youth ministry facebook

Do you think Pre-Teens should be on facebook?

I read an article this week titled, Should Pre-Teens be on Facebook?  I am not too surprised the announcement that kids will be able to use facebook came just after facebook went public.  Initially, I was saddened by the news that facebook will open up the draining pit that is social media to a younger audience.  But, then I checked out my facebook profile only to see Pre-Teen’s in my ministry’s comments.  According to a Mashable study, ” that 7.5 million children under 13 are already using the social network”.  Churchm.ag stated that, ” 48% of all teens have lied about their age on Facebook when they signed up. 52% of those teens being 13 years or younger…”  Inevitably, facebook will bring the Pre-Teens into the world of timelines, and status updates, if they already aren’t there.

What does this mean for youth ministry?  Here are a few ways to help parents and pre-teens deal with online identity.

1.  Teach a crash course on facebook.  This something I am looking into this summer.  A lot of the parents I work with already are tech savy, but there are always some that want to “chat” after seeing a facebook status from a child.  I think youth pastor’s need to partner with parents to help teenagers navigate this tricky digital world we live in.

2.  Meet one on one.  I love meeting up with parents to see how I can support their family.  This is a place where I am able to speak into their family if I see an issue.

3.  Write some new policy!   Right now, I have a policy in place to protect my leaders working with grades 8-12, but if facebook let’s pre-teens in I will have to draft up some new policy.  I want to protect my leaders and the pre-teens that they serve.

What do you think?  Should Pre-Teens be on facebook? 

Is your facebook page optimized for timeline?  

A few weeks ago I logged into my facebook account to check on things like I usually do, and I noticed a notification.  Facebook advised me to update my current page to the new timeline.  Facebook told me I had to March 31st to do that.  So, I decided to make a plan to tackle the new faceook timeline for pages.  You can check out my facebook page here.  Here are a few tips.

Getting Started: 

One of the biggest changes if the cover photo and the profile picture.

The dimensions for your cover photo are 851x315px.

The dimensions for your profile picture/photo are 180x180px.

You will want to be strategic about what you use as your cover photo and profile picture.  If you are completely lost, Seventy 8 Productions has some cool cover photos that you can download here.  I will be releasing some this friday!    Ask the question, What am I trying to communicate to new/returning visitors?  

New and Improved Admin Panel

New and Improved Facebook Admin

The usual suspects are all organized here:

• Manage: so you can edit your page settings.
• Notifications: so you can quickly see the latest activity and respond accordingly.
• New Likes: so you can see new fans and possibly engage with them if you wish.
• Insights: so you can get a quick snapshot of page activity, or click “see all” to get more detailed information about your reach.

Another new feature of Timeline for Pages, however, is the ability for fans of your page to directly and privately message the administrator(s) of that page. Messages are shown and can be responded to from the admin panel as well.

Luckily, you have the option as the page administrator to turn the direct messaging capabilities off if you wish. Under Manage Page > Edit Settings > Manage Permissions, you’ll see this option in the middle of the page:

Setting a featured post 

With facebook’s new timeline for pages, you can set up a featured post for up to 7 days.  This is called pinning.

As you can see I have pinned a post.  The post is tagged by the little bookmark tab on the right hand corner.

Here is how you pin a post in order for it to display for up to 7days.  

In order to pin a post to the top all you do is click on a post.  It will say edit/remove.  Then select pin to top.  This way a post will be featured right below you profile picture.  I love this new feature!

Have you set up your facebook pages timeline?  Share you page with us and we will highlight you in another post.