Twitter’s New Vine App – Opportunities for the Ministry
This is another guest post by Ben Lichtenwalner (see also “Top 5 Business Professional Confessions“). Ben is a technology executive with a passion for servant leadership. His blog, ModernServantLeader.com, is a platform for spreading servant leadership awareness, adoption and action. You can follow Ben on Twitter at@BLichtenwalner.
I didn’t originally think this was something I was interested in, since I’m saturated with social media. Then I saw my daughter-in-law on Vine. I knew, because of her savvy nature, that it is something to consider. I signed up and instantly had numerous followers, including some in ministry I consider to be trendsetters.
Twitter’s New Vine App
Twitter recently launched the Vine app, currently available only on iOS. The app let’s you record up to 6 seconds of looping video – no more – and share it on Twitter or Facebook. From it’s Twitter origin, hashtags play a key role in the filtering and categorization of content. This enables users to quickly find simple, concise, video content on a topic of interest.
How Vine Works
After installing Vine on your iPhone, you can open the app, click the record (camera icon) button and capture video. Users click on the view finder and hold their finger on the screen to record. Lift your finger to pause recording and simply press and hold the screen again to continue recording. It’s that easy. After you’re done recording, you can add a caption and share the video on Vine only, Facebook and / or Twitter.
Your audience and community can comment and like the video on Vine or provide the usual feedback options on Facebook and Twitter. Like Twitter, the brevity and standard drives the creativity and interest.
Opportunities for the Ministry
The app is new, so most content is still personal or artistic in nature. How can we use this new medium for the ministry? Below are some thoughts to get us started. I’m sure you will have many more – add them to the comments.
1. Favorite Verses – Capture your favorite verses in 6 seconds. Perhaps we could use the hashtag #FavVerse?
2. Pay it Forward – Capture folks doing something good, in the name of Jesus, and post it.
3. Capture Art – Got some great stained glass windows or other art in your church? Capture and share it.
4. Compilations – Why not capture a compilation of baptisms, communion or other sacraments and share?
5. Invitations – Have your congregation capture 6 seconds of themselves inviting others to the service. Use a hashtag and / or share them on your site.
6. Humor – Do you have some great, recurring humorous moments in your congregation or in living the Christian life? Share them and humanize the service for guests.
7. Stop Motion – There’s all kinds of stop motion video examples already. Why not make a project of this with your youth group?
How to get the Vine App
The Vine app is currently available in the App Store for iOs devices. It’s not yet available for Android or other platforms.
Question: What other uses do you see for the Vine app in Ministry?
