Last week the husband of one of my staff members gave me a copy of Business Week. (Thanks Ray!) It was the May 2 issue. The cover story was about blogging and its affects upon business. This morning USA Today has a long article in the front page of the “Money” section on blogging. Obviously something is up with blogging. You are aware on some level because you are reading this one.
“Blog” is short for “Weblog.” It is a combination online journal, commentary, critique, review, etc. The first blog true blog did not come into existence until 1999 and yet blogs are taking the Internet by storm. Blogs can be online communities, safe chat areas, and discussion groups as well as digital journals. Blogs seem to be making the World Wide Web truly a World Wide Web.
Here are some amazing facts as they relate to blogs that I found in those two articles alone. (If you wish to learn more, pick up a copy of the book by Hugh Hewitt entitled Blog.)
* There at 8.5 to 9 million bloggers presently online in the US
* There will be 10 million blogs in the US alone by the end of this year
* 40,000 new blogs come online each day
* 57% of bloggers are male
* 48% are under 30 years of age
* 42% earn more than $50,000
* 39% have college or graduate degrees
* 82% have been online in one form or another for six years of more
* In November of 2004 7% of Internet users had a blog but 27% (32 million) read them. I wonder what the numbers are in June of 2005?
My first blogging experience came in 2001 when my former church had a web site we were trying to figure out how to maximize. In June of that year I was sent to our denomination’s national assembly as a representative from my area. Each evening, at the end of the day, I would send home a journal/commentary about the day’s events. This was then edited (I need editing anyway and these were very emotional pieces written late at night after 18-20 hour days.) The church and community ate these up! Our web site got more traffic that week than the rest of the year combined if I remember correctly. What I was doing was in essence was an early form of blogging.
Some of you are still saying, “So what? It is just digital ramblings and stuff of no importance.” I would recommend you do your homework on this one. Blogs are huge. They had an impact on last year’s presidential election and have been cited on the floor of Congress. There are many today who have crossed lines in their blogs and have lost their jobs. There actually is a term for that. It is called being “dooced.” It refers to losing your job because of something you wrote on your online journal regarding your employer or business.
Think about it another way. As I wrote two days ago, we are in an age of information. It is incredible how much is out there. Do you realize that most of it is digital? Digital cameras, text messages, digital photography, Power Point presentations at work, visual images in church worship, all government forms, insurance forms, online banking, digital bill payment, on line purchases, iTunes, e-bay, Amazon, etc. etc. etc. and I have not even talked about normal web surfing!! I do probably 95% of my sermon work digitally.
The author of the article in Business Week rightly points out that “the overwhelming majority of the information the world spews out every day is digital.” Blogs are just another form of that, albeit a form that is exploding. Businesses do not fully know what to do with them yet. Blogs are already used for marketing, and public opinion.
The question is being asked, “How does business change when everyone is a potential publisher?” The days of preparing a manuscript, sending it to a publisher, waiting on them to approve and edit then finally going to print months or years later may be nearing an end. Blogging gives you the potential to publish instantly! I wrote this blog at 7:00 MDT on Wednesday, June 15, 2005. When are you reading it?
Finally some of you are saying, “Okay Matrixminister, I will give you that blogging is a big thing but what is the big deal as it relates to the church?” I am glad you asked!!!
I started my blog at the suggestion of my closest pastoral friend in ministry. (Link to Terry Timm on my side panel to learn about him.) After talking to him at our bi-weekly debriefing coffee time, I decided this could be a great instrument to aid my church. Folks could learn about me as the pastor, hear what I think, and read issues on my mind. I could talk about things that I may never talk about in a message on Sunday morning. Fountain Parkers could use my blog to let folks they are inviting to participate with us learn a bit about us. They could do this in their own home with a cup of coffee or seated at the local coffee house.
If you read my archives, it has gone way beyond that. I have been astounded at the impact this blog has. Tracking software tells me there have been 5,000 readers on my blog. As best I can tell there are close to 300-400 readers whom return with some degree of regularity. All of this came with minimal real exposure. Most readers have no connection with Fountain Park Church at all! My blog gives them a sense of connectedness to our church on a safe level until they are willing to venture deeper.
I have plans in place to move my blog (archives and all) to http://www.matrixminister.com/. Do not look, it is not there yet. I need someone to teach me some more advanced HTML so I can edit Wordpress or b2evolution interfaced with Dreamweaver. This move will make my blog much more accessible and easy to locate.
Here is my challenge to folks who belong to Fountain Park. (I did not say folks who are members; that really does not matter. What matters is do you feel you belong?) If the blog is so powerful, why don’t you get one? Why don’t you post weekly or so about things you see going on. Link to me. I will link to you. We build a community and thereby invite others to join us.
Blogging is not hard – really! I did it and I am no genius. You do not have to take it to the level I have. You can use Blogger, or Typepad or Xanga or any of the other online blogs out there. All of them will give you basic templates and you can be up and running in no time at all!
“Terry, I cannot write like you. God did not gift me that way.” You do not have to. You are not me. Just write as who you are. Be genuine. That is basically what I am doing. I try at times to push people’s buttons and will again, but that is just me. You do not have to do that. Be yourself! Be respectful. Be Christlike. Do not slander folks or ideas. But write. You will be scared at first. That is okay. It can be intimidating. But as Nike would say, “Just do it!” The impact for the Kingdom can be huge! And, you like me, will grow in the experience.
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