European Christian Internet Conference, Rome 11th - 14th June 2012

1. Social Media
in the Church
of Upper
Austria
European Christian Internet
Conference, Rome
11th - 14th June 2012

2. Andrea
Mayer-Edoloeyi
● Social Media Manager in the
Communications Office of the
Catholic Church of Upper Austria and
for „Katholische Aktion“ (official lay
people organisation)
● „Digital Native“
● http://kirche20.at

3. Social Media is
personal communication!
The joys and the hopes,
the griefs and the
anxieties of the wo/men
of this age …
Gaudium et Spes,
2nd Vatican Council

4. What can you do as Social
Media Manager with
15 hours a week
in a area with 1 Million
Catholic Christians?
Reduce
Some Components ... to the
max

5. Our Strength as a church
● A very, very good message.
● A lot of volonteers.
● Lay people are credible witnesses
of the Gospel.

6. Social Media is a
Bottum-up-Development
You cannot
organize personal
communication
in a centralicist
way.

7. Social Media
is a Charisma
Everybody who
wants to do,
should have
the possibility
to communicate
in the Social Web.
Not everybody
has to do it.
Exception: Youth work.

8. The „Job“ of the Church
● Support
● Networking
● Infrastructure (like Wifi in
church locations)
● Specific „best practice“
projects
● Guideslines

9. Catholic Church of Upper Austria
A lot of decentral
Social Media Channels
● Facebook and Twitter-Profiles and
Blogs of Persons (lay people and
priests)
● Facebook pages and groups
– parishes
– youth groups, youth centers, ...
– Catholic Women's Movement, ...
– thematic Pages like „Workfree Sunday“,
„Pilgrimages“, ...

10. Catholic Church of Upper Austria
Support platform and blog on
Church and Social Media
http://kirche20.at
Individual Counselling for parishes and
church organisations
Education: basic know-how for
professionals and volunteers (know-how
connects and is the basis for decicions)
Barcamp once a year
International networking: trends, ...

11. Catholic Church of Upper Austria
Support platform and blog on
Church and Social Media
http://kirche20.at

12. Catholic Church of Upper Austria
Network for bloggers
Blog aggregation
http://thematisch.at

13. Catholic Church of Upper Austria
Specific projects
Wifi offensive for church locations *
Geocaching *
Community for pilgrims
Crowdsourcing „Day of Parish Pic“
App for youth work methodics
(Catholic Youth) *
Crowdsourcing quotations on
2nd Vatican Council (Catholic Action) *
* not jet arranged or not ready

14. Thank you!

15. Who is sitting on this couch?

16. We do not use the
Internet, we live on the
Internet and along it.
Piotr Czerski

17. Who uses Social Media?
Based on empiric studies like „Sinusstudie“
Net people are mostly
● postmodern-minded, have multi-optional
lifestyles
● do not persive religion and
church in their daily lives
Typically „churchly people“ are often Digital
Outsiders or Immigrants.
→ You cannot reach a lot of typically „churchly
people“ via social media activities.
→ You can make new contacts with baptized
people and others.

18. Net inculturation*
Mutual learning process
Experience
realm of
net people
Message
of the
Gospel
* A concept of mission theology

19. God love Geeks

20. Credits Pics:
Buttons: Flickr CC by-nc-sa KEXINO
Hands: Flickr CC by-nc-sa FotoRita [Allstar maniac]
Digital Native: Flickr CC by-sa Gideon Burton
Frau – Mac: Flickr CC by-nc-sa kk+
God live Geeks: Flickr CC by rhurtubia
Lego: Flickr CC by-nc-sa Zanthia
Sofa: Flickr CC by-nc-sa Digitalnative
Ipads: Flickr CC by-nc-sa waferbaby