Would the Apostle Paul have been on Facebook?

While my catchy headline may seem funny, I think it really is a legitimate question. I think the answer is yes, except of course it would be done in Paul fashion. Imagine with me for a second if Paul would have had a computer and wireless connection while in prison. What would his facebook look like? I am certain that he would have had the facebook of all facebooks to glorify Christ and to teach new churches how to be more Godly.

I listened to a recent Taylor Chapel sermon and it discussed how teens are simply on these sites and are on them a lot and we need to meet them there in a Christ-centered manner. Recently, this pastor was able to save a teen from committing suicide through IM’s and clues that led them to find him and keep him from harming himself. On a smaller level, facebook or other social media sites have been leveraged to promote Christian concerts, or say a Christmas concert put on by a local church.

Can God’s work be done on facebook? I think the answer is yes, but you must be careful not to invade the space.

In terms of Online Communication, Taylor should think about how to engage their prospective students in a hands-off, yet engaging way. The answer is to let them decide how and when. The social media space is being inundated with ads left and right. According to MediaPost, when Microsoft bought a small stake in facebook last year which valued the social network at $15 billion, all eyes immediately turned to advertisers, who are expected to populate social networks in droves with more ads. This is supposed to be a space where you can own what happens and it is clear that advertisers are all ready in the space in droves and in most cases in the wrong way. So if the answer isn’t ads on the social networks, what is?

The answer is actually pretty simple – start a conversation or allow them to start one.

Three conversation starters:

1. Share This: A simple tool like Share This! can prove to be one small thing that could be done today to increase engagement and conversation. Adding this social media sharing feature to most Taylor pages will help spread the word and allow the prospective students to engage the site the way they want to and they may know of a friend who might like what Taylor has to offer. This is almost a free solution, simply the time and energy to populate the site is all that is required.

2. Instant chat: Prospective students should have the option to instantly chat with a student on the site. This generation simply expects instant access. We could gather a group of students and train them on how to do this….perhaps even offering an incentive. Talisma is a good solution out there for this.

3. Blog: your online strategy and blogging strategy should be closely aligned. I would develop a blogging plan to drive key words and regular content to a defined blogging center. If possible, you blogs should also be comepended, which essentially means you get more key words driven per post. Compendium is a company which specializes in this. I would also work with the team to identify regular bloggers and develop a hard blogging calendar.