Posted 10/01/2008 - 2:49pm by kwang0274
I’m sure some people in Basilea may be wondering why we’re putting so much effort into our new website. Some may think that technology is already such a hindrance, why make it worse? Aren’t kids and adults spending too much time in front of the television and computers? And, I agree that all these things can become an issue. So, I think it is important to look at what are some of the expectations of this website.
The first question to ask is “what do I want to do with this website?” I want this website to be an extra avenue of communication. In no way shape or form, do I want the website to replace existing methods of communication, but I want to give people one more option. The internet is great because it allows people to access the information they want, when they want, where they want. If you want to visit the website at 3 am, there will be no one stopping you. If you want to leave a comment several days after the last comment, you have that option. If you want to share things going on in your life, you have that ability.
“That sounds good, but what do you want me to do?” That may be what you are thinking. The answer to that is simple. Visit the site often and leave lots of comments. The problem websites face is that they are caught in a catch-22. Websites don’t become popular until lots of people use them. People won’t use a website until it becomes popular. So, with the goal of utilizing this tool that is at our disposal, let’s make good use of it. Also, it is a tremendous help when people give feedback about the website. If you want to see certain things on the website, let me know. If you think certain things should be done differently, let me know. If you want to have certain content made available through the website, let me know.
"Okay, how does all that help our ministry and the Church?" This is a tough question to answer because we don’t know what the results will be. God is ultimately in control and I believe that God can use something as simple as a website to reach people. I also feel that websites can be the stepping stones to opening communications between people and that can evolve into relationships growing online and offline. Building the relationships between people online and offline can only make Church better.
So, with all that in mind, let’s utilize this great tool. Visit the site often and leave lots of comments and send me your feedback.
P.S. For those interested, the title is a parody of a line from a 1974 movie Blazing Saddles. At least, that's where I remember it from.
Hey all. In response to Kwang's post, just wanted to share something. To me, it all comes back to community. The Early Church met together everyday and in doing so, formed intimate relationships that caused them to sell their homes if someone was in need. To me, that is radical and beautiful. This website is helping us to "meet" together everyday, even if it's not in person. There's no way that our out of state college students can meet with us everyday, but this website at least lets them "meet" with us everyday. And let's face it, we all live so far from each other that it would be extremely difficult to see each other everyday. But this website allows us to "see" each other everyday (Can you picture me making those annoying quote signs with my fingers?).
My hope for this website is that it builds community. If a church has no community, it ceases to be a church. My blog last week was about what the church is. Community is an essential piece to that. If our website can help facilitate that, then it is worth having. I believe it will.
website looks great.
you wanted feedback...here it is.
i think on the sidebar, the newest entry should be listed first.
it happened with the sermons...but now on the Blogsilea entries....
please fix =)
now a general comment on websites:
my company's been doing a lot of research on websites and how to manage and utilize it from a business perspective...the whole key is not getting people to visit...but to get people to come back...aka repeat traffic.
so i guess the questions we need to ask ourselves is...what are the websites we visit the most (not necessarily our favorite...but the one we frequent the most), and what service or function do those sites provide that lead us there all the time.
happy surfing.
I agree with minkyu's feedback. We need people to come back often. Sites I visit are as follow: CNN, and Taylor Guitar forum haha. Don't know how that will help but here are some things:
When looking at recent comments, I had no idea where Minkyu left his comment, so I had to search for it. Not that it took long cause there isn't a lot of palces to search for. But when there are alot of things, and you want to trace a comment, I am not gonna want to go looking for it. It would be good to have some kind of link take you to the original post where the comment was made.
Second, very nice with the pictures Kwang. I think pictures are one thing that will bring people back continuously. Obviously with facebook and myspace, the one big hit for everyone was seeing pictures. Didn't have to be pictures of themselves, but people like to look at pictures. I think people will frequently visit if there are constant flow of new pictures. Not just random ones either.
That is all for now.
I think that the internet in particular ones like this is a great medium for keeping in touch and finding out how others are doing. Case in point John Park who just departed to Korea can keep in touch with us. Which brings me to my suggestion. I know as of now only council has access to blog but for the time being is it possible to allow John Park to blog or just make him an honorary council member or if not how about we or Msn since he gets Johns email to post up the blog updating John so we're not flooding emails on top of all the ones we send out pertaining to Basilea events. Just a thought.
Otherwise Great Job Kwang!