Tag Archive - social media

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!

Obnoxious Twitterer gets the sack

May 5, 2010 in Christian Living

My first introduction to Catherine Deveny was watching her as a panelist on ABC1′s Q&A. Her comments about Christianity were obnoxious, but at the time I just thought she didn’t like Christians. Turns out it’s not just Christians she aims to offend.

Her tweets during the Logies have resulted in her being sacked by The Age (where she was a columnist). news.com.au sums up the worst of her tweets:

“Deveny drew the most criticism for writing that she hoped 11-year-old TV star Bindi Irwin “gets laid” and that former TV host Rove McManus’ wife Tasma “didn’t die too” – referring to the loss of his first wife Belinda Emmett to cancer in 2006.”

According to The Age, Deveny justifies her comments:

“It was just passing notes in class, but suddenly these notes are being projected into the sky and taken out of context,” she said.

It’s hard for 140 character tweets to be taken out of context. She also seems blissfully unaware of the power of the medium – did she think that no one was listening? If she thought no one was listening, why was she speaking?

Is she sorry?

“I meant every single word,” she said.

It’s a shame she can’t see the hurt she caused.

You can do a lot of damage in 140 characters. The tongue truly is a fire – and Christians can be just as guilty of using harmful words, and need to be just as careful with how we use our tongue – literally, and virtually.

Let’s not be ignorant of the power and influence of social media – what you say can be read, re-tweeted and will remain online forever.

How to claim a username for your Facebook Page

April 30, 2010 in Social Media

A URL (web address) that is easy to remember has obvious benefits. If it’s easy to remember, it will be easy for people to find your website and return to your website.

More churches and ministries are developing a presence on Facebook and there’s lots of good reasons to do this. I’ve written a number of articles on the possibilities of Facebook – check them out here.

When you create a page on Facebook you will get a URL that is impossible to remember without a memory like a steel trap. However, it’s easy to create your own URL so that:

Here’s how:

  1. When you’re logged into Facebook, go to http://www.facebook.com/username/.
  2. On the landing page you will be able to set a username for your personal profile on Facebook. Beneath this is a link to ‘Set a username for your pages’. Click on this link.
  3. You will now see a drop-down menu listing the pages you are an administrator for (you can set a username for a group or event yet). Click on the page you would like to set a username for.
  4. You can now set a username. Think carefully about the username that you choose – you can only change it once (previously you couldn’t change it at all!).

Want help? Learn more about usernames.

I’ve used this process to create usernames for my church’s page (http://www.facebook.com/churchbythebridge) and the Communicate Jesus page (http://www.facebook.com/communicatejesus).

It makes it easy to then promote your Facebook page offline – my church has just created two posters for our noticeboard to promote our presence on Twitter and Facebook to passers-by.

Fear Facebook?

April 28, 2010 in Social Media

I just read an interesting post – “Thanks Facebook for putting my nuts in a vice“. The author is scathing of Facebook’s intentions:

“Facebook is only concerned about two things. Amassing the biggest profile database in the world and to convert that into a sickening amount of money. Today’s announcements where just the opening salvo on their march to integrate themselves so deeply in the web that we can’t do without them.”

Facebook recently announced some fairly dramatic changes and expansion plans, including the launch of social plug-ins to support engagement and interaction across the web, within your Facebook network.

Should we join the author (who happens to also be called Steven) in his concern about Facebook? Should we be concerned about Google too? Is it time to  metaphorically take our money out of the bank and put it under the mattress?

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