SOCIAL MEDIA & CITIZEN JOURNALISM
Social Media has irreversibly changed the way that the world interacts and shares information.
Our online ministry is not to replace the way of reaching people in live presence but to add possibilities and to be there where the people are.
Online and Social media can help us to be where our audience is. Today statistics show that out of the 7.91 billion people in the World, 4.62 billion are active social media users. That is 58.4% of the world’s population. If you and I, as ministers are not present on this platform, how can we serve and minister to the billions of people who congregate on social media?
Online and Social media can help us influence and IMPACT the World.
We are called to influence the world. We are the salt and light of the world. We are the yeast that is destined to influence the dough. We are the vessels that carry solutions to the world’s biggest problems. And social media is where people are asking questions, looking for answers, and spending time researching. Studies show that an average person spends close to 6 hours and 58 min a day on the internet, 3 hours and 20 min. time spent watching television (broadcast and streaming), 2 hours and 27 min a day they spent using social media, 2 hours for reading online and printed media, 1 hour and 33 min for listening to music, 1 hour they are using to for listening broadcast radio. If our ministry or church is not present on social media, how can we influence the people who are crowding around this space for hours?
- Online and Social media can help us to educate.
The Field is big. The need for love, knowledge, and understanding is bigger than the need for food. - Social media can help in discipleship.
If we structure for discipleship program around social media (where people spend time anyways) we have a higher chance of being effective. - Online and Social Media can help in building community.
Social media networks are designed to facilitate community building. Most social media networks come with those features already built-in – members-only content, group events, group calendar, privacy settings, instant messaging facility, notifications, etc. Social media channels are mostly accessed by people using their mobile devices (5.31 billion people are using mobile devices and 4.95 billion are internet users). This means any communication going through social media can be instantly delivered to the recipient.