What is a Facebook Page and Should Your Ministry Have One?

Facebook is an online social networking platform that offers three ways to interact with people: profiles (usually for friends and family); groups (around any common interest) and pages (for businesses, schools, and organizations, in other words–real entities). Each of these ways to be present on Facebook is unique in design and functionality according to the relationships being formed. In this article I want to discuss the Facebook page and show you examples of how some ministry groups use a Facebook page to advance their mission.

A Facebook page is designed for anyone who is in an official position to promote a business, resource, service or product. Its purpose is to get attention and engagement from people. Pages are equally suited for a business and its products. So the NBA has a Facebook page as does each of its teams. This makes sense because there are fans that are interested in their team specifically and may or may not be interested in the organization as a whole. Translating this to ministry, it makes sense for a diocese to have a Facebook page and for each of its parishes to have a Facebook page or for a national organization to have a page and each of its regional membership groups to have a page.

If you want to attract more interest in your ministry, keep your members up to date and engage them on- and offline, then you may wish to consider starting a Facebook page. I have provided links below to ministry Facebook pages that I think do a good job of informing and engaging their fans. Of course, you must keep your Facebook page current and interesting if you want it to achieve your goals. See what you think.

Good examples of using Facebook pages for ministry:

Parishes:

St. Thomas the Apostle, Naperville, IL

St. Jerome Catholic Church, Largo, FL

Immaculate Heart of Mary, Cincinnati, OH

Dioceses:

Diocese of Wichita

Diocese of Salina

Catholic Organizations/Ministries

Catholic Relief Services (Check out the Notes tab where they give the guidelines for their wall. (If you do not see the Notes tab click on the double arrow at the end of the tab menu and then click on Notes.)

Catholic TV

Religious Communities

Sisters of Mercy

Sisters of Notre Dame, Toledo, OH

Resource for this article: Facebook for Dummies (2^nd Edition) by Leah Pearlman and Carolyn Abram.

Your comments and questions are always welcome!