Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto

From the Asst. Minister of Religious Education

March 28, 2010
Rev. Dan Harper

You probably already know how usage of social media — Web-based communication tools like blogs, Twitter, Facebook, online videos, and so on — keeps on rising. You probably also know that younger generations tend to use social media at an ever increasing rate.

For me, this raises the question of how our congregation should be using social media. Should we try to use social media more? Some Unitarian Universalist congregations have Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, blogs, and online videos — should we be doing that as well?

My feeling is that is does not make sense to use social media just because you feel you should be using social media. But if you have a real need that can be met through using social media, then it makes sense. For example, many of our volunteer Sunday School teachers and youth advisors tell me that they would like more training for their volunteer jobs. But they’re all busy people, and they don’t have a lot of time. How can we get them the training they want?

Joe Chee and I have been producing a series of podcasts (online audio programs) on topics of interest to volunteer teachers and advisors. Joe and I sit down together and record a ten-minute program on a given topic — most recently we’ve been talking about faith development — and then Joe posts the programs to the “CRE at UUCPA” Web site. People can listen to the audio programs, and then ask questions or leave comments at the Web site.

This is an example of using social media to meet a real need in our congregation. Are there other needs in our congregation that could be met through innovative use of social media? I’d love to hear what you think!