Social Networking Websites
- Posted by Steve K. on July 2nd, 2007 filed in Uncategorized
- 4 Comments »
In order to reach the younger generations, mission organizations (like SIM) are going to have to start venturing out into the cyberspace of social networking websites. I hope to talk about this a little bit at our Communication Consultation in the UK in August.
We’re already beginning to “test the waters,” so to speak, with forays into YouTube (SIM International and SIM USA), MySpace (SIM USA), and Facebook (SIM International and HOPE for AIDS).
Looking at the global map of social network sites, Facebook is already showing its strengths over MySpace internationally. While all the buzz was about MySpace six months ago, Facebook is all the rage today, and the landscape could shift again as quickly if/when another site emerges as the favorite of teens and 20-30 year olds. Erik Hersman sees huge opportunities on the continent of Africa, where no site has emerged yet as the dominant player.
Wikipedia offers this more comprehensive list of social networking websites, along with an estimate of their scope and their audience/focus.
As hundreds of thousands of people join these social networking sites every day, it’s becoming clear that in order to communicate with them now and in the future—whether it’s about opportunities to serve, ways they can be involved through prayer, or even donating to projects online—we need to be where they are. And they are flocking to these social networking sites in droves.
So ask around and find out what social networking sites are most popular with the young people in your part of the world, and then log on, sign up, and create a presence online there to meet them where they’re at. Make sure it’s a coordinated effort—with recruiters, fundraisers, and communication folks all working together—and don’t worry if you haven’t got hours and hours every day to spend on this. Even a few hours per week will be an investment well made as we seek be strategic and stay relevant with our mission-engaged audiences around the world. (And don’t forget to tell me where I can find your profiles so we can be “friends”!)
UPDATE 7/6/2007: Jeff over at Missionary Geek had a great post this week about social networking sites, and he posted this video that explains how these sites work in “plain English.” Enjoy!
UPDATE 7/8/2007: My friend Stephen Shields has just written an excellent paper for Leadership Network entitled “Online Social Networking Tools for the Church.” You can download it as a PDF file here. I highly recommend grabbing a copy of this while it’s available! (HT: Stephen Shields, of course)
July 2nd, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Beyond the mass-market social networking sites, there are also a lot of foundations/organizations that have online communities as part of their web presence. Two I recently joined up at are omidyar.org and ted.com. Great resources for information and contacts.
If you’re on either let me know, would be honored to be your friend.
July 2nd, 2007 at 9:43 pm
I completely agree with you and have been thinking about the best way to go about this. I would be very interested in having a inter-SIM discussion about this somehow and involved in a brainstorming or planning session. Maybe a few of us could do a Skype conference about this. We are trying to get an online community going with our Western Aussie website and forum but its hard to get people to sign up. I wonder whether we need a central SIM forum and have sections like USA, Australia, UK etc…..?
July 3rd, 2007 at 8:39 am
Ning.com might be another site SIM might want to check in to. Ning.com actually allows you to build your own social network which is kind of a cool idea.
July 3rd, 2007 at 11:45 pm
[...] One of my interests is how missionaries can use modern technologies for better communication, so I am glad to see Kingdom Journalism post on Social Networking Websites and Missionaries. [...]