We define the four-step POST process for creating strategies–people, objectives, strategy, and technology–and reveal why starting with the technologies is a mistake.
That is the advice I wish I would have read 6 months ago as I was thinking about creating the college ministry network Collective Muse.
I came across it in the must read book Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff.
In it they have developed the acronym POST which stands for the following:
P=People
O=Objectives
S=Strategy
T=Technology
When creating strategies for social media this is the process they recommend. Most of us think about the technology first, rather than thinking about the people who may use it. At least I do that. Hopefully not any more though.
But to create a community one was must think about the people first, and what objectives and strategies will help you accomplish your goal. Will your people create content, or do they prefer to respond? Do they respond, or do they just like to read? Lots of things to think about. I just thought about technology because I love college ministry and wanted to gather college leaders from around the country…not taking into consideration if it was/is the right tool for them, and whether or not there is something already available for them.
With that in mind I also realized through reading this book that fostering online community takes time, of which I don’t have tons of with two jobs, a family and lots of interests.
So I have decided to move Collective Muse to a Christian site that is built around gathering people around their passions…ROOV. What is ROOV? ROOV is:
Roov.com is an online community that connects like-minded individuals around shared experiences and passions within their church and cities.
You can now find Collective Muse on ROOV by going to ROOV and searching for Collective Muse, or clicking on this link when you are logged in.
I hope by moving Collective Muse to ROOV several things can be accomplished:
- I don’t have to be responsible for maintaining a whole network (coding, providing content, fixing bugs, etc.)
- The network doesn’t revolve around me, but is decentralized on an already existing site. I will still have to work part of this out though as I created Collective Muse on ROOV. But for now, I suggest people just add Collective Muse as a friend and we begin to gather around our passions related to college ministry.
- You will find lots of people interested in college ministry who never would have joined Collective Muse, and you will find other things you are passionate about.
- We are joining a new and exciting network (ROOV) which is devoted to gathering Christians around their passions, and moving them towards action. So it’s a good base to start with.
- By being a part of ROOV, hopefully it will be more than a group that people simply join because they are interested, but that our interests and passions drive us towards actions, and opportunities to gather.
Last, I know that there are many groups that you can join, and that by doing so takes time that you sometimes don’t have. So I apologize for moving Collective Muse off a Ning, a site which you spent time joining, but I appreciate your interest, and I know that in the long run that making this move is much smarter than staying on a site that is not very active.
Sometimes we so much want to create something new, but often there are already tools and sites that exist. And so sometimes it’s better to join those that are already doing a great work. ROOV is doing a great work and has a lot of potential. So those of us who love college ministry I hope we can gather around Collective Muse on ROOV as well as others who are passionate about this topic.
And hopefully, the more I do this, the better I get at it, and the less mistakes I make.
