10/03/2011

Visiting some YouTube postings from Preludium and elsewhere

Out of the blue, or better out of the cloud, someone reached in and looked at this old YouTube video if mine titled, "I'm a Young Episcopalian"


This video has been seen by 3,068 folk so far.  The last comment came from someone who didn't like it at all. Here's the comment: "I'm a Catholic because I want to go to Heaven, not because of personal preference of social matters. And Because Jesus Christ himself established the Church in which I am a member of! Maybe you should re-think your denomination and compare it to the Bible you may be surprised to see how off the wall the Episcopal Church really is!"

I had put this together because of a relatively short lived project from the Church Center to collect short comments from Episcopalians about why they are Episcopalians.  I submitted this to the project, but it never got into the mix there. That is just as well, for I think it has gotten greater viewing outside the Church Center project.  But I was a little taken back by the comment.

Another video I posted, "The Episcopal Church: A Question." has been viewed 14,888 times now.Here it is:




This one gets enough viewing to be further up the food chain when "Episcopal Church" is Googled. Again there have been a variety of comments, some clearly from Roman Catholics, suggesting that we are nice but off base. Both of these are little experimental pieces. My mentor / model for media stuff, Jim Friedrich, would blanch at the roughness of these. But the point is they are out there and get viewed, not a lot but a good bit. Here is a really well done piece by TECtube (The Church Center Communications folk). It is "A look at the mission and ministry of The Episcopal Church." It is very good indeed. Have a look:

According to YouTube it has been viewed to date 1683 times. Several questions: The TECtube "Ministry and Mission" piece is really fine. It should be on the website of parishes, shown at diocesan events, etc., as part of the witness to the work of The Episcopal Church. It's good lots of imagery that builds on the common experiences we have in church - communion, the peace, singing, bringing who we are to the table, etc. By comparison my two pieces, nice as I think they are, are both less interesting and less important. The piece on "I'm an Episcopalian" has gotten as much viewing exposure as the "Mission and Ministry" piece. Why is that? 

Well, perhaps part of it is that YouTube lists the TECtube videos as a bundle... You have to go into that list to find specific videos (or at least that's what happens when I google "Episcopal" or "Episcopalian." The Cathedral in Harrisburg, PA has a number of "Why I am an Episcopalian" videos, all of which get listed near the top of the list. And of course there is the famous, "The Episcopal Church - Who we are?"which is climbing up the charts as we speak. And then there is the PB's answer to the question, "Why should I be an Episcopalian" which has been viewed 25,000 times and was captured and posted by Jim DeLa, past president of Episcopal Communicators. It's a perfect use of short clips of real events to tell our story.

All of which is to say I think we bloggers in Episcopal / Anglican land need to do more videos, even rough and ready ones, with the goal to witness to who we are and what we are about as Episcopalians.  If we need any urging, all we have to do is look to Fr. Matthew's teaching videos and to Episcopal Cafe's "Video" section, where you will find the following from the Diocese of Texas:

   

Let's do more of this. This video provokes discussion, thoughtful discussion. It is just edgy enough to make us want to engage the question of evangelism all the more. 

 

8 comments:

  1. With the coming closure of Delaware's cathedral, just what stategy of evangelism has proven effective and shown any fruit in your diocese? It's one thing to keep talking about the "doings" of the Church and the catchy labels and causes and structures, but what is working in your diocese regarding the Lord's command to go out and teach and thus actually see conversions and strength added? I think that it is an absolute shame that a diocese that has to close its cathedral hasn't answered that question effectively yet. But this isn't the first Episcopal cathedral to die. Christ the King died under a lackluster leadership more concerned with cultural relevance than conversion of souls - oh, and snapping photos at Lambeth took time away too.

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  2. Allen... See my next post. There are valid questions about mission, strategy, long term possibilities in the city. There is a great deal going on in this diocese re "the Lord's command to go out and teach and thus actually see conversions and strength added."

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  3. Allen may have asked "valid questions" but he could lower the temperature and snarky attitude - especially about one of the more skilled and talented clergy in The Episcopal Church. The story of Christ the King is a lot more complicated than one dean. Same with the Cathedral in Wilmington.

    I know we're still in the "Green Season" but jealousy just doesn't look good on anyone.

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  4. Any time anyone speaks of "conversion of souls", I HOPE they're looking in the mirror!

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  5. Well, that's the nature of Allen and his sort of . . . person.

    They either attack in packs, or wait til you're already injured to pounce.

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  6. Hello, your friendly social media consultant here.

    Some things for people to think about vis a vis creating YouTube videos:

    1)You really should try it. YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine out there after Google, so it's a great place to post information about the Episcopal church--or anything.

    2) Keep it tight! The video doesn't have to be under 2 minutes (though that helps), but make every second count. I love the interview with the young Episcopalian; it's short and sharp and interesting. On the other hand, the Mission and Ministry video, though more professionally filmed, just meanders. Is what you're posting interesting for viewers?

    3) Create a thoughtful title. I mean, seriously, "A look at the mission and ministry of the Episcopal Church"? There's a grabber. How about "The Episcopal Church Across America"?

    4) For God's sake, post a description! "Mission and Ministry" didn't even bother. You do this not only so people will know what they will be seeing, but so the googlebots will see keywords. That means you're more likely to appear in a google search. Put the name of your church in the description, for example. And include your web address!

    5) Don't be skimpy on tags. Same deal, only this time within YouTube. Lots of tags will make it easier for people to find your video.

    6) Cross-post videos. If you make a YouTube video, post it on Twitter or Facebook; mark it on StumbleUpon or another social bookmarking site; embed it in your blog.

    7) Abundance! One issue I see with churches is they feel they need to combine all their info into one loooong video. Create a bunch of short ones! It's not like you'll run out of room. It will be easier to make a bunch of short ones rather than worry about splicing a lot of footage together. Plus more videos means more chances for people to find you.

    I thought this was a decent article about creating online videos.

    And I am so glad you asked this; I know what I'll be blogging about this week!

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  7. Hey Laura, that was great!

    wv, "makboom": what I hope a JCF-posted YT vid would do? ;-p

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  8. Mark,
    Powerful last video - I don't have any problems with the perspectives about how to produce and how to post but the content is what will grab people & that one did for me. Reminds me of IS 52:7 - it was nice for me to see this at the beginning of my day.
    Pax et Bonum!
    Steve Goodman

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OK... Comments, gripes, etc welcomed, but with some cautions and one rule:
Cautions: Calling people fools, idiots, etc, will be reason to bounce your comment. Keeping in mind that in the struggles it is difficult enough to try to respect opponents, we should at least try.

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