Someone said to me, “What’s the purpose of Twitter? You can’t say anything worthy in 140 characters.” Well first of all that statement would fit nicely into a Twitter post, or “tweet”, with 60+ characters left to grow.

But believe it or not I hear statements like this one on a regular basis. To really understand what exactly Twitter is we need to understand that it’s created a whole new type of dynamic communication and user relations. Like it or not it’s being used by thousands of people every day. So let’s put personal opinions aside for a moment and take a look at what makes it such a great tool for communicating then ask ourselves whether we should use it or not for ministries and churches.

Speaking in Headlines
First of all Twitter’s 140 character limit makes it a fantastic way to share ideas without the messages being large or bloated with needless information. It challenges users to keep it short and to the point. It’s as if everyone is sharing headlines about their thoughts, feelings or interests.

Follow the Leader
Following is a term for when you subscribe to another user’s Twitter feed. This ads the user’s “tweets” to your feed. Users follow friends, businesses and any other Twitter account that they respect or relate to. This creates a stream of interesting comments that relate to them and their lives.

Note:
“I tend to follow personal friends, designers and companies which make tools that I use. My stream provides me with news about current events, links to articles of interest and introduces me to other users.”

If you or your organization provides services of any kind Twitter can be a great way to let your community know about events, participate or even spread the word themselves. It could describe sermon this Sunday’s sermon topics, after church picnic times or even celebrations or concerns. There isn’t really an rules for what you post about so it’s up to you to define what type of information you’re planning on sharing.

Feedback Frenzy
In the age of competition and self improvement organizations, businesses and individuals of all shapes and sizes have discovered that if they listen to feedback they can improve the way they do what they do. Leading companies like Apple, Amazon, Nike and so many others seek feedback from their customers so that they an improve how they do business. Why can’t ministries and churches?

The best way to know what people want is to actually listen to them, who knew…. However, surveys and feedback methods can seem like pulling teeth and miss the things that are most important to those providing the feedback.

Note:
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to give feedback on something only to quit 5 pages into a survey frustrated at the amount of wasted time and questions that don’t relate to me.”

Twitter provides one of the simplest ways to give your opinions in seconds and from the heart. Often times tweets come from users either ecstatic about something they’re using or voicing frustration and disappointment about their experience. Typically their tweets happens on the fly via their phones.

It’s Mobile it’s Wild and it’s Passionate
One of the fascinating aspects of Twitter is any phone whether basic or super advanced can create a tweet on the fly. This provides users with a quick way to tweet moments after their experience. Good and bad passions flair and users want to share their experience with the world. It’s either a “come and partake in the awesome” or a “stay away and save yourself from the terrible”.

This instantaneous and often live feedback system provides ministries with information about user’s experiences which they can in turn use to improve what they do. This also give ministries and individuals an opportunity to directly reach out to users and offer a ways of fixing the situation. Turning a bad situation into a opportunity for reconciliation.

Note:
“I don’t want this to seem like a consumer drive church at all. I just want us to open the doors of communication between churches, ministries and individuals so that we can strive for a relationship that strives to love and honor one another.”

Spreading the word
Spreading information hasn’t been easier than it is now. With a thousand different ways to share information today Twitter is by far the simplest and fastest. And with so many users on Twitter it can be a great way to share what’s going on with your ministries. If your followers are passionate about what your tweeting about they can easily rewet what your saying. And like a massive game of telephone the news spreads.

Twitter has also been integrated into numerous social media sites such as Facebook and Myspace making it a time saving tool to notify multiple crowds simultaneously without having to login to 10 different locations to post the same information. It’s also very easy to integrate into any of your church websites with a few simple tools. (see the top of the page for our latest tweet.)

What now?
We’ve only scratched the surface of what Twitter is and does but you should have a good understanding of how it can benefit your ministry or organization. I recommend asking yourselves a few questions before you jump on the Twitter band wagon.

- Are there Twitter users who use in our ministry?
- Do we have someone who will own the content of of our Twitter account?
- What types of content will we tweet about?
- What will be the personality and attitude of our tweets?
- Do we have the stamina to keep it for years?

After answering questions like these you should have a good idea whether Twitter is a tools your ministry. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions you may have and I would love to write a followup article answering these questions.

If your already on twitter follow us – @faithcrate , I know shameless plug please forgive me.