Facebook Research Reveals How we are Connected

Posted on March 4, 2010

Recent Facebook research reveals some interesting trends on what connects people in regions of the U.S. Using 210 million Facebook profiles, Pete Warden has documented and illustrated how and on what regions and cities connect. It appears that Facebook users range from a dense, regional connectedness to a cross-country connection. The lines of connection cluster into 5 regions: Stayathomia, Dixie, Greater Texas, Nomadic West, Mormonia, Pacifica, and Socialistan. Here are some interesting trends from each FB cluster:

Stayathomia

Friends are tightly connected in this region, with New York as the exception. God tends to be low on the “top 10 fan pages” if he shows up at all. Sports and beer-related pages rank higher instead.

Dixie

This region has strong internal connections and shared values. God is almost always in the top spot on the fan pages.

Greater Texas

Dallas is the hub city for connections in this region. God shows up, but always comes in below the Dallas Cowboys for Texas proper, and other local sports teams outside the state.

Mormonia

Highly interconnected, this region is populated with LDS-related pages like Thomas S. Monson, Gordon B. Hinckley and The Book of Mormon.

Nomadic West

Shows a strong connection to distant cities like Phoenix. Starbucks is almost always the top fan page.

Socialstan

L.A. is the central city in this region, almost as connected as Greater Texas. God hardly makes an appearance on the fan pages. Michael Jackson is a favorite.

Pacifica

Tightly connected to each other, it doesn’t look like Washingtonians are big travelers compared to the rest of the West, even though a lot of them claim to need a vacation!

Are North American Xns Too Secular?

Posted on March 3, 2010

In the second book of his Future of Christianity Trilogy, The New Faces of Christianity, Philip Jenkins draws a distinction between the Christians of the North and the Christians of the global South. The sharp contrast is between the “worldly wise” of the North and the “godly foolish” of the South.

In the growing North-South confrontation, Southern conservatives find ample justification in the language of scripture, noting the hostility between the worldly-wise and the (godly) foolish, those who remain unseduced by secular learning. Using the Pauline epistles, Nigerian church leaders identify modern liberal Westerners with the pagan Greeks of old: “[In] spite of their pride in their wisdom (the Greek love of sophia) they had become utterly foolish. The last stage had been reached.” To adapt the famous image offered by Tertullian, that great African thinker, Christians of the global South are citizens of Jerusalem, and they follow the Bible; Americans and Europeans, residents of Athens, obey secular texts. And what has Athens to do with Jerusalem?

Perhaps we are just too “sophisticated” for our own good? Too many strategies, conferences, plans, books, systems, mechanisms, communications. What do you think?

3 Essentials for Missional Communities

Posted on March 3, 2010

Through failure and success we’ve developed three clear criteria for health gospel-centered missional communities. Whether a new missional community is formed “out of nothing” or one of our existing groups is ready to multiply, there are three things new groups must have in place before forming: LEADER, a CORE, and a MISSION.

1 LEADER/ A called and qualified leader.

This leader must sense a) God’s call, b) complete the Missional Leader Readiness form, c) meet the leadership qualifications and d) complete City Group Leaders Training.

2 CORE/ A healthy community living out gospel-centered missional community.

Healthy communities are a core of people that a) practice steady state community b) are engaged in mission, c) share leadership and d) keep the gospel central. An initial core size must be at least 6-8.

3 MISSION/ A new group starts with a clear missional focus.

The City Group should be aligned with a local non-profit to serve monthly, or focus on engaging a particular group of Austinites. This clearly defined mission must be accompanied by a plan for engagement. Whether you work with a non-profit or not, your ultimate missional focus should be people. Identify a people group and develop a plan to engage them with the gospel.

GCM Collective Goes Live!

Posted on March 2, 2010

As promised, the GCM Collective Community Site went live yesterday. Over 300 people have already registered. Lot’s of great discussion, best practices, tool swapping, and encouraging stories are being shared. Several Groups have been particularly busy:

  • Planting Missional Churches
  • City Renewal
  • Transition to Missional

Get in on the conversation. I’m learning some helpful things and I’m willing to wager you will too! This is just the “back-end” of the GCM website, what we’re calling the Community Site. The front-end of the site, the Public Site (see pic), will be more resource-driven with an integrated blog, resources, and reviews. It’s coming soon.

Shout out to Drew Goodmanson and Monk Development for creating such a great site!