30% Of Churches Use Facebook

Sites include Facebook.com . Published on August 21st, 2012. Written by Anthony West.

The Vatican has its own division of people in robes dedicated to keeping a finger on the pulse of modern computing so it comes as no surprise that the church in general is very active with technology and its use of platforms like Facebook.

According to Buzzplant, a Christian-based digital advertising platform, more than 30% of churches in the US use Facebook to handle communication with their congregations. This includes regular updates (daily for most of them) and advertising which recruits new members into the flock. Only about 15% of churches surveyed said they never use the social network.

Twitter was second in the list of most used social networks with little over 20% of churches admitting use of the site.

The level of seriousness is tampered only by the economic realities of the churches that engage on social media. According to the survey, although many churches have a presence on Facebook and other sites, only 74% of these churches pay someone to update their status etc.

Churches live and die by their congregation numbers and the ones that are desperate for members are using social media on an increasing basis. The Buzzplant study found that 46.1% of churches now use social media for recruiting and communication as opposed to 24.7% who continue to knock on doors.

Some faiths may debate about the ethics and moral standing of platforms like Facebook, but like it or not, social media is now a part of all our lives.