When it comes to social media trends, I’m comfortably in the middle of the early majority crowd. I don’t use every new tool, but I enjoy finding the right one for the right job.

I’m not an expert when it comes to the ‘proper’ use of social media either. I’m not sure such a thing exists. Some people tell me that there’s no wrong way to use Twitter or Facebook. Yet some are deeply offended to see a locked Twitter feed or anything on Myspace.

We all know the social rules in our own offline contexts. I wonder how the congregation would respond if a newcomer started cheering my entrance this Sunday with an Arsenio Hall fist pump.

Of course, social rules can be challenged and changed. But this isn’t usually done from the outside or the new adopter. The cheering newcomer would be quietly pulled aside and educated about how to properly behave during the service (if such a thing also existed). Meanwhile a long-term member might, just might, be able to start the wave.

As social media and “web 2.0” is finally reaching the late majority and laggards, churches are finally climbing on board.

The social web is a powerful tool unlike any that have been available to us before. It’s an opportunity to engage with social networks 24/7. It’s an easy way to reach people that have never considered stepping foot in our doors. And we are running right at them, fists pumping and voices whooping.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my church, I even love the building, but I have never been “friends” with a building. A building and I don’t hang out and have beers or talk hockey. Having a building tell me what event is coming up inside of it seems a little unnerving to me.

Organizations have also started becoming friends with me. I am friends with many people in the men’s group – but I’m not sure how to be friends with a collective or if I want to…

These might seem trivial complaints, but they’re just small examples of how we, as the church, can look silly by failing to consider the accepted social conventions.

Facebook has tools for groups and organizations to engage in a meaningful and comfortable way with the x.x millions of members that are familiar with the conventions and rules of that network.

I’m using Facebook as an example because it seems to be the most commonly adopted social-media tool by churches.

But this is a concern for any new social context, online or offline.

When we enter into a new community without first learning about its acceptable social conventions, we risk making a bad impression.

We reveal our ignorance and risk appearing arrogant and indifferent to it. We think we are saying that we are cool and connected but others hear that we are out of date and out of touch. We are the ones pumping our fists and whooping at the sermon and are surprised when nobody wants to join us for coffee afterward.

When we use new tools to engage with people, we have a tremendous opportunity to connect with new people in new ways and spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. But if we don’t do it with respect and awareness for the social conventions of the community we enter, we can only hope someone will gently pull us aside and inform us of the rules before we become the butt of the joke.

To that end here are a few places to start and learn about the most popular social media tools and how you can use them for your church or organization to help make your journey into web 2.0 a little more seamless.

http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=324706977130

http://mashable.com/2010/03/24/brand-facebook-now/

http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/best_practices

http://mashable.com/2010/06/22/linkedin-groups-2/