Technology and Formation: Tools for Mission in the Diocese August 25, 2012 St. Margaret of ScotlanD Garland Pollard Director of communications Diocese of Southwest Florida

Backdrop: The Gallup Ugh Chart Less and Less Confidence in Church Common Sense media

Goal of Communication: Winning souls for Christ Reaching out to new families, bringing new families into church Creating a more effective church and Diocese by communicating better among ourselves Using technology to create a place where kids can escape from technology Common Sense media

Backdrop: CommonSense Media Survey Facebook and social media as tool, not the end product Confidence that we can cut the cord occasionally Church as respite from social media

More isolation for some teens?

Teens: Tired of Technology? Maybe, maybe not. Stats from Common Sense show ‘other’ side of technology Industry group nervous about increasing dependence on new social media Facebook fatigue?

Pew Research Center’s American Life Project 799 surveyed April 19 and July 14, 2011, asked about online behaviors 37% of internet users ages 12-17 participate in video chats with Skype, Googletalk or iChat. Girls are more likely than boys to have such chats. 27% of internet-using teens 12-17 record and upload video 13% of internet-using teens stream video live Social media users are much more likely than those who do not use social media to engage in all three video behaviors studied. Shooting, sharing, streaming and chatting – social media using teens are the most enthusiastic users of many online video capabilities

Communication Issue to Start Our Discussion: Baseball, Night of Joy, Rock the Universe Scheduled on same night, put family ministry vs. youth vs. men’s ministry How can Episcopal kids once there connect? How to get the word out about shared resources, i.e. chaperones?

How do we communicate to youth, parents Either, all of the above, starting with plain email!

How do we communicate to youth, parents Either, more likely all of the below: Text message Telephone call Email blast Facebook blast, Facebook post Twitter text or open Twitter message In person In the parish Sunday bulletin Parish bulletin board, card table @ coffee hour By website

Questions Raised How much do we need to connect? How much do we NOT need to connect? What resources can we share (chaperones, curriculum, dvds, mission trips) and how can we best communicate that to each other for mutual benefit? How to connect? In person, online, web, online bulletin board, text, Facebook, Twitter? Who do we need to connects? Kids to parents, kids to kids, parish kids to outside kids. Need for more connection that just public “news” on Diocese website

First Question: Who are we reaching 1. Internal audiences, the “inside business” of formation, ministry Parish leadership, clergy, youth ministers Diocese, other parishes, vendors, national church Parents of youth who are very active in programs 2. Internal External Parents of small children in parish Youth and young adults, teens in parish 3. External Friends of parishioners Outside audiences of potential new families, attendees

Diocese Website, www.episcopalswfl.org Year old Official events once scheduled and vetted Some opportunity for comment and social media Very good at distributing news through RSS feeds and connections to parishes Login process means not accessible to all

Main site: RSS Feed to Daily Email Blast See online reporting capability SEE EXAMPLE PAROCHIAL REPORT

Tools: RSS Feed on Constant Contact Automatic feed No retyping Uses website as base but sends out as email See online reporting capability SEE EXAMPLE PAROCHIAL REPORT

Tools: RSS Feed on Twitter First post on website triggers Twitter post Posts quickly Saves time Uses website as base but sends out as new link See online reporting capability SEE EXAMPLE PAROCHIAL REPORT

Micro Site for Special Event, Niche Group Can be adapted to audiences (ie. youth leaders) Requires user registration Wordpress is adaptable Not being on main Diocese site gives greater editorial freedom, casual-ness

Micro Site on Yearly Youth Program

Benefits of approach Custom Design, really a brochure Youth can update the site easily Requires participation to work Parents loved it, but teens saw images on Facebook

Camp DaySpring, Participants as Content Creators Easy upload for photos College age enjoyed putting it together Required participation to work

Micro-Site Around a Mission

Usfchapelcenter.org On Wordpress Hub for info at USF for mission Designed to be up for years, with content building over time, incrementally Duplicates some content from Diocese site, displays Diocese feed

Tools we have at Diocese for Marketing Paid Vimeo Account (we can post video created by parishes) Digital Faith pages, sites on Episcopalswfl.org Ability to create, host a micro-site on our domain, www.dioceseswfl.org, ie youth.dioceseswfl.org Ability to create new separate web pages hosted by us (cost of buying URL $10 yearly) Color copiers that duplex, print 11X17 Latest versions of InDesign, Photoshop

Other reminders Put us on your email blast lists Submit items for Diocese website and calendar by logging into Digital Faith Submit items for Diocese by easy form on our website Message us on social media to re-message Call if critical message Post on your site, email us to send to Facebook, etc

Questions/Comments How Can We Get the Word out Better? How Can We BETTER Communicate Among ourselves? What Specific Tools Do We Need at ThE DIOCESE to MAKE THIS HAPPEN? What Should The Parish Role BE in the Process?

Links Sources Internal www.commonsensemedia.org www.gallup.com www.campdayspring.org/ 2012.dioceseswfl.org/ usfchapelcenter.org