Four Reasons for Unitarian Universalists to Use Social Media
This is cross-posted from my personal blog, Looking for Faith. Although it is geared toward Unitarian Universalist readers, the four reasons sited are relevant to the promotion of websites from other faith traditions as well...
John at the Pageless Book is writing a series on the use of social media to promote Unitarian Universalism, and has asked other Unitarian Universalist bloggers to join in this worthy effort.
Here are four reasons for Unitarian Universalists to use social media (such as StumbleUpon, Digg, and Technorati)...
#1. Social media is an effective way to increase traffic to Unitarian Universalist websites. Share our message!
It's as simple clicking a button, writing a few words about the site you're recommending, and adding some category tags.
Then, when other users browse such categories as "religion" or "spirituality," they'll find the posts you recommended, pointing them to Unitarian Universalist websites!
#2. Small amount of time --> Big outcome.
I use StumbleUpon, and other than the few minutes to download the StumbleUpon toolbar, it's taken almost no time to use, and given a nice boost to my blog readership (and hopefully to the other UU blogs that I've Stumbled).
#3. A few dedicated users can make a difference.
I've been surprised at the disproportionate impact that a few users can have when tagging content in a relatively small category, like "Unitarian Universalism." Of course, this can be used for not-so-good ends, which is another reason it's important for those of us who promote and celebrate Unitarian Universalism to actively participate in social media.
#4. Helps keep track of the articles and blog posts you want to remember.
This is an added benefit that has less to do with promoting Unitarian Universalism, and more to do with promoting personal sanity. I am so relieved that I do not have to remember the identifying information for every interesting blog post I come across. That's what I use StumbleUpon for. And for UU bloggers, it's an added bonus, since you can use it to mark content that you want to mention in a later post.