Just imagine…living in a neighborhood where you always feel safe and secure.  All the neighbors are good friends and enjoy spending time with each other.  Everyone experiences a warm sense of “belonging” and self worth.

If you lived in one of these neighborhoods, you probably would waste no time getting home after work.  Well, this is exactly what millions of online users do each day over the internet.  People are now beginning to integrate their online world with everyday living.

Online community is very popular.  Approximately 100 million Americans have joined communities after discovering them online (http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_CyberFaith_Report.pdf).  In all, 84% of Internet users have at one time or another contacted an online group.  In 2001, 28 million Americans were very active in “online” communities.  Today, MySpace.com, a very popular online community, has registered over 94 million participants!  Industry research suggests that participation in online communities is growing at an accelerate rate with no end in site. 

What about these online communities?  Are they safe and secure for people of all ages?  Do they truly resonate with true essence of community-building?  Can social networking sites offer people a personalized “online gated community?”

The truth is that sites like MySpace are not your space.  Even though people use this website for personalized social networking, it is still their space.  This presently holds true for every social networking site on the planet that uses the World Wide Web.

But think about it.  What if you could build your very own “online gated community” – one that was safe and secure?  With this kind of community you could truly say, “This is my space; and along with others, this is our space!”  You hold the key that unlocks the gate to your private community.  You can let people in…or keep people out.  The choice is all yours.

This is where the internet becomes a cost-effective way for people to stay close and connected with family and friends, 24/7 and worldwide.  And do so, in a safe and secure environment.

The ability for people to build their very own “online gated community” will impact people’s lives around the globe.  Perhaps this will be called Web 3.0 – a revolution in social networking technology.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 3rd, 2007 at 10:54 am and is filed under Church Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.