The recent launch of the official Fellowship Church Blog has prompted some great questions.
1. What software do you use?
The site is built using TypePad, in much the same way as this one. We have customized the look extensively through stylesheets, so a Pro account is necessary.
Our plan is to eventually host it internally, but TypePad is just too convenient, too cheap, and we know it too well to delay the launch for an internal solution.
2. Who provides the content?
Right now, the blog is a team effort. I am writing some and serving as what would best be called the editor. Much of the initial content has come from Terry and we're starting to incorporate writing from other departments.
3. Isn't it mostly repackaged from the rest of the site?
Yes and no. Yes in the sense that the blog is a way to highlight things that might get buried in a site with as much content as ours. Rather than emphasize 5-6 things on the front page, we can methodically point to certain items that are worth knowing about. And, for those who are comfortable subscribing to a RSS feed, the information now comes to them!
The answer is no in the sense that most of the first seven posts have featured content that we have rarely had on FellowshipChurch.com: a personal story about baptism, a concert setlist, baptism photos and celebration. The blog is an avenue for many things that we haven't had a quick and easy outlet to share.
4. No comments?
Every organization must make the decision of whether to enable comments on an official site based on its unique profile and responsibilities. If TypePad provided an option for moderated comments, we would seriously consider this, but as a high-profile church, we have a responsibility to provide a site free of comment spam and other inappropriate content, and simply trying to monitor and quickly remove that content is not an acceptable option.
We are incorporating reader comments via email, however, and more and more staff and members are starting blogs of their own. The blogosphere is an equal opportunity printing press and comments are only one form of conversation.
5. How has it gone so far?
The response from the staff and our membership has been terrific and we've been very pleased by the amount of traffic. In four days, we've had over 3000 hits and 55 subscribers to our RSS feed.
Lastly, the blog is now at a more convenient address: blog.fellowshipchurch.com.
I would suggest enabling comments. You could use the Typekey integration, which kills a lot of the spam. Most people don't want to signup for an account, login, and -then- comment. If you really wanted to be paranoid, I believe there is an email-confirmation comment service or you can manually approve comments.
My point is that comments are part of the heart of a blog (and by proxy, a blogosphere) and to not have them is to say that you don't want to hear from your readers, one of the main reasons to blog in the first place.
I think you would do well to read the interview on the Red Couch blog with the people from Church of the Customer:
http://redcouch.typepad.com/weblog/2005/05/interview_churc.html
I think it says a lot in terms of what commenting is all about (Their number one question asked? "What do you do about negative comments..." Their answer is worth reading, knowing, and considering.
I was really interested in seeing how the Fellowship Church community was going to respond to the blog, and what comments they had on the stories posted. For example, I was interested in reading some parent's comments from the kid baptism story. But then, the comments portion was missing, and I was let down.
Blogs are a two-way street. You're missing half of your goal here. Put in a few safeguards and I think you'll truly see its potential.
Posted by: Evan Erwin | May 10, 2005 at 09:18 AM