A recent survey conducted by OurChurch.Com on the subject of churches and Facebook points to 5 specific opportunities churches have to improve their use of Facebook and connect better with their members and their community.
Most respondents indicated they don’t think their church is doing a particularly good job with Facebook. While those results could be perceived as negative, a closer look reveals some big opportunities for those churches willing to embrace the world’s largest social network.
- 39% of respondents rated their church’s use of Facebook as poor (1-3 on a 10 scale)
- 42% rated their church’s use of Facebook as mediocre (4-7 on a 10 scale)
- 10% rated their church’s use of Facebook as good (8-10 on a 10 scale)
1) Communicate More
Clearly people would like to see their church do more on Facebook. 54% indicated they would like to see their church post to Facebook more frequently, 13% indicated they’d like to see their church post at their current frequency, and only 1% indicated they want their church to post less frequently.
2) Ministry Pages
A second opportunity for churches is for individual ministries to engage with people through Facebook pages. 87% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “I would subscribe to the Facebook pages/groups of the ministries within my church that I’m involved with if they had them.”
3) Facilitate Connections
A third opportunity for churches is to help their people connect with one another. 88% of respondents said they use Facebook to keep in touch with family and friends. However, only 53% said that they use Facebook to keep in touch with church friends and what’s happening in their church. The gap between the two – 35% of respondents – are people who currently connect with friends on Facebook but not friends from church.
4) Evangelism
A fourth opportunity for churches is to encourage and train their people to develop relationships with those who are not Christian and show God’s grace and love to them. Only 45% of the survey respondents indicated that is something they do now.
5) Facebook Ads
A fifth opportunity for churches is to use Facebook ads to reach out to people in their community. While the vast majority of respondents have not used Facebook ads (or didn’t answer the question), of those who have 54% would recommend other churches use Facebook ads vs only 7% who would recommend against them.
The survey was conducted between August 11, 2010 and August 31, 2010. Results are based on 193 responses. It was conducted online and not in a scientific manner, therefore results represent only those who participated. You can view the full church Facebook survey summary.
If you’re interested in how the data breaks down by demographics or interested in comparing sub-sets of the data, post a comment about it.
What are your reactions to the survey’s findings?
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