Tag Archive - Twitter

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.

Social media – hard…to…keep…up!

April 23, 2010 in Social Media

Earlier this year I started work on a social media strategy (and a couple of other strategies) for a Christian organisation. I’m in the process now of finalising the strategy, and looking back over my notes.

It struck me how quickly the social media landscape changes. For example, I’d made a note of the possibilities of Facebook Connect. At the Facebook Developer’s Conference, it was announced that Facebook Connect will be no more.

Keeping up with the latest developments in social media isn’t easy. But with Facebook providing a challenge to Google for the most consumed website, and 300,000 new Twitter users coming on board every day, the opportunities are only increasing.

What’s the answer? How do you avoid stepping into a nightmare? How do you make the most of social media?

Keep reading Communicate Jesus :)

You can check out all posts on Social Media, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Enjoy the weekend!

British Airways and front-foot social media engagement

April 1, 2010 in for Churches, Outreach

Last week I wrote ‘When social media engagement turns into a nightmare‘. The actions of Greenpeace and Nestle were great examples of the power of social media, and the potential damage when it’s not managed well.

This week, Marketing Magazine (UK) has an interesting post on how British Airways has been using social media to respond to industrial action.

Read ‘British Airways’ preemptive strike‘.

According to the article:

“A series of videos featuring chief executive Willie Walsh providing updates on the impact of the strike and apologising for the inconvenience caused to customers has received more than 100,000 hits on YouTube and BA.com. According to research carried out for Marketing, the videos improved perceptions of the British Airways brand among 19% of the people who had seen them (Marketing, 24 March).”

“‘Brands don’t have a choice but to do social media ‘ says Ian Armstrong, manager, European communications for Honda. ‘In a crisis, the medium can influence behaviour and brands can’t opt out as consumers will continue to use it. The brands just have to maintain a strong position and be true to their values; the tone should reflect that.’”

Polls: How and where do you tweet?

March 26, 2010 in for Churches, Outreach

I’m doing some research on Twitter, and how it is used by churches and Christian organisations, and how it could be used. If you’ve got a spare 16 seconds, please complete the following two polls. Thanks!

Where do you most often tweet from?

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Which Twitter platform do you most often use?

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If your platform isn’t listed above, please feel free to add it in the comments below.

Thanks.

When social media engagement turns into a nightmare

March 24, 2010 in Social Media

Having a presence on Facebook is all the rage – companies, charities, churches, schools are all getting on board. But it can really come back to bite you.

Nestle is an example of a company probably wishing they never created a Facebook page. Why?

Greenpeace created a campaign claiming that:

“Nestlé, the world’s largest food and drink company, is making some of your favourite chocolate bars using palm oil from destroyed Indonesian rainforests. As a result, threatened species like orang-utans are being pushed into extinction and huge quantities of greenhouse gas are being released, accelerating climate change.”

This campaign was accompanied by a viral video (which, according to Greenpeace, Nestle got pulled off YouTube):

Have a break? from Greenpeace UK on Vimeo.

Greenpeace has been relentless – creating a campaign website, writing blog posts, writing open letters to Nestle’s PR department and developing a form for people to email the Nestle CEO, and encouraging people to speak out on Nestle’s Facebook page. Even Greenpeace seems surprised at the success of the campaign.

The Facebook page is filled with comments from upset consumers, urging them to act. I read through several pages on their wall and couldn’t see any official response to these comments (Greenpeace has shared some of Nestle’s response on their blog). Looking at the Nestle website, you wouldn’t have any idea that there is a major campaign currently running against them.

This highlights four important points for those of us wanting to utilise social media:

  1. anyone can create a Facebook Page, but the ease of creating a page isn’t proportional to the challenge of maintaining it.
  2. a Facebook Page is two-way communication – it’s not like a website or media release where you control the message.
  3. anyone can use your Facebook Page to speak out against you. It’s naive to think that you will only receive positive engagement.
  4. you need to have a strategy for how you will react when people say negative things about you.

This campaign has been a big win for Greenpeace (and the power of social media), and a nightmare for Nestle.

We’ve all been warned!

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