Like Me

In the last couple of weeks I have seen “Like us on Facebook” on the signs of two different churches and a truck dealership. Am I just old, or is there something odd about that?

I am old enough that my children tell me that I don’t really understand social media, but I do get that it has some uses. Our church and youth group both have Facebook groups that are used to post notices and reminders. Our classical youth ministry has used social media to spread news and keep people connected (very thin connection for the Classis page on the Network). I have used Facebook to connect with people who are hard to message in any other way. I am also aware that “liking” a page can draw attention and traffic to that page. That is likely what the churches and truck dealership are trying to do.

At the same time I wonder about the effectiveness of using old media (signs) to advertise new media.  I've noticed that the traffic on our church’s Facebook page is graying, and that young people seem to be moving to other media. That makes me think that the organizations that ask us to “like them” are looking dated in an attempt to be up to date.