Do you still use facebook? The rumblings out there is that facebook is dying in the teen demographic, which means it could be dead in a few years. Anyone remember myspace? That is what people often say about facebook lately.
Personally, I think that facebook is too big to fail. It could acquire any technology, at any time. Facebook will be around for awhile, and it still is one of the most effective ways to communicate to students and parents today.
Here is an infographic called: Why Facebook users are valuable to marketers. If it is relevant to marketers, it is relevant for youth workers. We are in a way marketing to students. We want to use social media in order to help people stay connect to our community, and to Christ.
Here are a few things that stand out:
1. 1.26 billion people used it in the third quarter last year. This is crazy. That means that 1 in ever 7 people on the planet used facebook. The reason why facebook has lasted so long is because it has the critical mass. Everyone is on it.
Do you have a facebook page for your youth ministry? If not, you need to spend the next 10 minutes building one.
2. There are over 800 million mobile users. As facebook does a great job to keep their social media site mobile, it will attract more users. Everyone has a smartphone, and people are staying connected. I think this will be the next battle online, for the experience to stay similar on the mobile phone as it is on a traditional browser.
3. 83% of 18-29 year olds use facebook. This is the reason why you need to leverage facebook. People are on it. It won’t take a ton of time to learn how to build a page, or set up group. I have multiple groups for my youth ministry. I use groups for my adult leaders, student leaders. For my whole youth ministry I use a page. This is just an easier way to stay connected!
How do you use facebook to reach the students in your community?
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