Church Slow To Embrace Social Media?

A couple times this week I've seen people asking about the church and social media. David Tonen shared a video on social media and Chris Meirose pointed out the average age of the user bases of some of the more prominent sites.

I've been working in the new media space for a few years now. For the last two, new media consulting has been my full time occupation. Unfortunately, from what I see, churches can be slower to embrace social media than business.

About Relationships

I don't get that. Social media is about relationships. And relationships are what the church is about. Or at least that's what the church is supposed to be about.

Just like business, church can miss the mark when we talk about how we can "use" social media. That's like asking how we can "use" the local Rotary Club or Chamber of Commerce to benefit our organization.

We might instead think of how we can engage social media or join and contribute to social media communities.

Of course that means we have to look outward to how we can benefit other people rather than looking at social media as nothing more than tools that can benefit us.

After all, social media is first and foremost social. It's about people and relationships. Social media is not about technology and tools.

What Are Your Thoughts?

Since that's the case, why do you think the church often lags behind business when it comes to social media engagement?