According to a recent study by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) “One in four adult Catholics (26 percent) have at least one social network profile (e.g., Facebook, Linkedin, MySpace) where they self-identify their religion. A similar percentage, 24 percent, has one or more profiles but does not specify their religion on any of these.” (Catholic Media Use in the United States, 2011 by Mark M. Gray,…
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Sisters Learn Social Media Tools for Communication and Ministry
One of the things I love most about being a woman religious and more specifically a Sister of Notre Dame is all of the wonderful women with whom I share that vocation. From my earliest recollection of sisters through my years of formation and ministry —I have been constantly amazed at the courage, imagination and ingenuity of sisters in forging new paths and using new methods to proclaim the Good…
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Six Reasons to Poll Your Readers
Writing a blog is a commitment. For some writers, finding new material to write about and post is easy, but for many of us—it can be a challenge. Another challenge is that readers over time can become complacent and just take in the weekly/daily posts and not really engage with them. They don’t comment or respond. Good comments encourage bloggers and are interesting to other readers. What can a blogger…
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Leveraging the Internet for Mission, Part IV: Workload
One the reasons people in ministry most frequently give for not using (learning) social media is “I don’t have the time.” No doubt they are very busy and probably wearing multiple hats. Finding the time is not as easy as it sounds. What often happens to hard workers is that they accumulate jobs. If you are good at what you do—more people want you to help them. What is also…
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Are You “LinkedIn”?
Why should you as a ministry professional want to be on LinkedIn? What is LinkedIn anyway? Let me begin to answer by asking another question. Have you ever benefitted from the expertise and experience of peers and colleagues? I know that I have. More than once another professional has given me insights into resources, next steps, and experts that I may not have found on my own. They have recommended…
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Five Tips to Improve Your Social Media Presence
The use of social media is growing exponentially. For those who are new to this form of communication—it might seem like a free-for-all or a waste of time with little art or purpose. However, social media is having its impact on society and if we want to influence the world (or at least our niche in the world); we need to be using social media. The best way to start…