Web 2.0 suite step 2: Add content

In my last post, I discussed how a ministry can use a simple blogging site, such as WordPress, to create a nice web presence for little cost and with little technical knowledge. From here, the ministry can then focus on adding content. Of course, being a blogging site, the first thing to be focused on would be adding blog posts. I can’t stress enough how important it is to develop a regular plan for posting to a blog. At a bare minimum, the blog posts should come at least once a week, with information about that upcoming week’s events and teaching. Each post can be categorized as well, meaning that readers can quickly click on a category such as “sermon notes” to get a listing of all the sermon notes posted to the blog.

Besides blog posts, the site should also include some static text, including information about the mission of the organization, the staff, contact info, hours/services, and directions. Depending upon the “theme” of the site chosen, links to these static pages will appear at the top or side of the main web page. Examples of this can be found on this blog, with links to static pages appearing at the top (example: My Research). With a tool such as WordPress, creating a blog post or static page is a click away – no technical knowledge needed. Again, the advantage here is that once posted, your blog entries are available via Google searches and RSS feeds.

Once the ministry has set up some initial information on the site (and created at least one “welcome” blog post), the inclusion of other types of content should be developed. After all, who would want to look at a web site that is just a bunch of writing? However, what you do NOT do at this point is try to use your blogging site to host this content. To share pictures, create an account at Flickr (free), load your pictures, and link it back to your blog site. To share videos, create an account at YouTube (free), and link it back to your blog site. To share maps, create them at Google maps (free) and link them from your blog site. Do you see a trend here? In the world of web 2.0, sharing content is the whole point. And the cost? Free + free + free = free.

To see this all for myself, I spent a couple hours updating this blog with pictures, videos, and a map. All of these now appear in my sidebar to the right. I will admit, I had to work a little to get them all to work properly, but my guess is that 90% of the students in my classes at Biola could do this if asked because it is becoming second nature to them. Organizations need to learn how to work with these web 2.0 tools and use them to their advantage. And if no one there understands it, hire a college student!

One last point to make on this: when we add our content to Flickr or YouTube or other similar web site so that we can show it on our own site, we are also making this content available to the world. Many, MANY, web users search through these sites to find things that interest them – if they happen upon the pictures or videos from your organization, so much the better. And isn’t that the point? Share your content with the world, don’t hide it away in your own ghetto.

Web 2.0 suite step 1: Building a “home”

As I posted last time, I am going to evaluate several “Web 2.0″ sites/tools with an eye to how they could be used for a church or other ministry as a way to build their Internet presence. See that post for a listing of all the different tools I am going to be looking at.

A starting point for any organization wishing to maintain a presence on the Internet is some sort of place to call “home” that can be accessed via a Google search on your organization’s name or web address. One way this can be accomplished is, of course, to create your own web site and either manage it on your own server or pay a service to host it for you, purchase a web domain name, and hope that Google can find your site. This can get expensive and, at a minimum, requires at least some expertise in web site development and possibly server administration. An alternative to this, however, would be to take advantage of one of the free (or low cost) blogging tools that are now available. At sites such as TypePad, WordPress, or Blogger, you can quickly create nice looking web pages and manage content easily. Very little training is required to use these sites, and the results can be quite impressive. Further, all of these tools give you the ability to be available via a Google search, making your information instantly accessible to the world. They also let you pick a web site name that can be at least something close to your own organization’s name.

In the original post by Seth Godin that started all this, he recommends using TypePad. I spent some time looking at TypePad and it is a very nice tool that allows you to customize the look of your site and create some static web pages as well as a blog. In fact, TypePad even markets their tool directly to churches. From what I can tell, using TypePad, Blogger, or WordPress would work just fine as a first web presence, with the nod to WordPress for the best features and lower price (free). For comparisons of blogging tools, see these Google search results.

My recommendation for a ministry looking to begin their web presence would be to think about creating an account with WordPress as a place to get started. Use its ability to create static pages for basic information about your ministry and then blog regularly to give people updates on what you are doing. As your sites matures and your needs grow, you may then need to spend some time and money to develop a “real” web site – though you could continue your blogging at the WordPress site. I would also recommend purchasing your own web domain name at this point, if not earlier.

Once you have established your initial presence using one of these tools, be sure you update it often and give people a reason to come back. And don’t just update it with blog entries: using other Web 2.0 tools you can update it with pictures, videos, podcasts, and events. I’ll be looking at tools to do these things in my next few posts.

Web 2.0 suite for ministries

In my last post I wrote about how churches need to think about using existing web sites as ways to develop a web presence for their ministries, rather than create their own or use “Christianized” versions of these sites. The comments on that post have been supportive of this concept and it seems that this is a topic that should be explored further. As I have thought more about this, I have begun wondering what is the right Internet “suite” of products that a church should get familiar with.

Over at his blog, Seth Godin had a post that may help here. Though not written necessarily for churches or ministries, it does give an example of how web 2.0 tools can be used to quickly and easily get a small organization a presence on the web in a meaningful way for very little cost. The web 2.0 tools he recommends are:

• TypePad
• Squidoo
• Google Maps
• Flickr

In addition, I would probably add:

• YouTube
• Facebook

With the exception of Squidoo, I am pretty familiar with all of these sites as a user. However, I have never looked at them as possible ministry outlets before. Over the next couple of weeks, I will be reviewing each of these sites and trying to understand how they could be used for ministry purposes. In most cases, it may not necessarily be the specific site as much as it is the type of site it is (for example, TypePad provides blogging and content, but so does WordPress). If you can think of other sites (or competitors to these sites) that should be looked at, please let me know! And as I am reviewing each of these, please feel free to throw in your experience using these sites as well (both as a user and a content provider).

If you build it, they will come…

But should you build it? That’s another question that I would like to answer with my research. This question is significant, because too often it seems that Christians want to create their own versions of society, a version which is geared only for other Christians and is not appealing to those outside the faith. Two examples of this are GodTube and MyChurch, christianized versions of YouTube and MySpace. Is it wise to develop our own sites when there is nothing to stop us from working within the structure of existing web sites? Wouldn’t it be smarter to go where the lost are, rather than creating our own places and making them come there?

Over at ChurchRelevance.com, Kent Shaffer notes that a recent survey by Youth Trends shows that Facebook is by far and away the most favorite web site of 17-to-25 year olds. He concludes that “Facebook is the place for your church to reach young adults.” Yet, I bet that many churches or youth ministries would conclude that they should develop their own version of Facebook.

Internet Evangelism Day – April 29

April 29th is “Internet Evangelism Day”, a day designated by the Internet Evangelism Coalition to make churches aware of the potential for evangelism via the Internet. Go to their web page for more details.

But the real question is: “do churches use the Internet for evangelism?” In my research on how different ministries are using the Internet, I have always asked them what the primary purpose of their web site is. In almost all cases, the churches I have met with state that their web site is intended to provide communication and information for those who attend the church, to support the staff, and/or to provide information about their church to the community. Many have stated that they “should do a better job” of using the web site for evangelism.

I applaud the idea of Internet Evangelism Day. Their focus on getting churches to think about using the web for more than just church communication is needed. My research and IED have the same goals in mind: providing resources for effective use of the Internet by churches and other Christian ministries.

Online giving

As Christians, we are commanded to give a portion of what we have back to the Lord. The tradition of passing the plate during church service is still used in most churches today. Many churches have now turned to using the Internet as a means for giving to the church, from posting PayPal links on their sites to full-fledged giving programs online.  I know at our church we have had requests from members to add the ability to give online, though we haven’t done so yet. One huge advantage that online giving has is that it allows for giving whether or not the person attends church that Sunday. This works even better if the church allows for a schedule automatic withdrawal on a regular basis. Many of the churches I have researched so far point to this as a way to generate a more regular stream of income.

The big question here is not whether giving online is bad – it is not. The real issue is that by allowing giving electronically, churches are also allowing giving via credit card, since most online providers allow transfers to be made from bank accounts or credit cards.  Many churches, mine included, have specific ministries aimed at teaching people how to manage their money using principles from the Bible. These ministries teach that the use of credit cards should be strictly limited or even eliminated. This presents a problem then when allowing online giving via credit card:”Credit cards are tools of the devil and have no positive benefits . . . except, of course, when giving to our church.”

One church that has struggled with this and come up with a solution is Saddleback.  They have created a comprehensive online giving program that does not allow the use of credit cards. In speaking with their pastor of technology, he stated that they really worked to eliminate credit card use for regular giving, finding a service provider that would process online transactions but now allow credit cards. In his words: “we’re a real pain in the butt to them [the service provider], but they do it.” Saddleback does allow credit cards to be used for registration for events and purchases of products.  Another interesting note to this online giving program is that they provide cards that say “I gave online” that can be placed in the offering plates passed on Sundays, thus allowing those who use the online giving option to still participate in the traditional way.

As my research continues, it will be interesting to determine how other churches handle this and what solutions they have come up with. As more and more people become comfortable with handling their money online, it will become a “must have” feature for the church web site.

Saving souls in Second Life

If someone is saved in Second Life, are they saved in First Life too?

Many of you know of the phenomenon of Second Life, but for those who don’t, the easiest way to explain it is that it is an online world where you can live out your life as someone else. It is kind of like being in a cartoon with a real person behind every character you meet. And you can fly. For more details, see the description on the Second Life website. There are now over five million (yes, million) participants in Second Life.

There seems to be a growing movement by different ministries to begin doing evangelism in Second Life, seeing it as a way to interact with people who may have no interest in going to church in this world. One particular ministry I have been following is LifeChurch.tv, who have been early adopters and innovators in many different areas of technology. They held an Easter service in Second Life this past Sunday, but I have yet to hear of any feedback on how it went. The picture is a representation of their building within Second Life.

So, back to the question, if someone is saved in Second Life, are they saved in this life? I don’t think so. After all, the persona used in the virtual world has no soul. However, by by exposing a participant in Second Life to the gospel, it may spur the person behind the avatar to search for answers back in real world. And in the case of LifeChurch.tv, they have the perfect real world answer: an online campus of their church! Of course, that leads to more questions, but that will be covered in another post.

Use volunteers?

During this research process, I have met with the technology or communication directors of many churches. One of the key questions I have asked them is regarding the actual development of their web site.  Who actually built the web site? Generally I have found, with one notable exception, is that the use of volunteers does not work well. Most all of the church leaders I have spoken with mentioned their “first web site”, created by volunteers and eventually abandoned in favor of a web site developed by professionals. In most cases, a third party was used to develop and even manage the site, though content is always updated by church staff.

The one notable exception to this was Rock Harbor, a church based in Costa Mesa, CA, which uses volunteers almost exclusively, with much success. In an interview I did with Jacob Roebuck, the Communications Associate Directory, he told me that Rock Harbor has a “volunteer culture”, and that the job of the sixty-five or so staff members, for the most part, is to manage over one thousand volunteers. Jacob has a small team of IT professionals who have volunteered to help build an update their existing web site.  When I asked him how he kept them motivated and bought in, he said that one of the keys was building a sense of ownership with the volunteers.  He had nothing but good things to say about using volunteers and feels that, at least for their church, it is the right way to approach the development of the web site.

Jacob did note, however, that once the web site was developed, the content would be managed by paid staff. This is an important point, because it brings Rock Harbor in line with the other churches I have talked with and may prove to be one of the common success factors I am looking for in my research.

What is effective Internet ministry?

In order to have a meaningful discussion about doing effective Internet ministry, one must first understand what is meant by “effective”. One dictionary definition of effective is “producing or capable of producing an intended result”. Using this definition, then, leads us to ask “what is the intended result?” How does a ministry, be it a church, missions organization, or even a business, determine this? It seems to me that it should be a conscious decision made before the work even begins. But is this even done? Many church web sites I look at do not look as if any thought was put into intended result.

The first part of my research project will be to understand what is already being done by faith-based organizations. I believe that at least one my questions must ask about the intended results.

Effective Internet Ministry

I am beginning a research project on the effective use of the Internet by Christian ministries. I have had to spend some time trying to define exactly what it means to use the Internet effectively, as this could be interpreted in many different ways. In developing a research project in this area, I had to specifically lay out how to go about researching this. I think the first step to doing this is to understand what is currently being done by existing ministries. Once this is done, we can then look to understand if these organizations consider themselves successful and the criteria they use to determine this. Finally, we can then look for characteristics that these organizations have in common. If you are interested, I have posted a more complete research proposal here.

Over the past few months, I have begun discussions with several churches and one missions organization to understand how they have implemented the Internet ministries. Now that I have put this blog together, I hope to post summaries from those discussions here to share with you and to stimulate further discussions and thoughts. First, though, I need to get permission…