Building Rapport
One of the keys to a good online ministry is building rapport with people. Rapport is about having a relationship with another person(s) based on: trust, harmony, understanding and mutual respect. Without rapport people will not listen to the message that you are trying to get across.
Building rapport is notoriously difficult online but the better you can get at doing it the more effective your message will be. To develop rapport it is important to treat people online as equals. The moment you talk down to someone or indicate that if they think differently they are stupid you have lost the chance of reaching them. I think that the injunction to treat others as you would like to be treated is spot-on for the Internet (as of course it should be anywhere).
If you want people to listen to you then you must be prepared to listen to them. If you are not interacting with people online but just presenting a message then you need to try and listen to the kinds of people who will use your site and the kinds of things they will want to ask or say.
Humour must also be carefully looked at. Humour rarely comes accross well on the Internet (or in email) unless someone knows you well or you are a genius. Please be very careful about how you use it.
Do you have any ideas for ways of building rapport online? Why not share them in a comment.
I completely agree with the above comments.
It worries me a little sometimes when I note how argumentative some of the christians are on the forums. I know we all feel strongly about our beliefs but we must temper how we interact with others online.
Presenting a church or ministry website can be a little like walking a tightrope as we want the websites to be professional, but then again personal.
Rapport is sometimes about just appearing human and for the christian world it is Ok to present ourselves as folk who sometimes make mistakes as we are forgiven, not perfect!
Just a few thoughts….