Pastor: “Why on earth should our church be on Facebook?”
Neil: “Because that’s where an increasing number of your members are –everyday.”
Pastor: “Our kids maybe, but our adults? It just seems so vapid, a colossal waste of time.”
Neil: “Sigh….”
(2015 Update: Our pastor still doesn’t get it. Wants to “be part of people’s lives” but won’t use the growing tools to do so.)
Now I happen to know that my pastor listens to NPR, so I quoted National Public Radio’s survey of their on “fans” who follow NPR on Facebook. (Yes, NPR has a Facebook page). In 2008, 1 million people followed NPR’s Facebook page. 40,000 NPR fans responded to the survey. (Probably a whole lot more now!)
Here’s what NPR’s “low-brow” crowd looks like:
NPR’s fans are Facebook regulars. Almost all respondents –96%– access Facebook at least once per day, and 80% access it more than once a day. According to Facebook, 50% of its users in general are using the service on any given day.
79% of the respondents were between the ages of 25 to 54. 69% were women.
They’re regular consumers of NPR content, especially via broadcast. About three of every four respondents (76%) listen to NPR on the radio. The majority of respondents – 55% – listen to between one and three hours of NPR on air each day.
You can read NPR’s full report at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128928306&sc=fb&cc=fp
To read my article about Why Pastors/Churches should take Facebook seriously, go to http://sundayresources.net/neil/2009/06/27/facebook-the-f…be-on-facebook
Check out my software! www.sundaysoftware.com
thanks for the hearty LOL at the end of your dialogue above. i hear myself expelling the same sigh at the end of (sadly) too many church/youth/kid/family/education related exchanges. steady on….
Thx LD. You know the verse about prophet’s in their own hometown…. So maybe quoting some “expert’s” article on the web (or NPR) might help with the High Brows.
😉