Using Social Media In Your Calling

I know that I used Facebook to get the word out about baptisms when I was WML. I see how my wife uses Facebook as Compassionate Service Leader to organize meals, etc.

What is your opinion/take on using these sites? Would it be useful for the church to provide its own version of FB for member use?

I kind of think FB makes for a good missionary tool. If a non-member sees my wife organizing meals to help someone sick, it might inspire them to ask her about the church.

That is my two cents. What do you think?

mesmith wrote:I know that I used Facebook to get the word out about baptisms when I was WML. I see how my wife uses Facebook as Compassionate Service Leader to organize meals, etc.

What is your opinion/take on using these sites? ...

I kind of think FB makes for a good missionary tool. If a non-member sees my wife organizing meals to help someone sick, it might inspire them to ask her about the church.

The Church certainly supports responsible use of social media sites such as Facebook. See Sharing via Social Media on lds.org. There you'll see links to the Church's Facebook page and counsel as to how to use social media to share the gospel.

mesmith wrote:Would it be useful for the church to provide its own version of FB for member use?

I don't see that it makes much sense for the Church to make its own version. It would never achieve even a tiny fraction of the usage of FB, and it would isolate us from those we're trying to share the gospel with.

aebrown wrote:The Church certainly supports responsible use of social media sites such as Facebook.

I think "responsible" is an important word aebrown used in this statement. From Handbook 2, 21.1.22, in the section titled "Members’ Use of the Internet in Church Callings" are guidelines that are important.

My first thought when I read the example of organizing meals for compassionate service was "I am sure they would not include names and the unfortunate circumstances the person or family is experiencing". We have to be careful about personal information that is presented for privacy reasons as well as other information about a person or family situation that should be kept confidential to preclude embarassment or offense.

mesmith wrote:I kind of think FB makes for a good missionary tool. If a non-member sees my wife organizing meals to help someone sick, it might inspire them to ask her about the church.

I would not want good service intentions turn into a big embarassment for the recipients because their plight was made public to the world.

I think there is great potential in using social media in promoting the work of the Church. When we are thinking about how we are going to use it we need to keep in mind not only our purpose and objectives but also the unintended consequences.

I agree with Alan, there's no need to create a Church-member only social media site. Facebook does just fine for social media.

Google tried to set up a social networking site before Facebook and it never really got much traction, that was Orkut. The only place that got anywhere fast was in Brazil according to Google themselves. You hear of a few others, but when most people talk about social media, Facebook and Twitter are the two spoken of about 90 percent of the time.

A second effort by Google for collaborative social networking flopped, and they closed it but will move features to some other efforts in the future was Google Wave. I found that tedious to use, which probably explains the failure.

mesmith wrote:What is your opinion/take on using these sites? Would it be useful for the church to provide its own version of FB for member use?

How else are people using Twitter, Facebook, Orkut, etc. in church callings?

Policy and improbability aside, what does everyone else think about a Church social network? What would something like that look like? (Speculate away - just don't criticize current church policy or leaders.)

Shameless plug for a project I'm working on:
"Thinking Socially"
Please brainstorm with us - no ideas are excluded for the purpose of our brainstorm.
What could the Church do with social media? What direction could it go? What would you like to see? How would you like to use social media (or something like it) in your Church callings?
Think about strategy - what could the Church's social media strategy be? Where is it important that the church engage in social networks?

If you're coming to the LDSTech conf 2011, please consider joining us. But until then, please let your ideas loose.
Let's THINK SOCIALLY!

I think that we currently miss a trick in terms of kind of "flash" updates / reminders to wards/stakes etc. Using either email, twitter or sms - it would be great to get a last minute reminder for stake temple night, or a ward or stake activity etc.

So event reminders via multiple channels (twitter, facebook, sms, email. Any others?).
What does that look like? Would you sign up for something like that? How would you sign up for something like that?
What apps/websites should interface with a feature like this?

Any other thoughts? (Dream away)

I am in a singles ward in North Carolina. We use facebook for everything. Here is a link to the group take a look.

lehrschallbrian wrote:I am in a singles ward in North Carolina. We use facebook for everything. Here is a link to the group take a look.

Unfortunately this site is not in compliance with Handbook 2, 21.1.22. Stake and ward web sites may be created only by using the official Church Internet resources. Additionally the LDS Site Development Guide provides guidance that supports the instructions found in Handbook 2, 21.1.22.

The title of the facebook account puts the account out as an official unit site and the description of the account are just what the Church does not want units to do. Items 2 and 3 under the section Members’ Use of the Internet in Church Callings in 21.1.22 are other requirements that are missing from the site.

There are many aspects of the site that could be useful if the site were to be adapted to comply with Handbook 2.

lehrschallbrian wrote:I am in a singles ward in North Carolina. We use facebook for everything. Here is a link to the group take a look.

You are aware of the church policy:

Stake and ward Web sites may be created only by using the official Church Internet resources. Stakes and wards are not authorized to create other Web sites or blogs or otherwise have a Church-sponsored presence on the Internet.

Exceptions to this must be approved by the Area Presidency. Has this site been approved?

lehrschallbrian wrote:I am in a singles ward in North Carolina. We use facebook for everything. Here is a link to the group take a look.

Aside from needing approval, one of our local concerns has always been the advertisements. How did you set up the site so that inappropriate ads do not appear?

And while the site is up, you may want to correct the link to the Church (there is no www): http://lds.org
And the name of the Church is properly spelled with a hyphen and lowercase "d" (Latter-day).

I understand that there are folks at Church Headquarters who are working directly with some social media sites at very high levels to resolve issues such as advertising and other concerns. Perhaps progress is being made in this regard.

techgurufloyd wrote:How else are people using Twitter, Facebook, Orkut, etc. in church callings?

A day after our recent earthquake disaster on Feb 22 here in Christchurch, New Zealand I worked as my calling as Stake Technology Specialist with our Stake President to setup a temporary Facebook page to use as a way of communicating to the members of our Stake. The current Stake & Wards Website services were too inadequate to get vital information and videos out on a regular basis as well as making the information publicly available to members and families outside of our Stake who were deeply concerned and wanted to know what was happening on a daily basis.

http://www.facebook.com/ChristchurchStakeEarthquake

This proved to be a valuable tool that has served its purpose very well. The Area Presidency were supportive of this initiative and right behind the Stake President. All our chapels were badly damaged, roads were closed, and there was no way to meet for church services so it enabled Stake and Unit leaders to get video messages of comfort and support to members who were affected whilst other arrangements were being made.

I wouldn't be surprised to see in a few years time if the church had incorporated Facebook somehow into an updated Stake & Wards Website version in some way or another. (only my opinion)

the problem with all of this is trying not to leave behind the elderly, or technically challenged! Many, many of my ward don't use the current online tools/calender etc - and so we just need to be careful that we as leaders don't place too great an emphasis on technology. This may begin to disenfranchise.

dannykos wrote:the problem with all of this is trying not to leave behind the elderly, or technically challenged! Many, many of my ward don't use the current online tools/calender etc - and so we just need to be careful that we as leaders don't place too great an emphasis on technology. This may begin to disenfranchise.

In a recent severe wildfire in Herriman, UT, social networking was used by the city to keep residents, friends, relatives, the media, the curious, etc., informed regarding the status of the fire; which areas were being evacuated, where the shelters were, the time frame of returning to homes, and MANY more tidbits of important information. Instead of neglecting those not technically savvy, it had an opposite affect. By getting the information out and keeping it updated, it took a huge load off of the city's information infrastructure and allowed those without access to modern smartphones and data plans a chance to actually get through to the city using conventional means.

The other thing it did was by having ONLY officials from the city allowed to post updates to the facebook/twitter sites that were specifically setup for the fire, it help put a lid on the usual "rumor mill" that often follows disasters.

I can't speak for the church, but watching Herriman's use of it first hand, I can tell you many cities in the greater Salt Lake City area have already implemented (or are currently considering) writing in social networking as part of their city's disaster plan.

I don't disagree that social media can/has a huge part to play in the dissemination of information, but it still doesn't entirely replace other traditional means when trying to minister to those either without access, elderly etc. My worry was that in the mad rush to 'connect' everyone, we might assume that 'everyone' is indeed connected, and our actions might unfortunately reflect that.

Ran across this tonight: http://mhhcalifornia.org/projects (Mormon Helping Hands California) has links to Facebook.

Valid points - we don't want to disenfranchise (so to speak) the elderly and technically less-able members. Feel free to offer suggestions on how we can make communication between tech-savy and tech-non-savy users possible and easier. In what I do, I try to make sure that local priesthood leaders get to choose whether or not using a tool in their unit makes sense. As you come up with ideas, please post them on our social media tips/hints page: Sharing the Gospel online.

If you use Facebook, Twitter, or some other social network in your ward, branch, stake, or district, I'd love to know about it. Plus, if you've got an idea on how you'd like to use social media in your unit, or to help in your calling, or an idea on how we can use social media to help with welfare efforts like the Christchurch earthquake, or the recent Japanese disaster, etc, I'd love to hear about that to. Please, send me an email explaining your ideas and a link to your page/group/site/account (if your unit has one): jfloyd@ldschurch.org

I'm not out to be Big Brother. Whether your site is official (approved by area presidency), unofficial (with the right "unofficial" notice in place), or completely off the chart (new idea? something we haven't seen yet?) please send me an email. I'm interested in seeing how you are using, or how you'd like to use social networks. I want to know how we can facilitate using those tools wherever possible and appropriate. I can't say what all we're working on, but it's exciting stuff. I can't make promises about when these social tools will be available.

PS Thanks for the links so far!

We have approval from our Stake Presidency to create and use the website.

lehrschallbrian wrote:We have approval from our Stake Presidency to create and use the website.

But did they get approval from the area presidency? The SP doesn't have the authority to decide this matter.

RussellHltn wrote:But did they get approval from the area presidency? The SP doesn't have the authority to decide this matter.

Not if it's clearly stated that isn't an Official Church site!

See, this is the problem where the church can't (obviously) keep up with modern technologies.
People do things, incorrectly, and then justify it away (also incorrectly). The net result is that other people see them, and then use that as the precedent for their own ideas.

It's very clear in Book 2: "Stakes and wards are not authorized to create other Web sites or blogs or otherwise have a Church-sponsored presence on the Internet."

marianomarini wrote:Not if it's clearly stated that isn't an Official Church site!

Individuals can have a website, but you can't simply slap an "unofficial" title on a website and do what you want. There are other rules that still must be complied with, such as not posting photos or other information about individuals without their consent.

What is your opinion/take on using these sites? Would it be useful for the church to provide its own version of FB for member use?

Yes, I think it is useful for the church to use its own version for FB so that the members will be informed about the events going to happen. It may be a social event or spiritual event as long as the members will informed that is very okay. Just always note the limitations for the posts that will be made.

For unpleasant experiences like divorce I know of people that announced there date on a social media site. Thing is for something like that I would think you should respect the privacy of people involved. Makes job as clerk easier. But that is probably not wise to post on facebook.

Announcing callings, talks young men and women doing something Is appropriate use of social media I think.

I think the church group or organization are allowed in using this site of facebook to inform their members about any events. I think this is not bad.