to express oneself, users can at times post things they would not share on reflection. Social media is a public forum, and anything shared is potentially shared not only with one's friends, but with the entire planet. Therefore, expressing one's dissatisfaction with one's employer via social media is a good way to end your employment in a matter of hours. a good rule of thumb is if you would not print it on a billboard, do not post it via social media.

Another problem arises with the sheer number of social media outlets available. If you sign up even a handful of social networks and web services — think Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn — you've got multiple lists of contacts to manage in each place. Most of these services let you import contacts from at least two of the others, and even do repeat imports to find friends who've recently signed up for a service you've used for a while. However, you get the most out of each of these social tools when you take the time to groom your contacts, organizing them around different contexts and scaling your level of contact to the closeness of your relationship. But there is no way to keep your Twitter lists in sync with your Facebook lists, or to create LinkedIn relationships that reflect your contact organization in Gmail. With so many networks and contacts to keep organized, the experience becomes less than satisfying and even burdensome. Information overload is a common problem.

Today we're more likely to be drowned in a river of feeds, not to mention e-mail, texts, updates, voicemail, and the phone. There are great tools for creating, finding, organizing and viewing content, but very little to help thin out and manage the volume of information that now flows online. The challenge of information overload and attention management isn't just a technical problem, it is a human problem.

Despite the inherent problems in using social media, it has taken the world by storm. "A recent study surveyed just over 1000 Americans and asked questions such as when, where, and how much time they spend on sites and services like Facebook and Twitter. It turns out that many of us are obsessed.

Not only do we check Facebook and Twitter throughout the day, almost half of the respondents said they check in on the social media scene in bed, during the night, or as soon as they wake up in the morning. And no big surprise here: users under the age of 25 tweet more at night than older users" (Dyer, 2010, ¶3).

Recently, Starbucks® used social media to attract customers in a very successful advertising campaign. Starbucks’s Vice President of Brand, Content and Online, (Van Grove, 2010) revealed that "last year’s Free Pastry Day was a whopping success, driving more than one million people to stores" (¶1).

The Free Pastry Day promotion offered via Twitter and Facebook a free pastry alongside the purchase of any beverage until 10:30am local time. Activity on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook became electric on the day of the event as the free pastry news spread in digital form. Starbucks credits fans with the idea to use social media to drive new business (Van Grove, 2010). Starbucks also "speaks to the success of the company’s Tax Day green initiative to get customers to bring in their own tumblers in exchange for free coffee, which — like Free Pastry Day — was primarily promoted online via their Facebook Page" (Van Grove, 2010 ¶3). "Right now there’s no big brand better embracing social media than Starbucks. The coffee retailer has managed to dominate on Facebook, made news as the first company to offer a nationwide Foursquare deal, and was selected to try out Twitter’s Promoted Tweets ad platform before other advertisers will have the chance" (Van Grove, 2010, ¶ 4).

Currently, Facebook leads the way as the preferred medium of sharing information with our social network (Carlson and Angelova, 2009). In fact, with 400 million users, Facebook boasts more users than some countries' population (Zuckerberg, February 4, 2010, ¶1).

Twitter is not far behind. A recent study captured and articulated the popularity of Twitter in the United States. Edison Research and Arbitron Internet recently surveyed 1,753 Americans age 12 and over to reveal the people using Twitter and defining a new era of communication. They found that the social media giant can boast 17 million users in the United States alone (Edison 2010). With growing use and popularity, social media is here to stay. As a technologically savvy population increasingly turns to the internet for news, research, and information, the use and proliferation of social media will undoubtedly continue to skyrocket.

In fact, according to journalist Stephanie Gleason (2010), “Social media’s prominence has led many news organizations to hire social media editors, full-time staff members – sometimes several full-time staff members – completely dedicated to the rapidly growing phenomenon” (p. 6). These new managers of “citizen journalism” (Gleason, 2010, p. 6) monitor social media for news tips and trends of interest to users, making sure that traditional news reporters are abreast of current happenings of interest. They also provide news bits via social media outlets that direct interested readers to their news outlets for more information. The secular world of news and media has jumped into social media with both feet and plans to stay.

SOCIAL MEDIA IN MINISTRY

Christian author, researcher, church-planter, and social media mogul Ed Stetzer (2010) sees four distinct benefits of social media to ministry:

• Social media assist in community. “Social media itself cannot create enough community for us to live as God intends, but they can be a part of it” (¶2). Virtual community and real community are not at odds with each other. They should be and can be friends, virtual helping the real. Social media can connect people in ways that allow them to share over issues large and small. Many times people will share over social media aspects of their life they would not share otherwise. This allows friends to share that part of life with inspiration and encouragement.
• Social media assist in communication. In this age many reply on electronic communication over other forms of communication. Better still, these forms of communication follow us around, and cannot be forgotten or misplaced.
• Social media assist in inspiration. While many choose to share only the mundane via social media outlets, others are choosing to share valuable theological, classical, Scriptural, and read-worthy information. “Therefore, this medium can serve as a means of introducing participants to theologians, pastors, writers, musicians, books, conferences, and so on” (¶6).
• Social media allow better introductions. “Admittedly, people who use social networking choose to share more of themselves. However, in doing so, they have the opportunity to show the work of the gospel in their thinking, family, and lives” (¶7).

Southern Baptist seminary president and theologian Albert Mohler (2010) writes, “In 1 Peter 3:15, the faithful Christian is described as “always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” Christians must be engaged in the public conversation that goes on all around us. Like the old media of print and airwaves, the new media demand our attention — not just because they are the conduits of what is new, interesting, and entertaining — but because these are the media currently shaping the minds around us, igniting the interest of the public, establishing what our friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens understand as reality” (¶9).

Missionary Karl Dahlfred (June 4, 2010) agrees. On his blog post, entitled “Should Missionaries use Facebook and Twitter?”, he gives similar reasoning for why social media can be beneficial, including increased communication with one’s support base and potential supporters. For a missionary living abroad, the quick and easy communication social media provides can be invaluable.

Conclusions

Based on the analysis of social media and its current successful uses in secular venues as well as some Christian ministries, the following conclusions are observed:

1. Social media are the fastest-growing new avenue of communication in the world today.
2. In a new era of global communication, people are connecting electronically more than ever before.
3. The costs of using social media are practically negligible.
4. Social media are already being used in various ministries with great success.

On the basis of these findings, the author recommends that local churches and Christian ministries investigate and utilize social media to enhance their ministry communication and productivity.

Sources:

Dyer, P. (March 21, 2010). We’re addicted to social networks: 48% of us check them in bed. Pamorama.net. Retrieved from http://www.pamorama.net/2010/03/21/were-addicted-to-social-networks-48-of-us-check-them-in-bed  

Starbucks used social media to get one million to stores in one day. (2010, June 8). Mashable.com. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2010/06/08/starbucks-mashable-summit/

Carlson, N. & Angelova, K. (July 21, 2009). Chart of the day: How people share content on the web. Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-social-networking-sites-dominate-sharing-2009-7

Zuckerberg, M. (2010, February 4). Six years of making connections. Facebook Blog. Message posted to http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=287542162130 

Edison Research. (2010, April 29). Twitter usage in America: 2010. Retrieved from http://www.edisonresearch.com/twitter_usage_2010.php  

Gleason, S. (2010 Spring). Harnessing social media: News outlets are assigning staffers to focus on networking. American Journalism Review, 32.1, p. 6-7. 

Stetzer, E. (2010, June 1). The blessings of the new media. Tabletalk Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/blessings-new-media/

Mohler, A. (2010, June 1). After the revolution. Tabletalk Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/after-revolution/

Dahlfred, K. & S. (2010, June 4). Should missionaries use Facebook and Twitter? Dahlfred.com. Message posted to http://dahlfred.com/en/blogs/gleanings-from-the-field/351-should-missionaries-use-facebook-and-twitter