Actually, maybe there is a better alternative than Twitter for intra-staff instant communications. Yammer is something to consider if you believe the TechCrunch Top 50 folks know their stuff. But first a bit of history.
It was somewhere back about 15 years ago that I was on a church staff where the top dozen or so staff members were given cell phones to keep in better touch. State of the art technology at that time involved walk-talkie capabilities. This feature proved incredibly effective for us since the campus was spread out over many acres. Furthermore, there were another 15 or 20 additional staff members in the mix so constant communication was necessary to co-ordinate services, events, etc. with up to the minute information. We didn't want everyone in on our conversations. We didn't want the church listening. But we did want us listening and we wanted instant access to each others status.
Fast forward to today. What's the most efficient way to accomplish the same thing? You think I'm gonna say Twitter right? Actually no, unless everyone locks their profiles and stays off the public timeline. The newest winner on the "apps to dazzle you" list is Yammer.
Yammer is similar to Twitter; it is an online status updating service. But Yammer's
distinctive is that it's intra-organizational. If you have an email
address for any particular business organization (in this case a
church) a communication hub can easily be developed around those who
share company addresses. Yes, it's like a closed circle. But
sometimes, communication should be private.
Plus, Yammer can perform tricks. Can't remember your youth pastor's birthday? It's in his/her profile, along with other important info that co-workers often need handy access to (like spouse's names, etc.) And you can talk about projects on Yammer together. Hashtags (tags for short) are used to signify project names, etc.
I haven't used Yammer but I do know a couple of early adopting organizations that do. Fellowship Technologies is using it and Curtis Simmons, Senior VP of Operations, told me he loves the interface. Additionally, LifeChurch.tv started using it and their Online Community Pastor, Tony Steward, relayed to me they had 50 people using it within the first couple of days of implementation.
If you think such a service might be good for your church, you can watch this simple video clip to preview Yammer.
-- Cynthia Ware, The Digital Sanctuary
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