How much time does social media take? How much time do you spend on Facebook, Twitter, blogging or any of the other social media outlets?

I write four blogs a week (Monday-Thursday),  my average tweets in a day are 11 (I think it’s more like 20 if they didn’t count the first 3 months I was on twitter and didn’t tweet)  and the same with my Facebook updates. Now to you this maybe a lot or this may be very little. See,  when we ask ourselves how much time we spend on social media, we have to first ask ourselves what is our purpose behind it.

If you are the causal social media person then the amount of time you spend will depend you and how much interaction you choose to have with others. There are those that like to respond to just about everything they see on Facebook and Twitter. Then there are those who just occasionally pop in like a gopher. Find what fits and what works for you.

If you run a business or if you are a professional social media person then it’s not so much up to you. You have to think of it like a business because that’s what it is- an extension of your business. Now depending on what your business is will determine what is too much or what is too little. If you are a technically computer savvy designer, news, or professional social media person these tend to tweet more. It’s all most like what is expected of them. People follow them because they want the consent flow of info.  If someone is in the information business and they aren’t putting out information then they are not going to be successful.

Now maybe your personal and business accounts are one. People that follow you follow for you for 1 of 2 reasons, to see what’s going on in your business or what’s going on in your personal life. Some may even follow your for both. This is something you have to keep in mind when you’re updating or tweeting. While friends and family love to hear what’s going on in your life and about what’s going on in  your business, the people who follow you because of your business may not mind the personal stuff.  It could help your business and make it more personal and increase you business. It’s something you have to gage.

See you can spend too little time or too much time on social media. What you have to figure out first is what is you purpose. Just because people are still your fans or follow you, doesn’t mean they pay attention to you anymore. So are you spending the right amount of time in the social media world? Is what you are saying relevant to your “followers” or “friends”?

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I asked the question on Twitter and Facebook, what’s 1 thing you learned in 2009? Here are the responses.  Feel free to comment with what you learned in ‘09.

ddemoss ~ The more I give in and trust God, the more he comes through on things I thought were impossible.

AmandaSims ~ Sometimes God may take something away to give you something even better. He’s trustworthy.

SuburbanKitsch ~ Be VERY careful what personal opinions u put online, especialy if friends w coworkers, family, etc on fb, blog, twitter

JasonCurlee ~ God wants this (church growth) WAY more than I do…He will supply all our needs to do His mission of reaching souls.

PhilGerb ~ I learned I work best when I partner with people smarter than me. They help me hit my deadlines and ctrats something great.

ericurbach ~I learned how powerful Twitter can be to begin and develop relationships.

darrencurrin ~I learned that I am still not in control; God is in control. Even though my family struggled, I must remain steadfast in prayer

kendragolden ~ Phil 3: If I consider all I once cared about 2B trash, isn’t there an action step that goes w/ that? Shouldn’t I get rid of it?

alittlesongbird ~ cancer sucks; good thing God’s bigger.

jessicayates ~ Dating Jesus will change your life.

@RachelCobb ~ learned that God’s timing is perfect- He is always in control! – always knew this, but we had to live it this year.

Lindsey Hill Bunch ~ It’s okay to say no-sometimes you just can’t take on one more thing-and that’s okay

Nikki Trotter Brewer ~  If you share your joy it’s doubled, if you share your pain it’s halved!

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So far this week we’ve explored “Does your church have a social media pastor?”  We’ve talked about how social media can used in the church and what social is not in the church. Now let’s talk about who would make a good social media pastor.

So if you’re just starting out in the social media game or you’ve been in it awhile, your question might be do I go right out and hire someone. Do I have someone already on staff do it? Do I have a volunteer do it? Lets us look at few things that will help you determine who is best for your church.

• They must like to communicate(that’s the basic of what social media is)
• They need to have time to commit and be consistent
• The need to be adaptable to change (social will always be changing so they have to be able to adapt)
• A willingness to learn (this is a skill needed for any position)

These are the 4 basic things that your SMP needs to have, everything else can be taught.  A good place to start is to look for someone at your church that is already into social media, but it’s not something you just want drop in their lap. Like “hey you twitter? Good, now you’re our new Social Media Pastor”. Not a good idea. The person you’re looking for might not even have anything to do with social media.( a year ago I didn’t do anything with social media, now I blog, tweet, facebook, and about 10 other things).

They need to be consistent.  Think of the time they spend in social media to post updates as lunch dates. If they start updating or tweeting, then they just stop. It’s like not showing up to meet someone at a lunch date face to face.

Social media is a two way conversation. It’s not just posting updates and not responding to what people have to say back. That’s like walking up to someone, rattling off a bunch of information, and then walking off as soon as they start talking.

Adaptability to change is also important. Social media is ever growing and ever changing. Most people who don’t like change don’t embrace it.  Think of it this way, the VCR, zip drives,  and dial up internet  all great things at one time – yet now not so much. If you have a social media pastor who is still using myspace and they don’t like the changes of twitter of facebook, then to quote the Black Eyed Peas “they’re so 2000 and late”

Your SMP needs to communicate thru social media in a way that’s fun and professional. You never know who is going be reading what you but out there. They not only represent your church but more importantly God!

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So before we know who is going to handle our social media for our church, we need to know what they are going to be doing. We need to know the reason behind what we are doing. How can social media help connect the people in and outside of your church? There are several reasons for using social media. Today we will talk about a few.

Social media is great for sharing information. Now don’t just use this as another place for advertisements. Share how lives are being changed. Tell stories of what God is doing in your Church. How God is making an impact in the community your church is in. Share stories about the people that attend your church. Social media is a great place to talk about changed lives.  You can use it to discuss the message your pastor just spoke on. Let’s face it, a lot of people hop on facebook during the work day or get twitter updates on their phone. A reminder of the weekend’s message might be just what they needed.

Connecting people is one of the best things about social media. No matter what size your church, it’s just not that easy for someone to stick around and talk to every person. A lot of churches have more than one service, some even spread out over more than one day. Not to mention several churches have multiple locations. You just can’t be in every place at once or be around for every service. Using social media can make your big church seem small.

Social media is not only for sharing stories and connecting people, but social media actually records it. Every picture you upload to facebook or flickr, and the same goes for videos on YouTube. It’s out there for anyone to go back and look at it whenever. So whether it’s a mission trip, a cool worship service or a church picnic; no matter the event you not only want to use written words, but also visual media like pictures and video.

There is nothing wrong with using social media to make announcements about what’s going on at your church; classes, baptisms, or when the next mission trip is. We would all like to think people attend church every week. Yet we know things come up and they don’t, but more than likely they’re checking their facebook.

Now social media isn’t to replace what you might be doing at your church, but to enhance it. To help you connect, share or store.  These are just a few of the ways you can use social media. Stay tuned the rest of the week as we ask, does your church have a social media pastor?

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Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Digg and so much more are just some of the ways of connecting through social media. People all over the world are using social media to connect. They use it to share photos of new babies with family members, for birthday and wedding invites. People watch YouTube not just to be entertained, but also to learn something new like installing hardwood floors or even giving yourself a haircut. I don’t have to read a review to know if a movie is good anymore. I can just ask on twitter and get an instant array of answers.

So why wouldn’t we put this to use in our church?  Why not use social media to bring people closer together. With all the ways social media is being used outside the church, we can also use it to give God glory. However, social media is almost a full time job. Let’s be honest, we all know it takes time to keep up with the Tweets, Facebook status, Flickr photos, YouTube videos and everything else. Most pastors are busy as it is. Now I’m not saying that all churches should go out and hire someone for the job. There are plenty of people who go to your church who would love to help. This isn’t something you just want to hand off to someone and hope they get it right.

This week we will look at different ways to use social media in the church, who is the right fit for a social media pastor, and what social media avenues should you use?

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