There’s not much debate that Facebook is THE primary way college students interact with the world.
infographic from onlineschools.org
How does that change how and where we (as college ministers) do ministry?
Army+Facebook
I was talking with a friend in the Army and he said that the U.S. Army, notoriously wary of social media, now does over half of it’s recruiting through Facebook. Instead of spending time in malls and with high school guidance counselors, Army Recruitors now spend the bulk of their time online.
Many meet their recruits face to face for the first time on signing day.
“We have to reach out in forms like [Facebook] to get [recruits] to want to know more, to join us in social media and extend the dialog.” – Lt. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakle in a NYTimes article
Presence via Technology
Dave Kinnaman in his talk at Catalyst proposed that the response to the growing isolation among this generation is our presence via technology (twitter, email, facebook, etc). By being present online we can respond quickly to their questions and be more accessible.
Scott Allen, the Cru director at SFA, posed this question in a comment on the Kinnaman post:
“How can we continue to remain “present” with students by using technology? Do we incorporate that into a part of our weekly work schedule (probably already doing that more than we realize)?”