Tech Forum

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?