Are you wondering this: Is texting considered social media? When you are trying to stay in touch with your congregation and get parishioners excited about what’s going on in church, using a texting service can get your younger members engaged more readily. Teenagers respond faster to texts than they do to any other form of communication, and a church that is able to text is more likely to reach Millennials and Gen Z. While the older population may prefer face-to-face contact, it is standard communication for the younger crowd to text on a consistent basis. But it begs the question: is texting considered social media?
Is Texting Considered Social Media?
The short answer to is texting considered social media: No. Texting is not social media. Social media consists of sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest. Texting is another form of communicating like email and phone.
RELATED:Texting Tops Talking for Teens
Is Texting Social Media for Millennials?
According to Business Insider, the average Millennial exchanges an average of 67 text messages per day. It’s easy to use automated texting services to reach your church members, and it is clear that Millennials prefer the automated texting approach for communication beyond any other type of texting or messaging solutions.
Millennials and Gen Z’s rely on their mobile devices like no other generations. Eighty-three percent of Millennials have their cell phone next to them while they sleep at night. Cell phones are seen as a necessity to Millennials, and 41 percent report not having a landline installed in their home.
Create a Social Media Presence to Interact with Your Congregation
The younger generation also uses social media frequently, and this is a great way to get initial messages out to your church members. Status updates get buried in news feeds. It’s important to follow up social media posts with targeted, automatic text messages to keep your church members both informed and reminded of events to come. These messages can be personalized for various groups within the church, or for each individual receiving the texts.