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• What is it?• Blogging• Twitter• Facebook• YouTube• LinkedIn• Pinterest• Google +

• Not just tech!• Personality plays a huge part!

• Computer and Access to Internet• Mobility – laptop and mobile broadband• Smartphone (?) – Android, Windoze, Blackberry,

Apple• Time to play• Playful, searching, enquiring nature• Patience

• What do you do?

• What are you familiar with?

C H U R C H A N D S O C I A L M E D I A

"If you want to build a presence in the social media platform,

then you need to be present." - @unmarketing

• Socmedia 1.0

Picture from: http://thefuturebuzz.com/2012/10/12/you-are-what-you-share/

• Socmedia 1.0• Social media as display• Social media as marketing tool• Social media becomes digital version of print

artefacts – digital noticeboard, digital service plans, digital hymnsheets, digital notices

• A cheaper (?) way of getting info across?• We are what we share?• We are what we post?• Social Media 1.0 = self disclosure, self display• Social Media 1.0 = one way traffic, broadcasting• Non-social Media 1.0

• Socmedia 1.0• Social media is about marketing a product• my self, my activities, my meals, my angst• my church, my events, my services• my ministry, my gospel, my Jesus• my cat

• Goals of social media 1.0• numbers, reach, conversion rates• likes, retweets, favourites, comments• being the buzz…

• But NB Potempkin and Narcissistic Paranoia

• Socmedia 1.0

• Potempkin Numbers:• http://thefuturebuzz.com/2012/06/12/social-proofi

ness-spotting-digital-potemkin-numbers/

• Narcissitic Paranoia:• http://theamericanreader.com/paranoid-narcissism-w

hat-dostoevsky-knew-about-the-internet

• Kaplan on self-disclosure in social media:• http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S

0007681309001232#

• Schau/Gilly on “We are what we post”• http://bit.ly/1dv3PaA

• Socmedia 2.0

Luke 6:45 (NIV)

A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

Authenticity

Image Credits: The Worship Cloud/ @digitalfprint

“If an alien visited…”

… and all they had to see was your Facebook page (or other ‘public’ profile).. What would their perception of your life be?

Image Credit: RGB Stock

Carl Medearis

Relax, enjoy your friends. Enjoy their company along with the company of Jesus. Point him out, freely, without fear or intimidation. You’re not responsible to sell him to them. You’re simply saying what you’ve seen. You're not the judge. You’re the witness.Spring Harvest 2013

Which offers more engagement?

Principles of Good Engagement

• Be interesting• Be encouraging• Be active• Be helpful• Be authentic• Just BE…

Partial HT @vahva

https://audioboo.fm/boos/1577833-what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-digital-disciple-with-changingworship

• What do you think?

• Is all this a personality thing?

• Where’s the theology?

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• What might I need to look out for?

• What might I need to look out for?• Safety – what are the boundaries?• Privacy• What’s on the net, stays on the net!• Distraction – butterfly syndrome?• Goal – broadcast or community or both? • Texture Lite – just how much can we say in 140…• Mobile Reality – we live in a truly mobile world• Who are you speaking to?• Epistemological Democracy – a right to say x or y• Trolls/Flames/Embarrassment

OPPORTUNITIES ONLINE

Image Source: The Worship Cloud

Raising Children in a Digital Age

• With digital technology we need to cultivate an attitude of respect, rather than of risk-avoidance. The digital is a part of our everyday lives, and it’s not going to go away. There are huge opportunities available for those who have learnt how to be critical, constructive, and confident inhabitants of the digital environment.

Can social media be positive?

• Wide range of information • Increased connectivity and collaboration• Educational benefits• Global nature of online• New creative opportunities• Learning criticality• Increased accessibility for those with disabilities

Can social media be used positively?

• Post friend’s suicide, Teenager set up a Twitter account giving compliments to others online: http://mashable.com/2013/05/04/sweet-compliments-twitter

• After school Code Clubs are running: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/talking-digital-teaching-manchesters-children-4750001

• A child developed a high-capacity battery with fast recharge: http://mashable.com/2013/05/22/super-capacitor-eesha-khare/

• Child produced cheap test for pancreatic cancer: http://www.thinkingdigital.co.uk/speakers/2013/jack-andraka

• Pledge to use the Internet for good: http://www.aplatformforgood.org/index.php/pledge/use-your-power-for-good.

• Fun with technology: http://www.aplatformforgood.org/summer

Rev Prof David Wilkinson

God is a communicating God: “In the beginning was the word, and the word was God…”. God is extravagant in communication – he is not a silent God who has to be tempted into communicating with people.

Image Credit: Durham University

The Church Front Door?• For many churchgoing is no longer the

‘cultural norm’. People don’t actively ignore the church: they don’t even think about it. Matthew 5:13-16 calls us to be salt and light in the world, and for thousands in the ‘digital age’, that world includes social networks such Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest. With literally billions in the digital spaces, the online social spaces presented by churches need to be appealing, welcoming, and not look like they are just an afterthought: they are now effectively the ‘front door’ to your church for digital users, and you ignore those spaces at your peril.

http://www.churchgrowthrd.org.uk/blog/churchgrowth/growing_churches_in_the_digital_age

Image Credit: Sxc.hu

http://www.youtube.com/user/lansdownebaptist/featured

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpmM02IE6oI

Connecting via The Feedback Loop

• By posting my sermons online, I can get much more feedback than I can after church on a Sunday morning. People can leave comments on the sermon blog itself (though, like most blogs, this is rare). I get statistics about how many people read each post, so I can tell what resonates. I also share my sermon on both my Facebook profile and the church page. This is where I get most of my feedback. The likes, comments, and messages (or lack thereof) give me an indication about how I’ve connected, or not.

• http://pastorkeithanderson.net/item/six-ways-social-media-can-make-you-a-better-preacher

Facebook Groups

http://www.biblesummary.info

http://bigbible.tumblr.com

http://www.sayinggoodbye.org

• What’s your experience of social media?

• What really works?

• What would you recommend?

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• Soc Media Guidelines?

• Be credible. Be accurate, fair, thorough, transparent.• Be consistent. • Encourage constructive criticism and deliberation.• Be cordial, honest and professional at all times. • Be responsive. When you gain insight, share it where appropriate.• Be integrated. Wherever possible, align online participation with other

communications.• Be a good representative of the Methodist Church. Remember that you are an

ambassador for Christ, the Church and your part of it. Disclose your position as a member or officer of the Church, making it clear when speaking personally.

• Let Galatians 5:22–26 guide your behaviour.• Be respectful: respect confidentiality. Respect the views of others even where you

disagree.

What does this mean for us?A Disciple is one who, by following Jesus, grows in their faith in Christ and in so doing models and teaches Christians the precepts of the Bible, prayer, doctrine, relationship, Christian living, service, and worship, to name the main ones. (DiscipleshipTools.Org)

Image Credit: The Worship Cloud

Gary Collins (Christian Life Coach)

If you're a Christian, seeking to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, you'll approach every aspect of your life from this perspective. Your commitment to Christ will impact your marriage, parenting, lifestyle, values, spending, time management, vocation ...

Image Credit: Gary Collins website

#BIGBible #DIGIdisciple• Whether as a Christian or a digital explorer, you’re a

newbie or an old hat, a rookie or a bishop (and in the digital sphere, there will be some who fit in all categories), we all have something to contribute to the digital space. The concept of the digital as ‘space’ or a ‘culture’ is important as we come from a perspective in which:

• As Christians we live 24/7 for God, in whatever spaces we live in or engage with…

• There is no such thing as ‘virtual’ and ‘real’ worlds: only online and offline space/cultures – the connection between the two is different for each individual.

• We need to take seriously our Christian presence both online and offline. Are we the same person, living by the same values in both ‘spaces’?

Image Credit: The Worship Cloud

• What could I offer?

• Digital Missionary? (…coming your way!)• Digital Accompanist? (…on the journey with?)• Digital Chaplaincy? (…from outside in?)• Digital Discipleship?• Digital Encouragement?

• Living biblically in a digital world

Ethical Behaviours

• http://bigbible.org.uk/about/policies/image-policy

• http://search.creativecommons.org

Image Source: iStockPhoto

What does it mean to share with grace?

Image Credit: The Worship Cloud

Q&A

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