If Robert Scoble is right and Facebook is blocking Google search bots for a reason far more reaching than just “user privacy” and Microsoft is planning a new buyout of both Yahoo and Facebook (can someone else buy Flickr and del.icio.us first?) which will lead to a more closed Internet, would it not make more sense for churches and other organizations to begin building their own online social networks based on an open social platform?
I know I’m not ever a big fan of “Christian ghettos” but does it not make more sense now for churches and organizations to offer open networks where their members, friends and family can share in an online social network without the threat of Corporation M or Corporation S mining all their personal information in an effort to sell loads of targeted advertising to each user?
And if churches do begin to offer their own social networks without the threat of advertising and they become super successful, how will the infrastructure to support these sites be paid for? Will churches have to resort to more pleads for money from the church itself or will the online networks begin fund raising drives like Wikipedia does – or maybe even “pledge-a-thons” like your favorite local Christian radio station or NPR?
And if churches do begin to offer their own social networks, will we allow members to transfer their profile, information and such to other church networks if they decide to leave the physical church body as well?
Could these same questions, ideas work for other organizations, non-profits, schools and such like UMHB or DCCCD?
Just thinking out loud. Would love to continue the conversation via this blog, twitter or wherever (preferably in a public forum). What are your thoughts, questions?
Kudos from a long-time reader, first-time commenter. As someone who was very involved in a ‘Christian’ social network, I see both the potential as well as the problems. First, individual churches (even fairly large ones) probably don’t have enough people to really make a network thrive. About 10% of online social networks members are active more than once a week and if quite a bit of stuff isn’t being posted etc… everyday people lose interest. Second, a combined network (or platform) makes a lot of sense but is vulnerable to ownership issues. Obviously churches want their networks to be safe not just another place for people to post naughty pics. The project I was involved in (MEETfish.com) tried to be a network of networks, providing a platform for other orgs to have their own custom network but still be in the wider pool of Christians. While I still think the idea has a lot of merit, the project ultimately succumbed to ownership issues. Google has provided some really good tools for the creation of semi-custom networks (the openfriend project is another example)… Many colleges have social networks for both students and dono … I mean alumni. As far as funding, the fundraising method would seem to limit the features you could have. Most people want to do video, pictures and music all of which are bandwidth heavy and require $$$. Craigslist and wikipedia are bandwidth misers with mostly text and just a few images…
Kudos from a long-time reader, first-time commenter. As someone who was very involved in a ‘Christian’ social network, I see both the potential as well as the problems. First, individual churches (even fairly large ones) probably don’t have enough people to really make a network thrive. About 10% of online social networks members are active more than once a week and if quite a bit of stuff isn’t being posted etc… everyday people lose interest. Second, a combined network (or platform) makes a lot of sense but is vulnerable to ownership issues. Obviously churches want their networks to be safe not just another place for people to post naughty pics. The project I was involved in (MEETfish.com) tried to be a network of networks, providing a platform for other orgs to have their own custom network but still be in the wider pool of Christians. While I still think the idea has a lot of merit, the project ultimately succumbed to ownership issues. Google has provided some really good tools for the creation of semi-custom networks (the openfriend project is another example)… Many colleges have social networks for both students and dono … I mean alumni. As far as funding, the fundraising method would seem to limit the features you could have. Most people want to do video, pictures and music all of which are bandwidth heavy and require $$$. Craigslist and wikipedia are bandwidth misers with mostly text and just a few images…
I don’t know the details of all that stuff, but Aaron is working with a website called CircleBuilder.com that I think is along the lines of what you’re talking about. The website doesn’t give a lot of info right now, but I know they are talking about church-specific social networks.
I don’t know the details of all that stuff, but Aaron is working with a website called CircleBuilder.com that I think is along the lines of what you’re talking about. The website doesn’t give a lot of info right now, but I know they are talking about church-specific social networks.