On Tuesday afternoon I went to coffee with Chris Capehart, one of the co-founders of ROOV. I told Chris when we met that I wasn’t quite sure what to think of ROOV when I heard about it. 1) One more social networking site seems like one too many right now. 2) I don’t like Christians removing themselves into “all Christian” environments to live life there , unless it’s for gathering around very specific or niche causes, etc.
But once I created an account and scoured the site I became more and more impressed with it. And one thing that stood out to me is the statement on their site:
ROOV is an online community that connects like-minded individuals around their shared experiences and passions within their church and city.
It’s one thing as Christians to go into our own bubble and live there, and it’s another thing to gather around our beliefs and causes so we can live them out in the world. ROOV is the best of this idea. I was really impressed with Chris and the other founder’s vision behind it. I’m excited to see where it goes. And I’m excited to see Christians gather around their passions, but not to keep them to themselves, but to move them towards action out in the world.
Here is a quick video about ROOV, and then just a couple of closing thoughts:
ROOV.com Stories from ROOV.com on Vimeo.
I first heard about ROOV from Cynthia Ware, and she thinks highly of it, and so I was immediately interested.
Then Matt Singley talked about it in his highway vlog, episode 4, Media That Rocks My World.
One of my former students compared it so 43 Things, but a site that gathers Christians around their passions and interests towards change.
And last, my friend Chum had a few good thoughts on ROOV that he shard on his blog. Chum said:
• It Connects People – The idea of connecting like-minded Christians based on what they are passionate about has a lot of potential.
• Forced Interaction – Since you have to add a comment or question to add the Roov to your profile, it keeps the discussion going. And it keeps people who are “add” happy from just build up their profile.
• Good Design – The site is easy to use and it works. And since it borrows elements from Facebook, Bloger, and LinkedIn, is already familiar to me.
So check it out. Get an account. Play around with it a while. And let me know what you think.
