ReadtheSpirit.com: Rethinking Facebook: Hospitality in your living room

EVERYWHERE we go, the ReadTheSpirit team is asked: "What are you doing about Facebook?" That's a natural question. As innovative publishers, we are reshaping the way media is building positive communities-so men and women nationwide are interested in our advice in light of dramatic changes within Facebook.

_ Today, three of our experts respond. _

How dramatically

is Facebook

changing?

This is an enormous shift!  Since Friday (April 11), headlines in nearly all of the leading business publications are proclaiming, as Bloomberg Businessweek asks in a headline: Is this "The End of Free Facebook Marketing?" The biggest change is that, unless companies and other groups start paying Facebook to distribute their recommended links-those popular social media channels will be shut down to a minimal distribution. As few as 1 percent of your followers will actually receive what you are broadcasting in the "old" way so many Facebook pages have been operating.

Want even more bad news?  ("Bad," that is, if you are pushing "old" Facebook broadcast-style marketing.) News reports also are highlighting a second major change at Facebook. In an effort to weed out spammy manipulators of social media, Facebook now will search for and will punish those Facebook pages that explicitly tell followers and friends to go "like" and share their postings. In other words, if you try to work around the new limitations on distribution by aggressively and pointedly telling your audience to go spread your message-Facebook will even further reduce your reach. With the cap already heading toward 1 percent, this second reduction amounts to silencing activity on your Facebook page. In TechCrunch online magazine, Josh Costine's current headline is "Facebook's Feed Now Punishes Pages That Ask for Likes." If you're doing "old-school" Facebook promotion-ouch!!

And even more limits!  On Friday, WIRED magazine's latest headline is: "This is the End of Facebook as We Know It." Ryan Tate-author, business analyst and one of WIRED's senior writers-reports on yet another Facebook change. Depending on how widely you use Facebook on a daily basis, this may (or may not) be bad news for you: Facebook is shutting down the chat feature on its mobile app. Instead, you'll be prompted to get another Facebook app just for messaging. Writes Tate: "Facebook, the company that makes billions from connecting people to each other, is about to make it harder to have a conversation. ... In mature markets like the U.S., Facebook's user base has essentially stopped growing." In the future, Facebook will become more of a family of related apps, each with a specialized function.

RETHINKING FACEBOOK:

HOSPITALITY IN YOUR LIVING ROOM

_ Today at ReadTheSpirit, we are sharing this advice from three of our leading followers of social media ... _

MARTIN DAVIS

Click on this snapshot of Martin Davis's website to visit Sacred Language Communications.

_ Martin Davis , based in the Washington D.C. area, consults with businesses, nonprofits and congregations through his company and website: Sacred Language Communications. He also is a contributing writer at ReadTheSpirit. Two of his most popular columns focus on revamping church websites and church newsletters._

You're probably saying, "Wait a minute! We're still learning how to use Facebook, because you've been telling us that everyone needs to get on Facebook. You're confusing me!" To be clear: We are not reversing our long-standing advice. Facebook still rules all forms of social media.

Now, we're advising, first: Don't worry. Much of the high anxiety in headlines this week is coming from media marketers who have built their bottom line on coaching clients to drive Facebook marketing campaigns in ways that worked very well in recent years. If you are a member of a congregation or another community group, primarily using Facebook for its intended purpose-friendly contact with others-then you'll be fine in the midst of these huge shifts in the business world.

If you are reading this column, today, as the sole person charged with using Facebook as a bullhorn to blast information to your congregation or community group-then you definitely need to rethink what you are doing. This approach to evangelism is a pathway to ... well, toward a rapid decline in your effectiveness.

Social media is truly _ social**  connection**_. Meaning you have to spend time cultivating people, talking with them, and nurturing them. This is what Facebook at its best does-and will continue to do. It allows you to engage your members and those in your community by sharing photos and video clips, offering up thoughts and articles for discussion or spiritual growth. Continue to easily share that information with others-and really get to know one another more personally.

The good news? That's what congregations and community groups do best!

DAVID CRUMM

Click on this snapshot of our ReadTheSpirit "About" page to learn much more about our background and the scope of our work so far.

_ David Crumm  is the founding Editor of ReadTheSpirit online magazine and books. To learn more about David and our work so far, visit our "About" page._

I agree entirely with Marty's analysis. These huge changes in Facebook can actually benefit congregations and community groups-if you are focused on real _ hospitality _, the ancient value that runs through all of the Abrahamic faiths and nearly all other global religious traditions as well. As Marty says, stop thinking of Facbook as a bullhorn.

Think of Facebook as your living room. When friends stop by, what do you? Offer a drink of some kind-and often food. You sit and chat, catch up on the news of the day-usually about what your kids are doing, the fun you had a local event the other night, what you're planning this coming weekend. You talk. You listen. You show off your latest photos. At its best, that's both classic hospitality (which is another term for the best forms of evangelism, or sharing good news). Facebook remains the most powerful network in America for doing that!

Be a good host-just as you would in your living room. For example, pay attention to the optimal times when your friends want to sit down with you and share the latest news. Did you know that recent studies of social media show that between 1 and 4 p.m., each day, is the optimal time for Facebook sharing nationwide? That's different than the optimal time range for Pinterest (8 to 11 p.m.), Twitter (1 to 3 p.m.) and Instagram (5 to 6 p.m.). Warning: These times may not be optimal for your friends, though. Ask around. When are your friends online? Be a good and timely host and conversation partner.

Rather than assigning one person in your congregation or community group to "do Facebook," look at all the ways your organization can be offering material to help with the person-to-person hospitality. One of the biggest ways you can help: Make sure that someone attending each of your significant events is snapping photos and uploading to your website a wide-ranging album of their pictures. Get friends in the habit of looking through your latest albums for photos they are eager to share on Facebook.

Encouraging real hospitality-a major goal in so many groups today-is a pathway to lively sharing on Facebook.

PAUL HILE

_ Paul Hile  is a writer, editor and project manager with ReadTheSpirit magazine and books. He also is charged with keeping a close eye on changes in social media and advising our authors on the best use of these online tools._

These changes at Facebook are not ideal for most organizations who have been using pages to promote links back to their website or to their events and products. But, it is important to note: The biggest changes only affect "pages."  Most of our authors aren't in jeopardy of exceeding their "friend limit" on their personal Facebook accounts, so I am advising them to make better use of their personal Facebook activity.

This is all the more reason to encourage writers to use Facebook and engage with friends in a natural, regular way. The more people talk and interact with us on a daily basis online, the more we're in front of people. It's important to remember that there's more than one way to get attention on Facebook. One, of course, is to post content. The other is to have people talk about you. The more that happens, the better.

As Martin and David have pointed out: This is social media.

In my research, I am convinced that successful social media strategies depend on human, person-to-person interaction. When our public presence on Facebook is "just another page," then we've lost the human relationships that are the real arteries of social media. When followers of "just another page" don't have any sort of personal interaction-attachment and investment in whatever is being shared-the results of that sharing fall off sharply.

People want to to interact, explore and invest in real relationships. If we pay attention to that core value, then Facebook continues to be a vast and friendly public square for lots of healthy sharing.

(Originally published at www.ReadTheSpirit.com, an on line magazine covering religion, spirituality, values and interfaith and cross-cultural issues.)

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