Social media is a great way for missionaries to connect with supporters and loved ones back home. Inspirational stories can be followed and donors can directly see the difference their money is making first-hand with photos, video blogs, and written stories available online.
1) Written Blogging: is the first form of blogging. People write articles to share information with others. There are many different types of written blogs:
- Personal
- Collaborative
- Corporate
- Topical
- How-to
Most missionaries use personal blogs to tell their story. Blogger is a very popular website for most bloggers. One example of missionaries using Blogger is Dave and Jana Jenkins, a couple writing about their work in Rwanda. Here is another website dedicated to missionary blogs.
2) Photo Blogging (Photoblogs): A personal journal of photos that are available for others to see. One social media site for photoblogging is fotothing. On this site, one user has photos of his/her missionary team. One photo features the team members praying for the kids of the bakerton location. This is a great way to share all the snap shots your team takes while out in the field.
3) Video Blogging (Videocasts): Similar to photo blogging, except instead of photos, members post videos. One example of a missionary that used YouTube to record videos of his experiences is Justin Ashurst. Another great site for video sharing is Vimeo.
4) Audio Blogging (Podcasts): An array of audio files produced by the blogger available for download. Many churches are currently doing podcasts of their Sunday services. The City Church is a great example of integrating their podcasts by using iTunes.
This website goes over the blogging basics and has some great vocabulary!
I am the Social Author for Salty Waffle’s faith based outreach. Please see my blog (http://bit.ly/kSpjXB). If you would like to follow me on Twitter I am @FaithNetworking.
Freshly graduated from the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business, I am now living around the world as a trailing spouse with my husband, a US Air Force medic. I seek to help others use social media to connect their faith based community. I believe social media will assist you in spreading the gospel and teaching the word of God while sharing testimonies, life lessons, joys, and personal struggles with people in your community.
14 Comments
Great thoughts Kayla – thanks! As a pastor, I use my blog to share additional thoughts with those who are under my care, as well as solicit feedback and comments from them. At this time I only jot down ideas, I do not utilize videos, photos, or audio. I am looking to move to a wordpress.org blog in the next month or so, which will allow more freedom than blogspot currently does at this time.
My wife and I supported a recent college graduate who went over to Central Asia. Via Skype, we were able to hear first hand exactly how it was over there, and what God was doing in and through her. Technology is such a wonderful tool in aiding the flow of information.
Great stuff you're doing with technology, Bruce! I highly recommend moving to a wordpress.org blog. Let me know if OurChurch.Com can help.
Bruce,
I think it is awesome that you are utilizing social media to share those extra thoughts & gain feedback. Social media is about adding to our current relationships and that is exactly what you are doing. Awesome!
Please share with us your new blog once you have it set up 🙂
Thank you for including the example of how you were able to see what God was doing, through the missionary you supported, via Skype. I completely agree with you – "Technology is such a wonderful tool in aiding the flow of information." It is so true!
Kayla, thanks for the post. After participating in a recent blog project, I have decided that I am going to launch a personal faith blog in the near future. I believe that blogging is a wonderful opportunity to reach people and tell your faith story to the world. When thinking about missionaries using social media and your listing of blog types, I can't think of a more powerful blog tool than the photo blog. Images seem to burn imprints on my heart in a way that words never can.
Wanda,
I think it is wonderful that God has inspired you to start your own blog. Blogging is defiantly a powerful tool we have been given. And I agree with you about photo blogs. Both photos and videos leave a lasting impact on my heart for sure! Here is an article I wrote a while back about how helpful video blogging can be in conveying your message: http://bit.ly/r1EfsO. Please share with us what your blog is when you have launched it 🙂
I have a friend that has been doing a photo blog and it is so wonderful seeing her posts. She is a photographer, which makes it even more special.
Thanks for your post Kayla! Perfect topical timing as I get ready to head to Kenya this morning. We'll be utilizing several of these ideas on our trip:
Written blog: http://CypressMeadows.org/blog/kenya/
Photo blogging: http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulsteinbrueck/
Video blogging: http://www.youtube.com/user/pdstein007 (if we have enough bandwidth)
Plus
Twitter: http://twitter.com/PaulSteinbrueck
Facebook: http://facebook.com/LiveIntentionally & https://www.facebook.com/CypressKenyaTrip
All these sites/tools make it possible for us to share the stories of God working in and through us with friends, family, and others all around the world in real time.
Paul, that is the perfect example of what inspired me to write this article. I look forward to being able to follow you during your time in Kenya. God bless your journey!
Loved your pictures so far on Flickr…keep them coming Paul
Looking forward to following along. Be safe and God bless.
Thanks for the post Kayla.
I am a late comer to social media and blogging. We started blogging earlier this year, and we found success in reaching people outside our circle, and also deeper connections with those inside our circle.
We mainly write our blogs, but we have recently started using video.
Chris, it is wonderful that you have been able to use social media to reach out to people outside of your circle and create those deeper connections. That is exactly what social media is all about! Reaching out and becoming closer. Thank you for sharing, that is very encouraging!
What/where is your blog?
http://www.360wlo.com
Thank you so much for sharing valuable information regarding Social Media Blogging, would like to share with my friends circle and let them show.