Conferences, Facebook, Strategy
12

Facebook for Pastors – A Place to Start

Posted by John Saddington on May 1, 2009

facebookforpastors

Facebook is big, big enough for ministries and churches to take note.

Naturally, it’s been a very important conversation piece here at The Orange Conference, especially because the demographic that the vast majority of those in attendance this week are having to “deal” or relate to their students that are in there 24/7.

But how does a Pastor or a leader, who may not have any idea about Facebook, begin their “study” of it? Where do you start?

Here’s a resource that I’ve suggested many take a look at: Facebook for Pastors by Chris Forbes.

Although it’s a bit old and some of the content doesn’t necessarily apply (because of dramatic changes to the user interface, core functionality, etc) it’s a heckuva better place to start than Facebook’s Privacy Policy (although you should read it too!).

So start there, but please don’t end there. The best way for you to understand Facebook is to actually use it. Use it. A lot.

A final word of caution as well is this: As good and as big as Facebook is today, it’ll be gone tomorrow. Learn the principles of strategic web engagement and not so much the individual (and temporal) tools. One of those will stay with you a lot longer.

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John Saddington

John is the Chief Editor @ The 8BIT Network and Senior Blog Junkie here at ChurchCrunch.He enjoys Triple-Tall Americanos, developing Wordpress Themes, and a few other Random Things.

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12 Responses to “Facebook for Pastors – A Place to Start”

  1. Adam_S
    Friday, May 1, 2009 at 2:46 pm

    I forwarded on to my Dad (he is an area minister that works with about a 100 pastors in WV). Glad someone is working on stuff like this.

    Reply
  2. sleelf
    Friday, May 1, 2009 at 10:53 am

    Огромное вам пасибо! а еще посты на эту тему будут в будущем? Очень жду!

    Reply
  3. S.Miracle
    Friday, May 1, 2009 at 3:11 pm

    I completely agree with your last statement of its more important to learn the "principles" of strategic web engagement rather than the system itself. You can choose to learn all the technicalities and trivia about Facebook, but there's no promise that it will be the big thing in 5 years.
    Whereas if you learn how to communicate properly then you will be able to take these principles wherever you go.

    Reply
  4. bbrooke
    Friday, May 1, 2009 at 3:52 pm

    "Learn the principles of strategic web engagement and not so much the individual (and temporal) tools." John you are spot on with this statement.

    Reply
  5. Jim
    Friday, May 1, 2009 at 5:10 pm

    i love the connectivity of fb, but have found more of that in the blog/microblog communities as well. if everyone from fb got a wp blog…oh man…

    Reply
  6. Scott from Updatable
    Friday, May 1, 2009 at 5:46 pm

    Your comments at the end are right-on. Tools are good, but having a strategy that transcends tools is better.

    Reply
    • human3rror
      Friday, May 1, 2009 at 5:59 pm

      word up! ;)

      got your message, btw. i'll drop u a line in a bit…

      Reply
  7. JakeSchwein
    Saturday, May 2, 2009 at 2:56 am

    Pastors are sometimes so aloof and so the thought of social media can be daunting…good resource!

    Reply
  8. Graham Brenna
    Wednesday, May 6, 2009 at 12:57 am

    Thanks man! I passed this on to my senior pastor. :)

    Reply
  9. Chris Forbes
    Friday, May 8, 2009 at 6:10 pm

    Hey, good news! We are working on an updated version of the e-book. Jeff Wilson from http://imageforth.com/ is working on it. He will add the new stuff and also talk about advertising, groups, fan pages, and other cool updated stuff. Stay tuned! Thanks for the link! :-)

    Reply
  10. amancegyday
    Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 7:20 am

    Загляньте на мой мега дор))))

    Reply