As many other bright and much more brilliant minds that I have pointed out, the social web… the ability to share and receive information with networks of friends, co-workers, and acquaintances… is one of the most significant culture shifts to take place in our time. While the mediums have changed and continue to morph, the idea, relationships, and power of the social web have only continued to increase.

It can be exhausting to try and keep up with everything… I mused last week on Twitter: Tweets, Likes, Circles, +1′s, Friend Requests, DMs, Pokes, Adds, Status Updates… it’s all too much! #socialmediaoverload

However, after poking around and reading up on Google+, the early adopter in me is thinking this is something with paying attention to. Think about it:

• Radio took 38 years to reach 50 million users
• TV took 13
• Internet took 4 years
• iPods took 3 years
• Google+ added 10 million users in less than 3 weeks… and this is just in the exclusive, by-invitation-onluy debut. It’s just beginning.

I loved this video description of Google+:

Sharing is the currency of social media.

Google+ is redefining and simplifying the way we can share information. Instead of making lists or groups, Google+ makes it easy to add your friends to various circles and customize both your view of their news feed and allows you to select the content you share with your circles.

But, don’t take my word for it, here’s some great content from people wiser than me that’s worth reading:

• Google+: The  Complete Guide – everything you need to know
• 10 Things CMOs Need To Know About Google+
• How Google+ Can Beat Twitter
• For the churchy-types: The Pluses of Google+ for Church Leaders
• Is Google+ The Ultimate Content Marketing Platform?
• Google will not run Circles around Facebook, but it gets a +1

One of my favorite movies last year was “The Social Network,” and in a lot of ways, I feel like we are in the early days of “The Facebook.” There’s still some kinks in the system, it’s not perfect, everyone isn’t fully-connected yet but there’s room for infinite possibilities. We have no way of predicting where this will be in a few months or in the next year.

Google underwhelmed us with Wave and Buzz, but I feel like they are right on target for redefining the social web experience with Google+.

For church communications folks,  you would be well-advised to get ahead of the curve on this one. Who knows how this could be leveraged for churches or how the church could use it to empower our people to spread the word?

The entire social web revolution is in many ways a 21st century return to the roots of our faith. Our faith was a grassroots movement. There was no marketing or fanfare, only a group of people who knew they had something they needed to share with the entire world. Our faith spread from person-to-person from household-to-household, from city-to-city to the ends of the earth. All we see and experience today is a return to that personal sharing and telling of our story, from individuals to their networks, circles, and friends.

Google+ is a new platform and opportunity for us to consider what’s next.

We’ve got the greatest message worth sharing and we would be taking it and sharing it wherever people are… offline or online.

What about you? What are your thoughts on Google+?

Let’s Circle up! Add me on Google+!

Not on Google+ yet? I’ve got some invites, so drop a comment and I’ll try to an invite to as many of you as possible.

Facebook Inc., the world’s largest social-networking site, surpassed Google Inc.’s search engine in weekly hits to become the most visited Web site in the U.S. for the first time, according to research firm Hitwise.

Facebook.com accounted for 7.07 percent of visits in the week ended March 13, topping Google.com’s 7.03 percent, New York-based Hitwise said in a March 15 blog post. Facebook almost tripled its visits from a year earlier, compared with 9 percent growth at Google, the most popular search engine. (via Business Week)

Do you need any more reasons why your church needs to be active on Facebook?

Some churches are doing a great job using Facebook, some even have Internet Campuses on Facebook, and others, sadly, are still blocking their church staff from viewing it.  Regardless, I think this presents one simple reason why we need to be on Facebook: It’s where people are, online.

With baby boomers being one of the fastest growing user groups on Facebook, it’s no longer just something the young kids are doing anymore. My mom added me as a friend on Facebook the other day. I sort of freaked out.

Facebook presents an incredible opportunity for churches to connect with their congregations as well as those who they may never be able to reach.

Every church needs to have a Facebook Page.

A Facebook Page is going to become as important to churches as having a website.

The good news is Facebook Pages are FREE and easy to set up!

Your church should have one global Facebook page that is the information hub for your church on Facebook.  From there, individual ministries and/or church campuses should have Groups, and you should link to all of the Groups from your Page.

Emails are growing more and more passé and are being unread and deleted more frequently than we care to admit. Social media is now a key way we are connecting with people and driving them to our online content. Twitter and Facebook are in the top 5 referrers to our church website. That says something.

At Park, we rely on Facebook and Twitter to stay on people’s radar throughout the week. I posted awhile ago about Park’s Twolicy [Twitter policy] and the same ideals drive how we use Facebook.

If there’s a major churchwide event, we post it… if we have a new sermon or video, we post it… if we have photos from an even, we post them. You get the idea.

And the cool part is, as people who are ‘Fans’ interact and respond to our content, either by ‘liking it’ or commenting, it goes to their News Feed, which then goes out to hundreds and thousands of their friends, who in turn, can check out what the are liking and commenting about and then be connected with our content. That’s some of the best FREE advertising your church can do!

Look at Facebook as an extension of your church website and a vehicle to drive people to your content.

Park’s Facebook Page

Late yesterday afternoon we relaunched Park’s Facebook Page with a customized landing page. [Apparently that was great timing with the news of Facebook passing Google.]

If people aren’t Fans of Park on Facebook, it will take them straight to our custom ‘Welcome’ page that gives a quick snapshot of who we are and ways to connect with us… our campuses, events, volunteering, and our Sunday services. We also linked to other social media [Twitter, Vimeo, Podcast, etc].

It’s a short and simple way to give people some options and all of the links go to our website where they can explore and learn more about us.

If people are Fans, they bypass the Welcome page and go straight to our Wall.

It’s pretty sweet and I’m excited to see how people respond.

How Did You Do That?

We didn’t.

Eric Edwards from MonsterEyes did.

We saw the Page he did for Soul City Church and loved it, so I shot him an email. Turns out he was in town helping Jarrett Stevens with his move from ATL to Chicago, so we met up to talk. Fast forward two weeks later, our Page went live.

Eric does awesome work and is VERY affordable.  Check him out. [And he didn’t pay me to say that.]

Final Thought

Your church needs to have a presence on Facebook. You don’t have to have a fancy Page to be effective… you need to start of by having a Page period. If Facebook is a place where people are going, interacting and conversing, we, as the Church, need to be there too. It’s just that simple.

Jesus went to where people were, so should we.

The goal at the end of the day isn’t that they get connected with us, but that [through what we do] they get connected to Him!

And if you ask me, I think in under 4 minutes it presents a rather compelling reason why you, as a church leader, and your church MUST engage with social media.

The revolution is coming.

It’s already here.

I have a lot of Facebook friends, and many of them aren’t so connected to my life as a church communications person… and aren’t very interested in what I have to say, professionally, but still care about me on a personal level.

Michael’s reasons for deleting his Facebook friends and building out a Page were because he wanted to have a closer knit community connected to him on Facebook. He went from a couple thousand friends to like 100. A little dramatic, maybe… but I get it.

I’m not about to delete and friends or reject any friendships… but at the same time I’ve avoided connecting my Twitter account and my blog RSS feed to my Facebook profile because I didn’t want to clog my non church communications friends with endless drivel about thinks like Snow Leopard, conferences, etc.

So, all that being said … if you want to follow the madness via Facebook, join my Facebook page. I hate the word “fan,” but I can’t help that… and while you’re at it feel free to add me as a friend, too!

Just one more way for you to stay connected…

—
Monk Development and a number of other faith-based media outlets are sponsoring a study of the Church online… looking at how churches are using and interacting with social media and the web. [Check out Drew's blog for more.]

Some results they found…

• 51% of participating churches are on Facebook
  - Churches are using Facebook as an extension of their church.
  - More informational, used more as communications vehicle, less of a community building presence.
• Limited use of MySpace, Second Life, GoogleGroups, etc.
• 21% on Twitter
• A small number are using a members portal or private community site (Unifyer, TheCommon.org, 360Hubs, etc).
• 82% of surveyed churches didn’t even know about the different products out there.
• Encourage your church to register your church name on different social media outlets so you have rights to your name.
• Church networking and community sites have made little inroads into the church.
• A problem with all of the different avenues out there is that there’s not a collected, central spot to communicate from… especially if your church is not leading the way and providing a consistent platform for people to use.

Social Media Desires
What feature/funcationality are people in our churches looking for from our church websites?

• Event Sign-up/RSVP’s.
• Post Prayer Requests.
• Connect People to Service Opportunities.
• Connect with Small Groups.
• Integration with church website.
• Resource sharing.
• Ability to access TV/phone directory.

Congregations didn’t care about:

• blogging
• ability to post classifieds
• ability to post photos in photo galleries
• ability to post jobs

Most mainstream social networking sites do no offer churches the seamless solutions they seek.

Questions to Ask on Building Community

1. Is virtual community real community?
2. What is Biblical community? How are we living out Biblical community in a real way?
3. How can technology assist in this process? It can assist, but it cannot replace. It must drive people into real relationships.

Discipleship

1. How many of you feel like you have been discipled online? Online discipleship is a dangerous thing when it’s done outside of real life relationships. It’s more than courses, training and learning… it’s about relationships.
2. How can technology assist this process? There are tools and resources we can use to communicate and enhance discipleship.

Most church online media is used for communication, contact, event and small group management, etc. Primarily focused on “us” and not focused on the individual and not contributing to building community, connecting people, etc.

Top challenges of using social media in churches.

• Amount of effort required
• Identifying appropriate goals/ROI
• Fostering real community
• Cultural resistance from congregation or church leadership.

For more information about the State of the Church Online Study, click here.

Also, check out the Cobblestone Community Network, a new tool designed to help the Church be the Church, online… designed by Drew + his team at Ekklesia360.

Have you ever wondered what the week of the Passion would have looked via Facebook?

Well some clever soul (if you know who made this let me know!) has given us his take on it.

Check it out