What’s The Impact On Community?
I have been working on my Masters degree for a little over a year and it has been an incredible experience.
Incredibly exciting…incredibly tiring…incredibly thought provoking…incredibly frustrating…it’s been incredible.
This week I am wrapping up a class that has been preparing me for my capstone thesis. Although the details of the study have not yet been fleshed out, in general terms I am planning on examining the impact of Facebook on the development of connection and community within church congregations.
I expect this to be a very interesting topic to study and pertinent to both my job as Director of Outreach/Connection for a church and also social media manager for a church web design company.
Posted on November 30th, 2010 by David | 4 Comments »
I played around with Facebook at first, but it became an essential aspect of my everyday life a couple years ago when I moved across the country to take a job. It was sort of like my lifeline to home; a way of keeping family and friends that were now far away … closer.
Yes, it has been incredible. Great post!
In answer to your question…
Facebook & Twitter have been my lifelines. With a crazy schedule trying to balance family, work, MBA studies, church activities, etc it has helped me stay in touch with friends and family who would otherwise assume I’d been shanghaied by pirates.
I think connection and community can either be synonymous or complimentary. Assuming connection merely signifies a touch point between me and someone else than social media has become my primary channel.
Community is a bit more complex as it requires sustained connection in terms of time and growing connection in terms of depth. Typically I use Facebook for people I actually know in real life, while Twitter has largely been an experiment of sorts in “meeting” new people online. As people have sustained and greater valued connection via social media the community development tends to happen more or less naturally.
(Sorry for the short novel. It’s early and I get verbose when tired.)
Hey David,
Great blog. I have added you to my blogroll. I wonder if you might check my blog out and think about reciprocating. My blog is eclectic, including all sorts of observations, from matters of faith, to devotionals, to politics, to…you name it.
Huge impact on my life too! I have found friends from our past ministry lives and have friends from all around the world that I talk to all the time – my new favorite thing is Skype – I love the accents from my Australian friends! I use twitter – but it’s not my favorite as there isn’t as much interaction with friends on there. My blog has been a significant part of a healing for me – a long journey back from a dark place and I have found that by being authentic and vulnerable – I have been able to reach and touch others – connecting in a way that wouldn’t have been possible without the internet. Love my facebook buddies – the laughter and daily encouragement has been a god-send to me. I also have a business page for my music studio and I’m able to communicate schedule, videos and information with all my students and parents.