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USCCB Social Media Guidelines

Submitted by oscatholic on Thu, 07/08/2010 - 11:24am
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The USCCB recently released a working draft of their social media guidelines, after receiving input from a variety of diocesan personnel. The draft includes general principles for social media use, a call to the development of diocesan-level policies, and quoted exhortations for proclaiming the Word online from Pope Benedict.

Here are some excerpts (my notes/highlights in bold):

Social media are the fastest growing form of communication in the United States, especially among youth and young adults. Our Church cannot ignore it, but at the same time we must engage social media in a manner that is safe, responsible, and civil.

To keep members, a social networking site, such as a blog, needs to have new content on a regular basis. In the case of social media, the axiom “build it and they will come” is not applicable. It is important to set internal expectations regarding how often posts will be made [very good advice!], so that your followers can become accustomed to your schedule.

Guidelines:

  • Define appropriate boundaries for communications.
  • Include examples of Codes of Conduct.
  • Provide recommendations on how to deal with difficult “fans.” [This is a biggie].

They also include instructions for networking with minors, personal websites, and how to report and monitor social networks. Read the whole document on the USCCB website »

A very good first stab at this ever-changing field of policy/law!
 

Study shows 2/3 of Churches not using any Social Media

Submitted by oscatholic on Tue, 07/27/2010 - 10:05am
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Buzzplant (a social media firm) recently surveyed thousands of Churches (it was a general survey, so not just Catholics), asking what forms of social communications they were using to communicate with their parishioners. Here's a summary of the results:

  • 62% of Churches post homilies to website as text or podcast
  • 28% of Churches have a Pastor's Blog
  • 32% of Churches use social media in one way or another
  • 25% of Churches use social media to promote parish events [really? this should probably be the highest statistic, imo]

You can view the full report on Churches' use of social communications tools (PDF) from Buzzplant. With the USCCB having recently released its proposed guidelines for social media use, and with many Archdioceses effectively using Twitter and Facebook to spread the gospel, the time is ripe to use social media on the parish level, and integrate it with parish websites.

Live-Blogging to Drive Traffic, Interest to Organizational Events

Submitted by geerlingguy on Fri, 07/16/2010 - 4:28pm
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The Steubenville St. Louis Mid-America conference is attended by over 6,000 teens every year, and there are many parents, friends, and other teens who wish they could participate as well. We have always posted information after the conference, but in St. Louis, for the past two years, we've started live-blogging and posting to social networks frequently throughout the conference, driving up traffic to our OYM websites.

Here are some of the things we've been doing to drive traffic and share information live from the conference.

ST101 - Friday Afternoon 002
My setup for the first week... watch a video highlighting the gear » Continue Reading »

How to make "Tweet This" or "Post to Facebook" links

Submitted by geerlingguy on Tue, 07/14/2009 - 3:57am
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If your website has an audience comprised of many Facebook and/or Twitter users, you might be thinking of ways you can get them to share your postings on Facebook and Twitter.

Currently, most blogs, sites, etc. either do this one of two ways: They require the user to copy out the URL from the address bar, then paste it into a Facebook status update or a Twitter posting (sometimes also having to go through the TinyURL service as well!), or they have a 'share this' or 'add this' button hosted by a third party site.

But what if you want to keep things simple, and stick to a plain old, no-frills text link, or keep your focus mainly on one of the two giants: Facebook or Twitter? Well, turns out, the process is pretty simple: just take one of the two URLs below, and after the end, add in the link and/or text you'd like people to share via a status update.

  • Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u= <add your link here>
  • Twitter: http://twitter.com/home?status= <add your link and/or text here>
Continue Reading »
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