College Union

Advantages, Disadvantages, and Confessions of My Relationship with Facebook, by Philip Hernandez, Associate Director of Auburn Wesley Foundation

A few years ago, one of my students at the South Dakota School of Mines told me I needed to get a Facebook page.  When he told me about it, I explained I had a myspace.com page and didn’t need another online social network.  He persisted, telling me all the advantages of Facebook, and how we might even use it to expand our outreach and exposure at United Campus Ministry.  I blew him off and for six months I let it go.  That’s when all my leaders made me sign up.  As is often the case, it turns out my students were right, and I was wrong.  I did need a Facebook page and it would do wonders for our ability to do outreach and expose our ministry.

Facebook is the brain child of Mark Zuckerburg, a former Harvard student who, with the help of some friends and a little outside financial backing, made Facebook available to select colleges and companies.  In September of 2005, an estimated 85% of students in colleges that had access to Facebook had a Facebook page, most of whom were checking their pages on a daily basis.   Since then Facebook has become open to anyone with an email account and a little time to kill.

What does this mean to us?  It means if we want to connect students to our ministry, Facebook is a great tool for doing so.  In the course of three years our attendance at UCM events doubled, then doubled again.  I attribute that growth to our renewed focus on Christ as the center of our ministry, tons of answered prayer, and the addition of some strong leaders to our team, but Facebook also played a significant role.  Here are some of the advantages Facebook gave us in jump-starting and moving forward in that ministry.

1.    We Connected – For some of you Facebook groups are old hat.  If so, skip a paragraph.  I know campus ministers who still do not have a Facebook group for their campus ministry, and this is for you.  The Facebook group is simply a way to stay connected to your students online, using a medium they’re probably already using for other things anyway.  We created a group called United Campus Ministry at SDSMT, and invited all our members and a few others to join.  Next thing I knew, I was creating event pages -  online invitations for everything from weekly worship to mission trips -  and with the click of a button the entire ministry was invited.  I could explain events in detail, saving questions from students later, and send updates and changes to people who planned to attend without bothering those who couldn’t with more messages.  If you and your ministry are new to Facebook this is the place to start.
2.    We Expanded Our Recruiting – Every fall, we campus ministers jump headlong into the process of meeting, welcoming, and recruiting freshmen to be a part of our ministry.  Facebook forever changed that process for me.  In the same way I used Facebook groups to connect to current members, I used it to reach new ones.  I created a group for incoming freshmen who might be interested in UCM.  I called it UCM-SDSMT Freshmen 07.  Then I called youth directors from sponsor churches all over the state to get names of incoming freshmen.  I attended campus orientation events and met freshmen, giving them a business card that included a link they could use to get to the group webpage and join. Then my freshmen group leaders and I started communicating with them on a weekly basis about UCM.  We sent information about coming fall events, and I posted a weekly devotional designed to get them thinking about walking with Jesus as a student.  Fall 2007 was our best freshman class, and Facebook helped us by letting us build relationships before we ever shook hands with our freshmen.
3.    We Knew Who Needed Pastoral Care – “Joe Student is in a lot of pain, can’t get medication, and needs help.”  That’s what I read on my newsfeed (shown on the Facebook homepage when you log in) late on my last day as UCM director.  I sent Joe a message and told him to call me immediately (some conversations are still better held in person).  Joe is a true punk, paranoid of the government and leery of religion.  My students had reached out to him, and he and I were friends, but he was still on the fringe of our ministry.  Had I not seen this message, I would never have known that the night before he had been run over by a van in a freak accident.  Sometimes no matter how hard we try, there are some students we just seem to miss when things go awry.  It seems that if something happens, whether it’s failing a midterm, or losing a family member, it end’s up on that person’s Facebook page.  Since I was moving, I couldn’t walk with Joe personally and through the healing process, but I connected him to a trusted pastor friend who could.
4.    We Stalked Each Other – Let’s be honest.  We all have those students we want to check up on.  Maybe it’s a new student we saw at an event and we want to welcome them back.  Maybe it’s a student we know has an issue and we want to get some insider info that might be helpful in ministering to them.  I started stalking because one of my students was trading nicknames with his girlfriend like “my little poopsie love salad sandwich kissing bird”.  (I can’t write what she called him in return).  I appreciated the habit later when a freshman student posted pictures of himself in the dorm drinking Hurricane Malt Liquor, which led to some pretty serious conversation about responsibility, faith, and integrity.  Facebook’s newsfeed lists the most of the recent activity of those on our friend list, including funny comments, incriminating pictures, status updates, etc. 
5.    We Traded Messages – I can’t speak for everyone everywhere, but my experience is this:  if I email a student, I might get a response.  If I send a Facebook message, I almost always get one.  While you can post notes on a person’s profile that everyone can see, Facebook offers a private message space that can only be seen by those listed as recipients.  Recently they’ve added an instant messaging feature, allowing you to see who’s online and engage them in a quick chat.  Remember though, that like email, anything put on a Facebook will always exist somewhere out in cyberspace, whether you delete it or not.
6.    We Had Fun! – Really!  You can put whatever you want on your page, giving your students and friends a look at you through your own eyes.  You can prove to them you really met Robert Earl Keen (or whoever your favorite singer is).  You can prove that when you were in college you were skinny as a rail.  You can play online games.  Sometimes an old friend gets in touch with you.  Facebook can become your favorite waste of time.

Now for the bad stuff…
It’s true Facebook is a tremendous asset to ministry in general, and particularly campus ministry since so many students are already using the website.  Having said that, beware of Facebook, for these reasons:

1.    Like many internet fads, Facebook has a tendency to become addictive.  I admit (since I don’t work at UCM anymore) that for several months I spent at least 2 hours a day, everyday, on Facebook.  I now have a 20 minute a day limit.
2.    If you post something on your page, it’s public.  Remember the student I mentioned who posted his drinking pictures?  His Resident Advisor saw those too.  The same goes for us pastors with a past (none of you of course).  Make sure the photographic evidence of Spring Break ‘97 stays in that secret file on your hard drive.  Also, if your buddies tag you in a photo, it shows up on your page.  They may inadvertently rat you out.
3.    The same goes for posting personal information.  Don’t post anything that can be used to steal your identity.  Only post your cell phone number if you have no problem with every single person remotely acquainted with you and some who aren’t at all acquainted with you having it.
4.    Pastoral care means confidentiality.  Don’t get sloppy and accidentally reveal something about one of your student’s they’d rather not make public.

Those are just some of the advantages I reaped, and things I learned, while using Facebook.  Facebook won’t grow, expand, and revolutionize your ministry.  Let me reiterate that our ministry grew when we re-centered on Jesus, relying on the Spirit’s help, and focused on connecting students to God.  Facebook simply proved to be a great tool for helping those things happen!

Categories: Media, News & Emerging Trends
Tags: