How Would You Make Facebook Better for Your Student Ministry?

Josh GriffinMore Posts How Would You Make Facebook Better for Your Student Ministry?

I got a note from Facebook’s community and development team this week – they are looking for specific ways to improve the social media tool for youth groups and faith-based organizations. My team has given some feedback, but I also am passing along the link to this post so you can join in on the fun.

How would you improve Facebook specifically for your student ministry? Leave a comment, I promise you they’re listening!

0 Comments

Bryan Bliss
July 10, 2008 at 6:41 am · Reply

I don’t know if they have this or not…but a way to integrate a calendar into the program that sent reminders/message/etc. to kids that have specifically been tagged as “youth” from the group.
Mark
July 10, 2008 at 6:47 am · Reply

I’m a youth volunteer.

We have unwritten rules in our congregation that specify that adult advisors never request friendship with the youth on FB – the youth has to request it. That’s left us where some of the advisors are friends with some youth – others with other youth. The Youth Director (essentially Youth Pastor) is friends with most but not all.

A way to register a youth group and invite youth to join it would be useful. Ideally, it would give all adult advisors and staff at least limited profile access to the youth’s pages.
Dale
July 10, 2008 at 6:53 am · Reply

The option to block the popup adds that are on the left side of the page!
Mykel
July 10, 2008 at 7:52 am · Reply

make it more like Myspace…
Matthew McNutt
July 10, 2008 at 7:57 am · Reply

I haven’t really considered starting a facebook group … but I would be into it if I could do the following;

Have photo albums speficially in the group (I think that’s already available).

Have a forum for the group.

Be able to upload pdfs that specifically on the group page (permission slips, postcards, posters, etc.).

An events calendar with upcoming events, reminders and links to appropriate forms/pdfs.

Be able to have polls/quizes on the page, or cool games that can be integrated into it.

Like I said, I haven’t used Facebook for this and I’m not too familiar with the group options, so maybe some of those things are already incorporated. Either way, it’s what I would want to make it my go to spot. : )

- Matthew
Ed
July 10, 2008 at 9:25 am · Reply

Have a calendar with pop-up reminders of upcoming events, due dates, etc…

I have a facebook and it is the one thing that the youth check fairly regularly.
Schnerples
July 10, 2008 at 9:36 am · Reply

One of the best things would be a widget for a group. Currently there are widgets that can be placed on websites for individuals, but not for groups. Then I can add the facebook link to our church’s website.
chris
July 10, 2008 at 10:55 am · Reply

definitely a way to black the ads. Honestly if it goes more like myspace I think that would be the demise of FB.

I really like the idea of a calendar with reminders. Our students use FB all the time so it would be nice to have something to make it easier to communicate with them in bulk.

How about a way to send a message to a custom friend list. I know you can do this with the group feature as administrator but it would be nicer to be able to do it through the custom friend list as well.
Shan S
July 10, 2008 at 12:08 pm · Reply

I agree with Chris, it would be nice to have something to make it easier to communicate with them in bulk other than sending invites that are often ignored.
Tyler V
July 10, 2008 at 1:55 pm · Reply

Facebook is one of my strongest ministry tools. I created our youth ministry group, and I post reminders to events. There seems to be a lot of mentioning on a calendar, and I would agree. But here are some more things…

Ways to change font and color.

Ways to upload fliers, permission slips, etc. Rather than message (see me for this stuff, or click a blog link, or whatever) make it available there.
Kyle
July 10, 2008 at 4:02 pm · Reply

Totally disagree with making it more like myspace. I already have a facebook group for our youth and a facebook page for our church. A lot of the stuff mentioned in the comments so far are already available. In both the group and the page, I can send a message to everyone who is a part of it. I can add pictures, videos, events, etc. I don’t know if there is much I would change.
Joel
July 10, 2008 at 7:26 pm · Reply

DON’T make it like Myspace.
Matthew McNutt
July 11, 2008 at 9:21 am · Reply

I LOVE the widget idea. It would definitely be great to have something like that to point to the facebook group.

It would be nice if the advertising in youth group/religious type group pages was a specific type of advertising. The reality is, there are enough religous events out there and religious marketing that Facebook could probably market that space just to those groups anyway, which would then keep us all happy.
Brandon
August 13, 2008 at 2:50 pm · Reply

what do you think of this?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/08/12/studentsteachers.online/index.html