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Josh GriffinMore Posts “Facebook Hack” Youth Group Game

This weekend we played a GREAT game our team came up with called Facebook Hack. Have you ever left your Facebook logged in and someone posted a fake status? Just about everyone has – and this week, we asked for a volunteer in the audience to come up on the stage and do just that – log in and give control of their Facebook profile in the hands of the host. The audience immediately reacted to just how big of a deal this was – we haven’t had a game with this much engagement in a while. They needed to answer 2 out of 3 questions correctly or pay the virtual price.

There’s a fine line hosting something like this, and Chris handled the game masterfully – posting funny updates to their status and unfriending people from their top friends list – all live on the screen shown to the crowd. The crowd even got into it and started posting pics/comments on the contestant’s profile page while the game was going on. So awesome!

The contestant had to answer nearly impossible questions correctly to avoid the consequences to their friends list. The whole game showed just how incredibly important Facebook is to a student, and it tied in SO well to the series theme of Facebook Official.

Maybe an idea that would work for you or a springboard that you could work from. It was SO great!

JG

16 View Comments October 30, 2009

Josh GriffinMore Posts 3 Rules for Small Group Leaders and Facebook

We love that our volunteers are on Twitter and Facebook! It seems like everyone is enjoying the benefits of social networking these days – so it shouldn’t come as a surprise your volunteers are interested or already involved for sure. Most use the technology to their groups’ benefit, though from time to time we’ve had to have conversations and consider removing volunteers for what they put online. At small group training this week I’m going to ask our small group leaders to apply these three simple guidelines when updating social networks:

Remember what you post is public
Here’s the big deal – a joke that is funny between a few friends might not be funny at all out of context or in the harsh light of public view. Remember that everything you post – picture, status update or essay, becomes completely public the second you push submit. You can never really take it back once its out there, so be wise and use discernment with everything you post.

Remember what you post influences students
Your students are checking out your profile. They look up to you. They are eager to make a connection with you, and since they’re always on Facebook they’ll almost always see what you post. But it is so much more than just seeing – what you say, what you value, what you show yourself doing – it all influences students – the good, bad and ugly. When you give an inch, they may take it a mile. Of course, it works the other way as well, when you use social media positively, it can have a significant encouraging influence on them, too.

Remember what you post is a reflection on our student ministry/church
Your character and faith is reflected in every post that you make so if you are doubtful about something, here’s a simple rule to follow: DON’T POST IT. Just like behavior on a youth ministry trip is a reflection on the church and student ministry, know that what you post adds or detracts to the reputation of the church and ministry … and ultimately Christ.

What guidelines do you share with your leaders about Twitter, Facebook and other forms of social media?

JG

5 View Comments September 15, 2009

Josh GriffinMore Posts Facebook and Youth Ministry

Dennis (one of our key HSM volunteers) and I were talking about really going after HSM’s Facebook page and how we need to take it to the next level. He just posted the “to do” list for our first round. We’ve got a long ways to go, but here’s where we’re starting.

JG

5 View Comments May 13, 2009

Josh GriffinMore Posts POLL: How do you communicate with volunteers?

JG

Add Comment April 4, 2009

Josh GriffinMore Posts Your Students: 30,000 Hours Online and Gaming

Really appreciated the insights from this article from Business Week about the up and coming generation of students (that we minister to as youth workers). I thought it was a really interesting read on video gaming, social networks and learning styles of the Net Generation. Here’s a clip:

The digital world that Net Geners have been weaned on is profoundly interactive. Kids have grown up to expect a two-way conversation, not a one-way lecture. This interactive reflex has a profound effect on what one academic has called their “habits of mind.” Instead of simply absorbing information–from a teacher or even a book–they go out and find it. As O’Shea’s story illustrates, the Net Geners use Google when they want to find out something. When they do so, they construct their own story, their own idea, rather than following the line of thought drawn by someone else in a book. This obviously doesn’t replace conventional book reading, nor should it. But what we’re seeing is a new form of literacy that many experts say is just as intellectually challenging as reading a book.

Now some critics say that because Net Geners don’t read books cover to cover, they don’t get a chance to follow a fully developed argument. The result, according to these critics, is that they never learn to build a frame of reference that the intelligent reader needs to interpret the world. My own view is different: In the online hunt you can develop your own frame of reference, which is based on far more information than we ever had at their age. I think this makes the Net Generation smarter than they would have been had they just spent the time sitting on a couch watching TV.

JG

Add Comment November 10, 2008

Josh GriffinMore Posts Online Social Connections and Youth Ministry

Saw this article today in The Gazette today and thought you might enjoy the perspectives on technology, the interwebs and youth ministry. Here’s an excerpt from the beginning:

Nina Cilek considers herself a traditionalist when it comes to communicating with her church youth group, preferring the telephone and post office.

“I know the kids have Facebook and MySpace accounts, but that’s something I personally don’t have,” said Cilek, 26, youth director at First United Methodist Church, 214 E. Jefferson St., in Iowa City.

Even so, Cilek has access to the Internet, and she occasionally uses e-mail to send quick messages to her youths.

In fact, Eastern Iowa youth leaders say keeping the communication lines open using Facebook and other Internet sites has become a common, if not necessary, tool for their ministries. Many have their own Facebook accounts and use them almost daily to keep in touch.

Of the 26.6 million Facebook users, nearly 12 million are between the ages of 12 and 24, according to www.techcrunch.com the same group of people with whom church youth leaders are working.

JG