Creating products that actually serve the church is not easy, especially when it comes to technology.  The interwebs are littered with Christian ghettos, static dead-end websites and social networking tools that promised they were designed to serve the church but somehow really didn’t.

Why a product or application fails is hard to say.   Some apps end up as walled gardens, others accidentally fell into broadcast mode, offering no community appeal, and so died off, and still others never got over their clunky user interface issues or high bar fees.

Nevertheless, there are those courageous individuals who press forward always straining to develop services that really do foster richer communication opportunities for churches.

Recently, I was asked to check out a start up called SoChurch and I found myself curious….

Here’s what I learned:

SoChurch is being built with the church in mind.

SoChurch is a work in progress, with developers getting plenty of input early on to make sure the product release is stellar.

SoChurch wants to change the way ministries and churches leverage web technology for church communication.

SoChurch is a communication platform for community development both within and beyond the church walls.

SoChurch is going to be scalable, dynamic, and culturally flexible – and I can’t wait to see what that means!

John Saddington, a SoChurch advisor & evangelist said this recently, “Organizations who are weak in terms of communication end up with frustrated programs, initiatives, and burnt out personnel.”  So true!!   So bring it SoChurch, help us communicate.

You can expect to hear a lot more in the near future and follow SoChurch on Twitter to get daily status updates.

Disclaimer: I am on the advisory board for SoChurch.

Brilliant overview of the future evolution of the Social Web by Forrester Reseacher, Jeremiah Owyang (@jowyang) plus John McCrea & Joseph Smarr.

Every church leader can easily understand the future of social communities and their potential value by investing in this in depth analysis of where we are in the evolution of the Social Web.  Understanding participatory media, albeit currently in it’s infancy, is a critical skill in future communication strategies for faith based communities.

Earlier today I co-hosted an online webinar with Drew Goodmanson of Monk Development entitled Beyond the Web 2.0 Noise: How to use the Internet to Disciple & Create Real Community.  We had so much to cover that we didn’t exactly get as specific as we will need to in order to provide the best resources for churches to actually use the internet to disciple individuals and create & nourish online communities.

But, we got a good start, particularly for surveying the landscape and for setting the stage to interpret the additional data that will be compiled.  I remember having a conversation with WP Developer Cory Miller a couple of years ago and we pondered together “who is compiling the data” besides Pew, Annenberg, etc.?  Now I know.

Here’s how it was billed:

Are we tired of hearing about Web 2.0?  The noise of social networking and private virtual communities continues to grow. Yet, we are still very early on in understanding what churches are doing effectively online in these areas.  Are churches really able to gather people, create community and foster discipleship?  Do you want to know what is working and what is a waste of time?  Come learn from a 2009 study on “The State of the Church Online: Social & Community Networks” involving over 500-hundred respondents and numerous church-focused products and social network sites.  Learn what churches are doing effectively and what they are doing that may actually be counter-productive to being the church.  This session will equip you with practical strategies in the social & community network space.

I made opening remarks about internet values and Drew presented the earliest data being compiled about internet usage patterns among those who participated in the recent survey The State of the Church Online: Social & Community Networks.

Some key findings include:

* Facebook was the most used Church Web Media strategy.
* Of the Christian Social Networking sites reviewed 82% of respondents had no awareness that they existed.

Top 5 Requested Features/Functionality sought:

1. Ability to find, register, and/or get details for events.
2. Ability to post prayer requests or needs.
3. Ability to find serving opportunities at the church based on interest or gifts.
4. Ability to join and interact with home/bible study groups.
5. Integration with existing church website.

If you were part of the webinar and want to weigh in, please do.  The questions we are getting will shape the presentation of the next webinar.

Here is a link to the site where the pdf/results are accessible:
http://www.churchtechreview.com/christian-social-network/churches-christian-social-networking-study/

Friday is the day I often point to scholars who specialize in the study of media & the church.  This series of Friday posts entitled, Blog of the Weekend, is designed to cover a broad spectrum of world class teachers, researchers & scholars who assess the impact and influence of technology/media on Christianity.

This week is no different.  Today I feature Anthony Coppedge, someone I respect as a friend, colleague and resource for all things media-related involving the Church.  I have used Anthony’s expertise as a church consultant and on complicated issues he has registered his professional opinion (See his comments on my post: Viva La Vida – Did Secular Music Get Saved?).  Additionally, following meeting him last year at the Echo Conference, I’ve more closely followed his blog and work.  However, I completely missed a key project Anthony has been developing and thankfully he’s brought it to my attention.

The Reason Your Church Must Twitter, first draft e-book is currently available online.  When Anthony sent me an advance copy for review, I was amazed at it’s depth, detail and exhaustive all around thoroughness.  E-books are fantastic, instant, cheap resources that can’t be beat (I’ve written for several) and The Reason Your Church Must Twitter is highly recommended for those interested in harnessing participatory media’s value in ministry.  Two of my personal friends have already reviewed it…. see Jim Walton’s blog review and also Mary Beth Stockdale’s blog review.

Also, later today is the launch of a new website called Twitter for Churches. com.  Anthony will spearhead the site and some of us who use microblogging regularly have been asked to guest author.  There’s a progression of adoption  that most most people go through (whether you’re a maven or a luddite!) when it comes to new media.  Anthony quotes Rohit Bhargava, Senior Vice President at Ogilvy, in describing this progression.

Denial
“I think Twitter sounds stupid. Why would anyone care what other people are doing right now?”

Presence
“OK, I don’t really get why people love it, but I guess I should at least create an account.”

Dumping
“I’m on Twitter and use it for pasting links to my blog posts and pointing people to my press releases (or stuff about me).”

Conversing
“I don’t always post useful stuff, but I do use Twitter to have authentic 1-on-1 conversations.”

Microblogging
“I’m using Twitter to publish useful information that people read AND I converse 1-on-1 authentically.”

Collaboration
“Actual, meaningful relationships and collaborations have occurred out of my usage of Twitter.”

I’m intrigued by the data and information from Forrester Research so I love reading the blog of Jeremiah Owyang.  So many of the concepts explored in the world of social media seem to me, (am I the only one?)  to be directly tied to all the changes in business models, political strategies, economic developments (vis-a-vis digital divisions), and communication/mass media practices.

Over the summer, Jeremiah posted this:  Trends, Corporate Adoption of Social Media: Tire, Tower and the Hub and Spoke.  It’s come up in so many discussions, at conferences, etc. I thought readers might be interested in the details.

Using three basic metaphors, a tire, a tower and a hub and spoke, Jeremiah identifies three social media adoption styles.  Here’s an excerpt:

The Tire
Common to grassroots movements within corporations, adoption happens at the lowest levels at the company, rather than from a centralized group. You’ll see individual business units define their own strategy, pick their own tools, engage their own vendors, and communicate with the market on their own terms.

Common to companies that haven’t put a strategy in place, depending on culture, this could be detrimental as resources are not used efficiently, data is spread on multiple systems, and the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing.

The Tower
Common in organizations where power is centralized, we may see a central team formed to organize social media. This team defines the policy, best practices, vendors, and tools. This team which will commonly found in corporate communications and supported by PR will often dictate the direction of social media. Expect a dedicated role or sub-group to appear either experiential marketing, new media, or interactive media to eventually be born out of the group, where social media is centralized.

Social media is a grassroots movement, so common dangers can be gagging the natural voice of conversations of product experts with customers using these tools, so a centralized team needs to be more of a support organization to the enterprise, not a controller.

The Hub and Spoke
This coordinated model has a central organizational unit that provides best practices, sets policy, supports infrastructure but encourages conversations at the edges of the company. More about empowering business groups to partake in natural social media discussions without hindering, this group will be more of a coordinator, and less of a controller. Expect to see this model to occur as social media infiltrates every nook and cranny of a business, and at a certain point, a company as an enterprise can’t ignore the raging groundswell.

Cautions to this model, as overly coordinated programs will be difficult to achieve, and may be ineffective to different unique markets that a large company may have. Like the tower, having a centralized group at a large enterprise is always going to slow down natural conversations so focus on empowerment, rather than control.

Can you identify your church’s leadership style?  If so, you’ll be able to determine it’s strengths, weaknesses and the value social media may play within your staff and congregation.

Image: WikiCommons

As more and more leaders and influencers explore the benefits of the relationship economy by participating in social networks, services like LinkedIn increase in value.

Advertising Age, for example, has just released data offering clearer definition about who uses LinkedIn and what they’re using the service to accomplish.  Although it was originally designed as a professionals’ network, LinkedIn is now gaining credibility across all networks.   Advertising Age reports it has at least 30 million subscribers.  Since many times, LinkedIn connections seem business related, it could be that Christians miss seeing how their LinkedIn rolodex has any ministry value.

But as participatory media evolves we, as Christian leaders, are broadening our understanding of the value of contacts, connections and colleagues.  Spheres of influences branch out and link us together with often fewer and fewer degrees of separation (see: 6 degrees of separation).

More importantly, others view our connections as a measure of credibility and accountability.  They see our contacts as a means of authenticating our lives.  This trend towards a relationship-based economy (placing value on relationships) is what gives social media it’s value add.

For example, if I have a friend who is asking if I know of a good ministry in Dallas, Texas, I would be far more likely to recommend a LinkedIn contact in that area than anything else.  Furthermore, if I recommend a pastor in Dallas to my friend, that recommendation is greatly enhanced if that pastor has other connections shared in common via social networking sites with the person looking for a church.

Social networking will grow in value as “advertising” gives way to personal recommendations.  You can research this trend online. (i.e. – See Online Advertising is Now Dead by Dave Winer)

If you need to know more about LinkedIn, you can receive online training via webinar at sites like Integrated Alliances. (They also offer Facebook training.)  If we know one another you can add me: you’ll find my LinkedIn profile here.

TechCrunch reports today:

“Facebook blew past MySpace in visitors from across the world back in April, but the global gap continues to widen.  According to the latest figures from comScore, Facebook attracted 161.1 million unique visitors worldwide in September, compared 117.9 million for MySpace. For Facebook, that number was up from 4.7 percent from the 153.9 million people who visited the social network in August.  Visitors to MySpace declined 1.6 percent globally from 119.8 million.

The global gap between the two is now 43.2 million visitors.  To put that in perspective that is a tad more than the number of people who visit Facebook in the U.S. alone, which in September was 41.4 million. Facebook still dominates in the U.S., with 73.0 million visitors in September.”

Besides these two golliaths, I can’t pass up an opportunity to mention LinkedIn (used primarily by business professionals) which has a reported user base of 29 million and the microblogging darling, Twitter, which has, according to a brand new Wikipedia update, has a mere 3.2 million.

Oh yeah and all the rest, Plaxo, ROOV, Friendfeed,  Nexopia (mostly in Canada); Bebo, Hi5, Tagged & Skyrock in parts of Europe; Orkut in Central & South America & Friendster, Orkut, Xiaonei and Cyworld in Asia and the Pacific Islands.

There’s so much exciting news in the world of the socially networked church right now, it’s hard to keep it all straight.  One of the most important pieces of information I got this week is the one above.

Check out the wording “not a ROOV Facebook app”.  Sounds more significant than just another app, huh?  Maybe like a marriage proposal.  Or at least an engagement…

Pay attention to ROOV; this is the beginning of something big as social media allow the global Church to network itself in new ways based on connections between individuals with shared passions…..