Well, the actual application itself hasn’t changed my life, but the connections, opportunities and relationships that have been a part of my life the past four years [yeah, I was a nerd in 2007 when I joined] were in many ways a result of my engagement on Twitter. It’s pretty hard for me to imagine my life without Twitter and the good it has created in my life, both personally and professionally.

Thanks to Twitter, I’ve been connected with people I would have never had the opportunity to meet before and have people in my life who I would consider to be close friends that I haven’t even met in person yet. Projects like Outspoken and the Cultivate Conference would have never been possible without the Twitter community of church communications people backing it. My friendship with people like Jason Fried would have never been possible if it weren’t for Twitter [that's a crazy story I'll have to tell you sometime]. And, from my days @ParkChurch, there were countless stories of how people found out about Park through Twitter.

Twitter is a a simple tool but the good that it instigates and creates is non-negotiable.

Twitter launched a new initiative today that I’m already in love with: @twitterstories… real-life stories of how Twitter has created good, connected people, saved lives, given people a voice, and sparked movements. It’s beautiful, worth following and definitely worth the time to read.

And, being a church communications guy let me say this…

First, if your church or church leaders are hesitant to embrace social media, let this be yet another example of why it works and why it matters… you and your church MUST engage with social media. Just forward a few of these stories to your skeptics and see what they say. And use these stories as examples of ways your church could reach out and connect with people in your community. Creating good is just a part of “loving our neighbor as ourself.” Twitter puts you in direct connection with your neighbors and your community in ways that were never imaginable before. There are countless examples of how churches are leveraging this simple platform and reaching people with the Gospel.

Second, this again illustrates the power of storytelling. Stories create powerful human connection. Instead of just sharing statistics or information, this site brings the human side to the good being created by Twitter. It’s much more moving than some analytics. The stories are moving and give Twitter humanity beyond the technology… imagine if your church could create a similar platform for people to share their stories? Just some food for thought.

Thanks, Twitter for all you do. I’m a believer.  Thanks for sharing these amazing stories and for giving us space to tell them.

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.

• Only the courageous will engage problems that never have been addressed.
• His father started a pizza restaurant with his best friend called 2 Nice Guys when he was 19 years old.
• Their business was doing well and they needed to hire more help.
• They made one rule: they wouldn’t date the wait staff.
• The first person they hired would later be Jack’s mom.
• His parents willingness and commitment to living in cities gave him a love for the city.
• “I get most of my inspiration from walking around in the city.”
• “The city is my muse.”
• When they first got a computer he would draw maps of cities.
• With a police scanner, he began mapping out emergency vehicles, and eventually added cars, trains, etc that made a living-breathing picture of the city.
• He started a career for a company called DMS, the largest dispatch company in the country.
• He got his job by finding a hole in their website and contacting them letting them know how to fix it.

Start of Twitter

• Worked in dispatch and moved to San Fran in ’99 to start a more web-centric dispatch firm.
• Dropped out of school.
• Hired a CEO to run their first company and that was mistake #1.
• He used LiveJournal and instant messenger a lot.
• He was good at recognizing when technology should be blended.
• He realized his dispatch work gave him a beautiful, vertical picture of the city, but there were no humans in it.
• There were no citizens.
• In early 2001, he decided he wanted his friends on there and wanted to be able to instantly update where he was and what he was doing and share it with his friends and receive their updates.
• Took a weekend with a primal version of the blackberry and coded a program to send email updates with his blackberry.
• It’s not important to be lucky but to cultivate an awareness when fortunate situations arise.
• Began working at a podcasting company with Evan Williams and Biz Stone.
• They were crushed by iTunes podcast  directory and decided to find something else.
• They started twitter in February 2006.
• He sent out the first tweet, “Inviting co-workers.”
• The greatest value of twitter is that is changes every single day with every single tweet.
• Twitter is a utility.
• A utility is something you can build products and your own definition upon.
• Twitter is being redefined every single day with every single tweet sent by millions of people around the world.
• The “@” symbol, the RT:, the #, the trending topics and search were all invented outside of the company.
• The word “tweet” was something they thought was ridiculous but they embraced it.
• The word “tweet” came from the users.
• Twitter is a utility people can see as a blank canvas and build whatever product they want.
• People can build a social movement, promotion, market research, create a distribution network, etc.
• Twitter is a concept that is up to everyone to define.
• People define and redefine the system every single day.
• The true inspiration is that people can take something that was a small spark of an idea and make into something impactful to the world.
• We are just building a tool.
• We need to make sure it stays up, technically.
• We need to make sure we can sustain it.

On What He’s Learned Leading Twitter

• You can only do so much when you are alone.
• It takes a team working together and excellent communication to make something massive happen.
• My role as a leader in the company and a leader in this organization is editorial.
• First editorial role: Concern yourself with building and editing a team: getting the best people and make sure they are happy and love what they are doing. Remove negative.
• Internal and external communication.
• Internal communication = that everyone has on the surface what is most important.
• They have all-hands meetings every Friday where they share everything they are doing and working on.
• Second editorial: Culture built around transparency.
• External communication = product and utility we are building.
• Product has to be extremely well edited.
• Ideas aren’t coming from the leadership, engineers or team… they are coming from users.
• The people closest to what needs to happen make decisions for the utility.
• Third editorial: Make sure there is money in the bank.
• People need to feel confident there is runway to do the amazing things they want to do in the world.

Square

• Square is a simple technology, it’s up to you to make it revolutionary.
• Square is a way to send and receive money using a mobile device.
• Square doesn’t require a merchant account or anything that is typically required for accepting donations or taking payments.
• It exempts fees, which is great!

Commitment to Doing Good

• I’m always looking for a carbon offset to what we are doing.
• While we are getting rid of paper and ignorance … there’s a lot behind them we need to balance out and an offset we need to account for.
• Technology is simply a tool. It is not an end.
• It’s a way we can all use to foster more adoption, adaptability, and approach the world differently.
• Technology only mirrors what we already have
• It’s a reminder of what we have in our heads and souls to constantly connect
• Twitter at its best connects people instantly to what matters to them most.
• Technology is only great when it makes us more human
• Being human means doing good things.

A former staff member of Big Idea Productions [creators of VeggieTales] and Willow Creek, Dawn Nicole frequently contributes to today’s leading-edge thinking of integrating Christianity and culture but is best known as a change agent who is intent on stretching imaginations, connecting people and making a difference.

Dawn participated in the M2LIVE webinar series sharing on 5 Ways Social Media Can Kill Your Brand. Here’s my notes and you can check out Dawn’s here.

• Over 500 billion minutes per month are being spent on Facebook.
• One of the fastest-growing demographics is middle-aged women.
• Twitter is growing fastest in the age 12-16 demographic.
• People are now connecting with brands through social media.
• Everything is moving mobile.
• Over 30% of people who are connecting to social media are doing it through their smartphones and mobile devices.
• Hear how Park is using texting.
• Technology can be leveraged for “holy” things.
• Some churches are allowing people to text in prayer requests.

1 – To be unprepared

• Organizations are rushing into the space out of a fear of being left behind.
• Since social media is free, many people are jumping into it without thinking about why.
• “If you fail to plan you are planning to fail.”
• Being unprepared will kill your brand.
• So many people are throwing darts without a bulls eye in mind.
• We have to have a clear, defined target.
• Planning is a key component of effectively using social media.
• There is no perfect fix.

2 – Having the wrong people lead it.

• Social media channels can get delegated down to the wrong person.
• It’s not the job for a tech person… they often don’t have the larger picture in mind.
• You need to look at social media as one of the first ways your church interacts with the public.
• Whoever is spearheading you communication channels needs to be involved in the flow of social media.
• Social media isn’t a siloed function of organizations.
• You have to have a cohesive identity in how you are expressed in social media.
• The people you put in leadership of social media will be “brand ambassadors” for your organization.
• Social media isn’t a task to tackle.
• It’s not an item on your checklist.
• Communications is another channel to deliver your vision.

3 – It’s not set it and forget it.

• It’s not uncommon for organizations to set up multiple accounts but have no one championing it.
• “If you build it they will come” doesn’t work anymore.
• If you build it, they expect a response.
• Silence on social media is worse than not having a social media presence.
• Every communications channel has its own rhythm.
• Content is king when it comes to blogs.
• Audience interaction determines the rhythm of other channels.
• Check Facebook and twitter hourly and daily and respond when appropriate.
• It changes the way we communicate and will impact our daily activities.
• Social media isn’t something everything should do.
• How does it fit around what you do well?

4 – Not Adding Value

• SPAM applies to content.
• People are looking value.
• Don’t just repeat what people have already heard.
• Leverage it to give new, relevant information to your audience.
• It’s not about YOU, it’s about your audience.
• How can you meet their needs?
• Social media is a two-way conversation.
• It’s also a listening tool to connect with your audience.
• You don’t have to always know the answer.

5 – Expecting miracles.

• Technology isn’t the end-all-be-all.
• Social media isn’t a substitute for other media channels.
• Print still has a place in most places.

Some examples of social media impact:

• Greenpeace vs Nestle
• OldSpice YouTube campaign
• TSA backlash

Closing Thoughts

• People have always had conversations but social media gives people a public platform to amplify them.
• Google removed front doors. It made everything accessible.
• Don’t get overwhelmed… you don’t have to do everything at once.
• Think through what you want to accomplish and how it fits who you are as a church.
• Does it matter to the people you are trying to reach?
• Planning will help your efforts become more fruitful and effective.
• Choose channels that are manageable. Try one at a time.
• Experiment and let people know about it.
• Experimenting gives you freedom to adjust.
• Don’t be afraid to collect information.
• Don’t be afraid to ask people questions to find the right channel.
• Conversation beats everything.

I’m not a huge fan of policies. They take too long to write out and shouldn’t really be an issue as long as you are managing what you are doing well.

That being said, here’s a few tips on how we use Twitter…

Why Do You Use Twitter?

I think this is an important question every church needs to answer.

Don’t Twitter because everyone else does, consider your audience and your context and determine if that’s an effective way for you to interact with them [and if it’s worth your time].  If it seems like a large number of people in your church use Twitter, strongly consider how you could integrate it into your communications strategy.

How Did You Start?

We set up a Twitter account for Park and connected it to the general email address that all of our church-wide emails are sent from. We didn’t promote we were on Twitter, we just let the account sit there. In less than six months we accumulated over 100 followers without advertising we were on Twitter… people were finding us. The 100 mark was my milestone to begin Twittering, so we did… about a year ago.

Who Twitters for Park?

I do. No special reason why it’s just me – I’m just the one person who does it well, so it falls on my shoulders. Other staffers do have access to the account. [If you want multiple people to manage your Twitter account, CoTweet is a great product to check out.].

Who Do You Follow?

We will follow back anyone who mentions us, retweets us [and doesn’t appear to be SPAM], and anyone who follows us who is from Chicago.

Why Follow?

9 times out of 10, anyone who follows us attends our church. Following them gives us a great window into their day-to-day life. We’re able to see what they are talking about, what they care about, and what they are saying about their experience at Park. It’s free research!

What Do You Tweet About?

We Tweet about a number of different things. The idea is to use Twitter to connect people to information that matters to them. We try to Tweet at least a couple of times per day, not to create noise, but to keep us at the top of people’s minds. [Also, we will typically update our Facebook Page status each time we post a new Tweet.] And, we use Twitter to help generate traffic to our site.

People have to go to websites to get information; social media enables information go to people.

If you look at our blog stats, one of the largest referrers to our site is Twitter and Facebook. So, use any form of social media as a vehicle to get people to your site – or wherever you deem your “central point” for disseminating information.

An Example of a Week in Twitter at Park

• Mondays – we post a Tweet when audio/video of weekend services is posted.
• Tuesdays – we’ll Tweet about any events going on that week for people to connect with.
• Wednesdays – link to an online version of our weekly enewsletter.
• Thursdays – focus on the weekend and events people can connect with during the weekend.
• Fridays – FollowFriday! On Fridays we typically do the FollowFriday thing and recommend staff members or ministries that we support.
• Weekends – we Tweet quotes from weekend messages, repost Tweets of what people are saying, and respond to questions/comments people make about their experience at Park.

Remember the most important thing…

The keyword in social media that is often overlooked is the word social. It’s meant to be a conversation, not a lecture. Don’t turn social media into another broadcast point, use it as a place to engage with you audience, to listen to what they are saying, respond to their questions, and bring more humanity to your church/organization.

Create Lists for Your Staff

One of the things we did recently was create a Twitter list of all of our staff members who Tweet. It’s a simple way of connecting our audience with people who work behind-the-scenes and make Park what it is. Again, another way to “humanize” your church.

Does Park’s Pastor Twitter?

Yes. A number of them do. Our lead pastor is @JaxnC. I don’t think every pastor should Twitter… most should. I addressed that in a previous blog entry.

Is there a “Twolicy” for Park’s Staff?

No. We trust our staff. We view all social media, blogs, etc. as the personal responsibility of our staff members. It’s their outlet and their place to be free to express their views/opinions and not an area we need to manage or control. We do, however, remind them that they do represent Park and to be mindful of that as they tweet and blog. Thus far we haven’t had any incidents or issues arise for us to do anything more than tell them to remember who they represent!

Even If You Aren’t Going to Twitter, Secure Your Account

A friend of mine works at a VERY large church that jumped on the Twitter bandwagon awhile ago. Well, the church didn’t… someone else did. Someone started a Twitter account for the church and began tweeting for them, following people [myself included] and quickly accumulated many followers. The only challenge was they had no idea who was doing it. Long story short, it turned out someone who was attending the church had started the account… he graciously gave the login info to the church who now manages it, but the lesson here is simple: create an account for your church, even if there are no plans to use Twitter on the horizon. This is a great rule of thumb for any form of social media for that matter.

Closing Thought…

Twitter isn’t a end all, be all… but can certainly be a great way to connect with your audience. Just remember it’s not another broadcast channel, but another way to engage.

We’re still learning ways to use it and for now, this is what we’ve learned.

What about you? Are there lessons you and your organization/church have learned from using Twitter? Any successes? Any lessons learned? Share them!

Here goes…

From Jenni in Indiana:

Hey Tim!

Our pastor has started using Twiiter and we are very new to it. I wondered if you could give me some help with this. Here are my questions…

1. Is it better for the pastor to Twitter, or would it be beter for our church to Twitter?
2. Our pastor doesn’t know how to handle managing all of the responses he’s getting on Twitter. He feels bad about not being able to be in open dialogue with everyone but there’s no way he can personally respond to everyone. He is very compassionate and doesn’t want to offend anyone. IS there a way he can keep Tweeting but not offend people if he doesn’t respond to them?

Hey Jenni,

Depending on your pastor and how you think he can manage Twittering for himself, I think both your pastor and your church should Twitter.

One of the great things that Twitter can do for a pastor is make him more “human” to people; it’s a great way for people to get an inside look at his life, things he’s thinking, what he’s doing with his family, etc.

Many pastors who Twitter share a balance of info on their ministry and their personal life… and that’s a great thing.

Your pastor might not be able to respond to everyone, but that’s ok. You don’t have to respond to everyone who responds to you on Twitter. If, for instance, he posted something and many people replied to it, he could simply post a Tweet that says, “thanks everyone for your feedback on that…” I think that most people understand that it’s impossible to personally reply everyone.

I would say let your pastor’s Twitter be focused on him… his world, his life, things he’s thinking, leadership insights… and our pastor, who Twitters (@JaxnC) will often use it to ask questions/research for his messages to get people’s input or feedback.

Also, just like our church, he follows back everyone who follows him that lives in Chicago or appears to attend our church. Following people back creates a great tool for him to be able to see what people are talking about!

Before your pastor jumps on the Twitter bandwagon, I’d recommend you have him join, follow some of the different Twittering pastors that are out there, and let him get a feel for how other pastors use Twitter. If he thinks he’s up to the task, then open the floodgates. [Also, exercise your own discretion. You know your pastor best and know if he could manage a Twitter following!]

For our church Twitter account, we post information about events, news, and use it as a way to communicate to our church throughout the week.

Also, on Sundays we monitor it and as people mention us or reference us,  and we respond back to them or retweet things people say about their experience… it adds a great personal touch.

Leverage your church Twitter account as a way to extend your message and as a communication channel to reach people throughout the week.

Hope this helps!

Tim

Yeah, I thought the same thing when I heard about this…

MGM Grand wants to take the guilt out of sinning. Tweet a sin on Twitter, along with #mgmsin, and enter to win a free room night at MGM Grand. The hotel will choose one winner at random each day for 30 days. MGM Grand will announce the winners on its Web site and on Twitter.

Unreal.

On one portion of their website, people choose whether or not the sings or forgivable or unforgivable, and whoever is voted the worst is rewarded with a free night at the MGM Grand.

If you read through what people have posted, most of it is fairly light-hearted, but still… woah.

What do you think about this? What’s your response?

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 stopped following @imogenheap earlier this year as she was recording her latest project, Ellipse. Girl twittered like it was going out of style.  It was too much.

But, being a fan, I downloaded Ellipse this morning. Two listens in, I’m already in love.

So creative. Breathtaking at moments. Lots of energy. Just all around fantastic album.

Go ahead and get it because you will, eventually. It will be all the rage. Just wait.

I mean, just watching this trailer, how could you not want to get it?

Even though Twitter crashed for awhile (and we all thought it was the end of the world), I was amazed to see how word about my notes from the Leadership Summit spread across the Twittersphere… thanks in part to @ShawnWood, @CatalystLeader and others.

As of this blog post, nearly 2,000 people have visited my blog today (WOAH!) and I’ve added quite a few followers on Twitter as well (welcome!).

So midway though the afternoon my friend Shawn posted this Tweet:

I replied back agreeing and then Shawn took it to the next level and set this up:

Then I had an idea (thanks to a friend)… what if I took that money and did something productive with it… say, donate it to Kiva.org?

Quite appropriate considering Jessica Jackley, the co-founder of Kiva.org spoke the Summit today.

I first learned about how microlending works when Seth sent me a copy of The Blue Sweater to read and review on my blog. I found the whole idea and concept fascinating and after hearing Jessica talk today, I knew it’s what I wanted to do with whatever “play money” I’d get from donations.

2,000 of you have visited my page today and no doubt there will be more tomorrow as I keep blogging my notes from tomorrow’s sessions.

So, if they are valuable to you, why not chip in a dollar or two? And let’s do something, together.

I’m excited to see where this will go and to share the story of the person whose life this is going to impact!