Tag Archive - Facebook

Facebook reveals when we’re happiest, and when we’re saddest

June 3, 2010 in Christian Living, for Churches, Outreach, Pastors

This is an intestesting representation of the status updates of Facebook users:

“Every day, millions of people share how they feel with the people who matter the most in their lives through status updates on Facebook. These updates are tiny windows into how people are doing. They’re brief, to the point and descriptive of what’s going on this week, today or right now…Grouped together, these updates are indicative of how we are collectively feeling.”

The graph is available for 22 countries – here’s Australia:

Try adding the positivity and negativity metrics, and see the interesting results. It surprised me.

See the full details on our Gross National Happiness here (and check out your own country, if it’s not Australia!).

Thanks @andyjamo for putting me onto this.

Is Facebook making you register your computer?

May 25, 2010 in Christian Living

When I log-in to Facebook on my computer it’s business as usual.

When my wife logs-in to Facebook, she gets re-directed to this URL, and is told that she needs to register the computer:

I’ve got no idea why this is happening, or even if it’s legit.

Others are talking about this online (e.g. here, here and here), but I can’t find an official word from Facebook (if indeed this is legitimately from Facebook).

Are you getting this message when you try to log-in to Facebook?

With Facebook’s continuing privacy issues coupled with a terrible communication strategy, it’s not surprising to see a ‘Quit Facebook Day‘.

Posters to promote your church’s social media channels

May 24, 2010 in for Churches, Outreach

My church has been slowly ramping up its social media presence – with a Facebook Page, and a Twitter account. We’ve decided to promote this to the local community, by placing the following posters in our church noticeboard:

If you’re thinking of doing something similar for your church or ministry, be sure to check out Facebook’s guidelines, and Twitter’s guidelines.

Facebook privacy concerns go mainstream

May 15, 2010 in Christian Living

Privacy concerns about Facebook have been bubbling away in tech-land for a while now. However, most Facebook users don’t read tech blogs. Recently, concerns and criticism about Facebook’s privacy settings have started being reported on in mainstream media.

Yesterday, SMH (via Business Insider) published a transcript of a conversation between founder Mark Zuckerberg and a friend. The transcript goes:

Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard
Zuck: Just ask.
Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS
[Redacted Friend's Name]: What? How’d you manage that one?
Zuck: People just submitted it.
Zuck: I don’t know why.
Zuck: They “trust me”
Zuck: Dumb f–ks.

Charming.

Frightening.

Read the article at Facebook founder feels the heat as privacy backlash rages.

If you’d like to read up about Facebook and the criticism it’s been receiving about the privacy of its users information, here’s some articles I’ve come across recently. In each of the articles, you’ll find lots more links off to more articles!

And if you’re freaked out or fed up and want to delete your account, follow these instructions:

Will you be deleting your Facebook account?

The strange emotions of Facebook

May 12, 2010 in Christian Living

I’ve just finished reading ‘The Church of Facebook‘.

It’s well-written and easy to read, and explores the impact of Facebook on its users, and how we (as Christians) can use it for our good, the good of others, and for God’s glory. I’ll review it in more detail soon.

As I read the book, I reflected on the emotions that Facebook (and other social media) generate in us. Here’s some examples.

  1. I posted a link on Facebook and I checked back later to discover that “3 friends like this”. This made me feel happy. People liked something that I shared.
  2. I posted another link on Facebook about a Christian preacher arrested in London. 2 people liked that, and I felt confused. Did they like that I posted it, or that the preacher was being persecuted?
  3. I saw someone I knew on Facebook and sent them a friend request. I received notification that they accepted my friend request. This made me feel happy. They want to be my friend! It was a strange feeling, because friendships in the ‘real’ world don’t work like that – you don’t reach a point when someone officially confirms they are your friend – it’s an organic process from stranger, to acquaintance, to friend.

With this realisation, one of the obvious dangers of Facebook becomes clear – our temptation to act to please people, to be well thought of and to make ourselves feel good. While not always bad, this is a temptation most of us need to spend far more time fighting than succumbing to.

Can you think of any other examples of the unusual emotions that social media prompts?

30 churches on Facebook (and four observations)

May 6, 2010 in Social Media

I’ve been doing some thinking on how to maximise my church’s presence on Facebook. I’ve been researching how other churches are using Facebook, and put together a list of some examples of churches using Facebook well (or at least frequently!):

  1. Hillsong Church
  2. Mars Hill Church (Seattle)
  3. Willow Creek Community Church
  4. Petersham Evening Church
  5. Village Church (Texas)
  6. Village Church (Sydney)
  7. Dubbo Presbyterian Church
  8. NewSpring Church
  9. Northside Baptist Church
  10. Granger Community Church
  11. The Adundant Life Church
  12. Hunter Bible Church
  13. Park Community Church (by far the most innovative landing page)
  14. 24 Church
  15. Woodlands Church
  16. Saddleback Church
  17. College Park Church
  18. Pinelake Church
  19. Seacoast Church
  20. Hope Church
  21. Liquid Church (the best landing page for a church I’ve seen)
  22. Fellowship Church
  23. 12Stone Church
  24. Northway Church
  25. Substance Church
  26. Cottonwood Church
  27. Bayside Church
  28. C3 Church
  29. Sovereign Grace Baptist Church (Brisbane)
  30. Brooklake Church

Three observations

  1. Before you start a Facebook page for your church, check for duplicates. In my search for churches on Facebook, I saw several churches with more than one page. Obviously this is confusing for people searching for a church/your church. Equally obviously, this is quite easily fixed!
  2. Some churches didn’t display any information about what they believe, or the mission of their church. For example, what on earth is Skull Church, and what does it believe?! You can always check out their website (listed in the ‘Info’ tab), but it doesn’t hurt to provide this information up front.
  3. Some mission statements are very short and simple (e.g. ‘Connect and Grow’) others more interesting (e.g. ‘We’re here so that you can waste time on Facebook. Oh, and also stay in the loop of all that’s going on. ;) . I liked this introduction for its potential to engage with newcomers who are unfamiliar with church – ‘We don’t care how you dress or who you voted for. Join us for one of 3 services. No church experience required!’
  4. Facebook’s search mechanism is confusing. I know there are churches on Facebook with ‘church’ in their title, but when I searched for pages using the term ‘church’, they didn’t appear. There also doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason for the order churches appear in the search results. Each time I attempted a search different results would appear in a different order!

If your church is on Facebook, let us know about it, and share the link below!

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