Do We Even Need Web Sites Anymore?

I stumbled upon an interesting blog post about church and ministry websites: “Do You Need a Web Site?”

Quite the provocative read.

I assume they titled it and wrote it (from their web site!) to produce traffic and prompt a discussion. I don’t think the answer is, “Stop having web sites.”

I think the post addresses some important issues—especially for those of us spending a decent amount of time trying to communicate in what we think is a Web 2.0 world.

A few of my reflections to keep us current…

1. Web 1.0: We Need a Web Site—A Monologue

In the beginning was the Web.

The question was, “Do we need a web site?”

And everyone created static web sites with one-way communication.

For ministries, it was like an on-line church bulletin. It was a monologue.

2. Web 2.0: We Need an Interactive Web Strategy—A Dialogue

About a decade after Al Gore invented the Web (insert laugh track here), web sites moved from one-way monologues to Web 2.0: a dialogue.

It wasn’t enough to have a web site. We needed blogs embedded in our web sites with interactive comments. We needed links from our blogs to Twitter and our ministry Facebook pages. We needed to develop forums and small groups, YouTube pages, podcasts, and webinars.

It was the world of “social networking” as people sat by their computer screens.

The question changed to, “How do we develop an interactive Web 2.0 strategy?”

3. Web 3.0: We Need A Comprehensive Communication/Community-Building Strategy—Multiple Voices from Multiple Directions

Most ministry IT gurus think they’re pretty cutting edge if they’re Web 2.0.

However, most ministry IT gurus are in their late 20s or really old like 30-something!

If they aren’t keeping up, they encourage their ministries to spend tens of thousands of dollars on Web 2.0 strategies. “What’s wrong with that,” you ask?

That’s like someone jumping on the “seeker sensitive” bandwagon five years after Willow Creek announced they were moving away from the seeker sensitive model.

Or, put another way, that’s like throwing away your 8-tracks, buying cassette tapes, and not realizing that CDs, iPods, MP3 Players, etc., etc. have replaced cassette tapes!

Folks in the 12-25 age bracket are less into ministry web sites or even the web, and more into texting and other mobile forms of social networking. They’re surfing the web and moving quickly between Facebook, to Hulu, to Twitter. They’re  using stuff on their iPhones that old folks in their late 20s have never heard of, like UStream, YouVersion, or Blogtalkradio.

This is social networking unplugged from computer screens. Phones are not walkie-talkies now; they’re walking, talking, texting, surfing social networking systems.

We’ve moved from a monologue, to a dialogue, to multiple voices from multiple directions. Welcome to the Web 3.0.

Welcome to the true web—an intricate webbing of multiple people communicating in ever-multiplying ways.

The new question is more complex. “How do we develop an integrative, interactive comprehensive communication and connecting strategy that builds community, spans all demographics, and remains cutting edge even as the edge moves every day?”

Join the Conversation

1. Do we even need websites anymore?

2. What are the implications of Web 3.0 for your ministry?

3. Are you feeling old yet? How do we stay current when the current keeps changing directions?

4. Is your ministry communication/connecting strategy a monologue, a dialogue, or a multi-logue?  

Web 3.0