Flocknote? Facebook? Twitter?
Tue, 07/07/2009 - 9:27am
If one were forced to advocate the use of one (maybe two) social networking sites and/or other forms of new media, which would be best at the diocesan level? Any thoughts?
Tue, 07/14/2009 - 2:08am
#2
Facebook, then Twitter
I agree with Jeff, as he (obviously) knows what he's talking about. But I'd swap Twitter and Facebook. I think Facebook has a broader appeal. It's got a much larger userbase and a much wider demographic (you don't see as many teens, old people, or non-geeks on Twitter as you do Facebook). Twitter is also limited to short updates, whereas on Facebook you can also create notes, upload photos/video, etc.
But, Facebook's got a bit of the walled garden thing, whereas having a Twitter profile is more like having a blog (it's public, anyone can read it without having to signup or login).
Tue, 07/14/2009 - 2:18am
#3
The nicest thing about
The nicest thing about Facebook, in oscatholic's opinion, is the fact that you don't have to cultivate a group or fan page as much as on Twitter, if you don't have the time to do so. If you want to attract more people, then yes, you do... but if you leave the page simply to sit there, people can discover it and join, without you needing to perform any reciprocal actions to make them feel good about themselves ;-)
Tue, 07/14/2009 - 9:06am
#4
Yes
The answer is yes. :-)
Great thoughts guys! I think it depends on how you're using them and who you are trying to reach.
Twitter, while wildly popular, still only reaches a small subset of your likely target audience (unless you're largely dealing with a web and social-net savvy crowd...in which case, we're all on Twitter). Twitter is also very limited in the type of interaction you can have. It shares a lot of good information if you follow the right people, but its tools for actually "networking" are not ideal.
Facebook and LinkedIn are ideal for actual social networking in the strict sense of the terms. They are great at communicating who you know, and who your friends know and providing opportunities to interact, meet, and get to know more like-purposed people. It's also more transparent as far as when you're dealing with actual REAL people. Facebook also has a much wider, diverse demographic to be reached and allows for grouping and building networks of such demographics.
flockNote is the Cat's Pajamas. The bee's knees - if you will. :-)
But as Jeff mentioned - it's not supposed to necessarily be a social networking site all to itself (although it can be for a specific crowd). It is more geared towards bringing different mediums of communication together into one easy tool. Further, it is targeted and built for the Catholic community. It is made to be a "lowest common denominator" kind of thing. In other words, it's something that people on Facebook can plug in to. But it's also something that somebody who will NEVER get on Facebook (of which there are many in our Catholic community) can actually get plugged in to.
It's a communication tool that is made to work for the entire Catholic community and is built on the structure of the Church. And of course, we are working to integrate more and more features that will make it more powerful to both types of users (the tech savvy and the tech adverse). Such a tool is the ideal for Church leadership, Pastors, Bishops, etc. to use to communicate with "the flock." It allows them to post information in one place and then reach parishioners on Facebook, Email, Txt Message, and soon to be Twitter and others - without having to be on those sites themselves or interact in separate instances.
And the real power of flockNote will actually be once most of the ministries in your parish, diocese, etc. are using it. Then you have one place to get plugged in to whatever Catholic ministries you are interested in and choose exactly how you want to receive that information.
Further, it helps us as a Church to not duplicate efforts of building communication connections. When you build feed subscriber lists for all ministries in your parish, you automatically have built your pastor's feed subscriber list. If every parish does that, then you've built the feed subscriber list for the entire diocese (the Bishop). So it unifies our efforts as Catholics.
Actually, I would love the OSCATHOLIC community's feedback on the potential list of new features for flockNote. You can respond by going here: http://www.flocknote.com/feeds.php?feed=1¬e=10390
I would REALLY appreciate any feedback...big or small. Thanks!
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 10:50pm
#5
Change Facebook Settings to Public
I'm a big Twitter fan, but for your purposes it sounds like Facebook would be the way to go. If you're concerned that the walled-garden issue will exclude community members who aren't already on Facebook, you can change your fan page's privacy settings to make some or all of the updates public.
I would rank them in the following order of importance - for the Archdiocesan level - with a few caveats:
1. Twitter (it has a broader appeal, imo, than Facebook, and is well-established and easily accessible to almost anyone almost any place).
2. Facebook (but this can be more of a low-maintenance network - you can simply set up a fan page or group, and only update it from time to time).
X. Your website + Flocknote - and here's the caveat:
Number X can either be number 1 or not quite as important. I would posit that your own website and websites like Flocknote (which are more of social aggregators... at least for the time being) are less of a 'social' medium in terms of interaction, and more of a 'reach' network.
Meaning: You can put more in-depth articles, more of your message, and in a more controlled way, on your own website, and further this message through tools like Flocknote (and, to a certain extent, Twitter and Facebook).
Twitter works best if you use the @reply functionality, and respond to those (not all, but many) who direct message you. Facebook works best if you have good content to feed into it. Flocknote works best if you can get a good number of people in your diocese to use it.
Your website works best when you make sure it's easy to access, has well-written, dynamic content, and fulfills the need of your members in terms of information and entertainment.
Web developer from St. Louis, MO. Personal website: Life is a Prayer.