A photo takes up 4x as much space as a text-based update now that Facebook recently changed the format of the newsfeed. Have you thought about using photos to engage your friends spiritually?
You are probably a Facebook expert in terms of time spent but you may not know exactly how and why some stories arrive in your newsfeed while others are automatically hidden from you. Facebook judges each item posted on three things:
1. Relevance to You: If you have recently commented or liked a friend’s post, chances are their posts will show up on your newsfeed in the near future.
2. Timeliness: Facebook knows you are checking in throughout the day so they rank stories that are shared within the last few hours more highly than those that are a half day or older.
3. Media content: Photos are ranked highest, followed by videos, then text updates. It’s tempting to think videos would be ranked higher than photos, but videos are a much higher time commitment than photos, and are not viewed as much.
Offline and in person are best for having a direct conversation about the Gospel, but before and after you talk with someone you can use photos to engage their interest and spark thoughts that may make your in person conversation richer.
Here’s an example:
You come across the article on Everystudent.com titled “Where is God?”
Instead of posting only the link to this article and a comment such as “Check it out,” take 2 minutes to find an image (I like Bing or Google images) that’s interesting and visually engaging.
Select “Upload Photo” on Facebook and upload the image you found. Do not post the link or comment on the photo yet.
Once the photo is uploaded, then select “Comment” and post the link to the article as well as some text such as “found this great article that talks about finding God.”
By sharing the article in this manner you will accomplish two significant things:
1. Score a higher rank from Facebook by using an image instead of text as the main part of the story.
2. Score a higher rank from Facebook by having a comment underneath the photo. Even though the comment comes from you Facebook still ranks it higher than a post that does not have any likes or comments.
You may have noticed already that more images are being shared on Facebook. This trend will only continue as more and more people realize the power of using photos on Facebook to communicate.
Some other ways you might want to use photos:
1. Take your ministry logo and add the information about your weekly meeting. Have someone who knows Photoshop make it look nice, and send it to a group of your friends. Instead of posting a text update about your weekly meeting, share this image instead using the method above.
2. Take 3-5 high-resolution pictures during your weekly meeting or social event. Post them immediately to Facebook and tag the people in the picture.
3. Host a giveaway on Facebook—upload a picture and give away prizes to the people who tag the most of their friends the quickest.
You probably have even better ideas! What are they?
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