Every social media site attracts different users for different reasons. Whether your a business, a church, or a ministry, your ability to effectively reach and engage through social media greatly depends on knowing where your audience is online.

Below is demographic information for the world’s most popular social networks. Knowing the demographics of your target audience allows you to determine how much of that audience you can reach on each of these sites. Focusing on the sites with the greatest reach will maximize the effectiveness of your efforts and help you make the most of your social media strategy.

Top Social Network Demographic Data

(Data as of April, 2010)

		Facebook	Twitter	MySpace	LinkedIn	Ning
Number of users		540,000,000	96,000,000	72,000,000	38,000,000	17,000,000
(% of users)
Gender
Male		40	40	34	50	36
Female		60	40	66	50	64
Age
65+		4	3	4	4	3
55 – 64		12	10	6	17	11
45 – 54		25	21	20	28	20
35 – 44		21	28	16	28	25
25 – 34		14	19	12	16	17
18 – 24		7	9	8	4	9
0 – 17		17	10	34	3	15
Income Level
$150K+		4	5	2	9	3
$100 – 149K		11	9	6	16	8
$75 – 99K		18	16	11	21	14
$50 – 74K		34	26	36	24	27
$25 – 49K		26	31	39	19	36
$0 – 24K		7	13	6	11	12
Education Level
Graduate degree		9	7	4	14	6
Bachelors degree		17	23	9	38	17
Some college		40	49	43	34	49
Highschool diploma		14	10	12	10	11
< Highschool		20	11	32	4	17

(via Flowtown; data from Google Ad Planner)

Creating Eternal Value through Strategic Management

Business as Mission Metrics – Measuring the Effectiveness of BAM Efforts (part 2)

What the Business as Mission movement does not measure

If the Business as Mission movement does universally agree that a particular metric is not indicative of BAM success, it does is not mean that metric isn’t valid. Of all of the measures tested by the BAM survey, only a few were rejected by a significant number of respondents (Table E). The common aspect of all of these metrics can together is that it is questionable whether any company should be responsible for the associated activities or if the activities are even appropriate in a business context.

• Research indicates that 22 percent of respondents “Very Familiar” with Business as Mission disagree that Regular worship at work is an effective measure.
• Similarly, Number of partnerships with social service agencies is not considered an effective measure.
• Over 10 percent of respondents disagree with the effectiveness of three environmental indicators: Existence of recycling programs, Zero waste operating measures, and Reduced consumption of energy and non-renewables.

Implication: questions of the situational appropriateness of worship at work transcend any consideration of its contribution to the company’s spiritual goals. Additionally, partnership with social service agencies and preserving environmental resources do not directly complement BAM objectives.

^[1] that many members of the missional community openly reject.

However, it does not mean that an individual BAM leader will not respond to a personal conviction to support a particular external ministry or outreach. Additionally, BAM leaders may define their business such that it intentionally incorporates elements like evangelism or worship. However, these situations will be driven by the leaders of the BAM company. In general, it can not be assumed that all BAM leaders should prioritize external needs and causes.

Business as missional?

Frequently, BAM practitioners are called to account for not doing more to reach out to the underprivileged in a community; their internal focus is often viewed as selfish. This imposition of values upon Christian businesspeople occurs when the efforts of the company do not align with the church’s definition of “doing good.”

However, this criticism may carry with it a number of assumptions from the missional church model that are (inappropriately) applied to BAM companies:

• Internal constituents are less in need than external (assumes majority of employees are Christian).
• Transplanting of Western resources and culture (assumes leadership is Western and therefore has been “sent” to serve host peoples).
• Internal functions diminish missional impact by consuming valuable resources (assumes business activities do not have ministry impact).
• Financial support from external (usually Western) sources (therefore local environment does not need to be able to wholly support business activities).

This issue must be addressed in a way that does not diminish the value of BAM companies’ impact in blessing developing countries. How can these constraints shape the BAM movement’s identity so that it is clear how Business as Mission creates true kingdom impact? The survey results begin to shed light on how the Business as Mission movement approaches measuring the impact of their efforts.

Creating Eternal Value through Strategic Management

Business as Mission Metrics – Measuring the Effectiveness of BAM Efforts (part 1)

One of the root challenges for BAM leaders is managing the numerous demands on their business. The BAM leader’s responsibilities of planning, organizing, managing resources, and leading are all shaped by the availability of information, the expectations, value systems, and influence of key stakeholders, and (to the extent they are used) business and management principles and theories. Significant attention has been given by the corporate sector to studying each of these factors.

Recently, the popularity of social and environmental responsibility has increased focus on “sustainability”^[1] and the “triple bottom line” of financial, social and environmental performance as value systems for measuring business success. Integrating mission/ministry into business activities introduces a different set of relevant information, expectations, and principles. The result is a very broad spectrum of values and criteria that influence BAM companies. Until all of these factors are truly understood from a kingdom perspective, it is difficult to know where a BAM leader should focus their attention. It is even more difficult to objectively measure the business’s impact. ^[2]

Our research provides insight into what BAM leaders prioritize in the management of their organizations and what their experience has shown to be good measures of the effectiveness of BAM operations. Survey data indicates that BAM practitioners do not strongly emphasize any one category (business, social, environmental, spiritual), but emphasize some measures more than others within each category (Exhibit 8).

Drivers of the BAM movement

What can be learned by examining which measures are accepted by the majority^[3] of the Business as Mission movement?

Analysis of the measures that 80 percent or greater of respondents agree with suggests three main drivers of acceptance:

• Alignment with Biblical values;
• Direct impact on the company’s own stakeholders and interests;
• Fit within the understood boundaries of the business (particularly in respect to the distinction between corporate and individual roles and responsibilities).

The measurements that significantly less than 80 percent of respondents agree with can all be interpreted as not meeting one of these criteria. ^[4]

Within the financial category, the majority of respondents agree with the effectiveness of all of the measures. Within the social, environmental and spiritual categories, all measures that less that 80 percent of respondents agree with either directly benefit a group or element secondary to the company or may address activities or impact that is not considered a universal responsibility for all businesses.

Social

• Number of employees from marginalized groups. (62 percent)
• Participation of local employees in civic volunteer activities. (57 percent)
• Number of partnerships with social service agencies. (45 percent)

Implication: Hiring employees from marginalized groups can meet a need in society; however, it is difficult to quantify any direct benefit to the company, especially if preference is given to marginalized people groups without consideration of ability to fulfill the requirements of the job. Civic volunteer activities and partnerships with social service agencies do not directly or explicitly contribute to the core purpose of a BAM organization, presumably because the target of these efforts are groups and needs that are external to the company.

Environmental

• Reduced ecological footprint. (60 percent)
• Reduced consumption of energy and non-renewables. (53 percent)
• Zero waste operating measures. (51 percent)
• Existence of recycling programs. (49 percent)

Implication: Environmental impact is not the same all industries. For example, manufacturing firms consume more raw materials and natural resources than service firms and thus have a greater impact on the environment. As a result, some measures of environmental impact are outside the scope of a business’s responsibilities. Environmental concerns can not be assumed to be applicable to the entire BAM movement.

Spiritual

• Growth in employee giving to local churches. (71 percent)
• Participation of local employees in evangelistic activities. (61 percent)
• Regular worship at work. (34 percent)

Implication: Of the three categories, spiritual impact is the most susceptible to questions of fit within a business’s responsibilities. Employee giving, employee evangelism, and worship at work are all subject to debate (whether it is the responsibility of the company or if it is appropriate in a business context).

I believe that  kingdom excellence is not contingent on achieving perfection; however, perfection does play a significant role in excellence. You can be excellence without being perfect.

What I’ve come to realize is that the kingdom perspective of perfection is that although perfection can never be attained by our human effort, it must be our goal nonetheless.

By striving for a God’s standard of perfection that is never within our reach we must acknowledge our utter reliance on God. Furthermore, we are able to see the expanse that separates our best effort from God’s perfection and it is then that we begin to recognize the enormity of what Jesus Christ has done for us by achieving perfection in our place. We see that God is both just and merciful. We are set free from ourselves because we do not hold on as tightly to our own success or failure.

It is only when we are freed from the illusion that we can achieve perfection we receive the power to try.

Kingdom excellence means hungering for perfection. Kingdom excellence means constantly striving for perfection in a way that reflects the truth that it is Jesus, not me, who has attained it. Kingdom excellence is trying my best and when I get knocked down, kingdom excellence is the power to get up and try again.

I am grateful for C.S. Lewis for his understanding of this and his unique ability to explain it to me:

We may, indeed, be sure that perfect chastity — like perfect charity — will not be attained by any merely human efforts. You must ask for God’s help. Even when you have done so, it may seem to you for a long time that no help, or less help than you need, is being given. Never mind. After each failure, ask forgiveness, pick yourself up, and try again. Very often What God first helps us towards is not the virtue itself but just this power of always trying again. For however important chastity (or courage, or truthfulness, or any other virtue) may be, this process trains us in habits of the soul which are more important still. It cures our illusions about ourselves and teaches us to depend on God. We learn, on the one hand, that we cannot trust ourselves even in our best moments, and on the other, that we need not despair even in our worst, for our failures are forgiven. The only fatal thing is to sit down content with anything less than perfection.

– C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

The need in Haiti is great.

The lives of the men, women and children there were hard before January 12th. They’re even harder now. They face threats and hardships every day that we are isolated from. Things you and I can not even imagine. Hope for progress has suffered a major set back. Before people were struggling to make the most of their existence given how little they had to rely on and work with. Now what little they had has been destroyed.

As I sit and write this I don’t have to think about where my next meal is going to come from or where I’m going to sleep tonight. I do worry about the safety of my family but the threats I imagine are exactly that: imagined. Although it’s tenuous these days, I still am fairly sure the bills will get paid. I’m confident that there is work to be had.

Not only that but I live in a world where the things I need and want, the conveniences of life, are available. To get to work this morning I had a car to drive, roads to drive on, and gas to power the car. My computer is plugged into the wall, I don’t think twice about whether the lights will turn on when I flip the switch. Not only is there going to be plenty of food at the grocery store but there is a store to go to! There is food on the shelves because there is this amazing infrastructure that connects the farms from around the world to processing and packaging facilities to distribution centers to stores. And I don’t see any of it, I just trust that food will be there.

The message of the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37 ESV) is that we are to love our neighbor. Our neighbor is identified any person we meet on our path who is in need. We are to show mercy to those in need.

But what is interesting is that the Samaritan shows mercy in two phases. First he bandages his wound and brings him to shelter — he tends to his most immediate needs with compassion. But what he does next is even more amazing (the importance of this is often lost): he invests in continued care and rehabilitation.

³³But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. ³⁴He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’

See, he doesn’t bring him to the inn and drop him at the door. No, it explicitly states that the Samaritan “took care of him” at the inn. It is after this intense investment of caring for the man himself that the Samaritan make additional provision for continued care, making a down payment with the innkeeper and promising to return and pay for whatever the man needs.

How are we planning to invest in continued care for Haiti?

There are a number of ways to do this, but I want to highlight two in particular that must be a priority.

First, it is important that we build up the Church in Haiti.

Whatever your views on the spiritual history of Haiti, the people of that country are utterly and completely in need of Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord just as you and I are. And it is local churches — proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom of God, caring for the physical and spiritual needs of the people, and coordinating and leading people to live their lives as children of God — that the love and redemption of Christ will flow through.

I want to draw your attention to Churches Helping Churches, an organization founded by James MacDonald and Mark Driscoll to “address the immediate and long-term needs of churches when disaster befalls a country, region, city, or people in the spirit of Galatians 6:10—“…let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” If you are interested in how you or our church can support local churches in Haiti, I highly recommend you check out Churches Helping Churches.

Second, it is important that we build up infrastructure in Haiti.

This means investing in the physical structures, services, and facilities necessary for the Haitian economy to develop. Recent studies have argued that foreign aid doesn’t work. At the same time, a lot of attention has been given to the role business plays in developing economies. In recent years, Christian business men and women have been leveraging the power of business in order to spread the Gospel in countries whose governments are hostile toward Christian missionaries. The global Business as Mission movement has developed as more and more people are awakening to how God can use their business talents as part of his redemptive plan.

Haiti needs Business as Mission companies now more than ever.

The need and opportunity to develop creative business solutions to many of the problems facing the people of Haiti is great. If you believe that this is a way that you can get involved I want to encourage you to do something. I wish I could point you to specific ways that you could help but I don’t know of any right now. Many organizations are rightfully focused on meeting the immediate needs in Haiti. But as the dust settles our efforts must not lose momentum.

To help spark ideas about potential business opportunities I’ve include some facts about Haiti below. These factors will help identify what opportunities for business exist  in Haiti. Obvious needs are infrastructure and construction. Additionally, the Haitian people will need resources to get back on their feet, so opportunities for micro-finance might exist. I’ve also included quality of life statistics in the hopes it might spark some ideas about opportunities to address some of the less critical issues facing the people there.

If you or your organization are serious about engaging in Business as Mission, I offer a number of services that will help you develop an appropriate Business as Mission strategy and maximize the impact of your efforts. You can contact me through my company website: http://www.unconventionalmethod.com/contact/.

Facts about Haiti

source: originally published at The Resurgence; Data from the CIA’s World Fact Book

Location and Size

Caribbean, western one-third of the island of Hispaniola, between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, west of the Dominican Republic (which is two-thirds of the eastern side of Hispaniola). The terrain is mostly rough and mountainous.

17,243 sq miles (slightly smaller than Maryland).

Natural resources

bauxite, copper, calcium carbonate, gold, marble, hydropower

Agriculture products

coffee, mangoes, sugarcane, rice, corn, sorghum; wood

Industries

sugar refining, flour milling, textiles, cement, light assembly based on imported parts

Labor force

agriculture: 66%
industry: 9%
services: 25% (1995)

shortage of skilled laborers, abundance of unskilled laborers
widespread unemployment and underemployment; more than two-thirds of the labor force do not have formal jobs
80% of the population is below the poverty line

Population

9,035,536

Age structure

0-14 years: 38.1% (male 1,735,917/female 1,704,383)
15-64 years: 58.5% (male 2,621,059/female 2,665,447)
65 years and over: 3.4% (male 120,040/female 188,690) (2009 est.)

Ethnic group

95% black, 5% mulatto and white

Urbanization

urban population: 47% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 4.5% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 52.9%
male: 54.8%
female: 51.2% (2003 est.)

Government

Type: Republic
Port-au-Prince (capitol)
Independence from French in Jan 1, 1804
Their constitution was approved March 1987

Note: Suspended June 1988 with most articles reinstated March 1989; constitutional government ousted in a military coup in September 1991, although in October 1991 military government claimed to be observing the constitution; returned to constitutional rule in October 1994; constitution, while technically in force between 2004-2006, was not enforced; returned to constitutional rule in May 2006

Infant Mortality

total: 59.69 deaths/1,000 live births
country comparison to the world: 37
male: 66.18 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 53.01 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)

Life Expectancy

total population: 60.78 years
country comparison to the world: 181
male: 59.13 years
female: 62.48 years (2009 est.)

Total Fertility

3.81 children born/woman (2009 est.)

HIV/AIDS-adult prevalence rate

2.2% (country comparison to the world: 28)

Living with AIDS

120,000 (2007 estimates)

HIV/AIDS deaths/year

7,200

Major Infectious Diseases

degree of risk: high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria water contact disease: leptospirosis (2009)

Natural hazards

lies in the middle of the hurricane belt and subject to severe storms from June to October; occasional flooding and earthquakes; periodic droughts

The following is another excerpt from the BAM Survey 2007 Report. The BAM Survey 2007 Report is an in-depth assessment of the state of the Business as Mission movement based on survey responses from 497 people in 38 countries. You can purchase an electronic copy of the BAM Survey 2007 Report for $14.99 here.

Creating Eternal Value through Strategic Management

Business as Mission Methodology – BAM Business Organization and Resource Coordination (part 1)

In order for Business as Mission objectives to drive the strategic management of BAM companies, the structure of a BAM company must align with those objectives. Analysis of the survey results suggests that correlations^[1] exist between respondents’ perceptions of key elements of a BAM company (structural elements and management considerations) and perceptions of key BAM objectives.

Structural elements

Different strategies that integrate business activities with ministry efforts hold to different principles on how a business should operate. How each of these principles is manifest within a business is a subject of much debate. Core principles such as operating with integrity and honesty are universally accepted as important to Christians in business. However, research shows that three key considerations regarding structure (commercial function^[2], licitness^[3], and management oversight) are not universally accepted as vital elements of Business as Mission (Exhibit 5).

• Nearly 10 percent of respondents do not think that commercial function and legal structure are vital for Business as Mission. (5.1 and 5.2)
• One out of four respondents expressed no opinion about whether an advisory board is a vital element of a BAM business. (5.3)

Management Considerations

Exhibit 6 summarizes how perceptions of corporate structure as well as management considerations regarding oversight and sustainability correlate with the perceptions of the strategic objectives of the Business as Mission movement.

Corporate structure (6.1-2)

• Aspects of corporate structure (licitness and commercial function) are recognized by 77 percent of respondents as important elements of BAM companies.
• Both licitness and commercial function are considered to strongly influence a business’s ability to make a profit. Both also influence evangelism efforts and focus on the developing world.
• A BAM company’s commercial function influences that company’s role in building the local economy. (6.1)

• Commercial function has a negative correlation with providing access to countries. (6.2)

Management oversight (6.3-5)

• Survey respondents heavily favor Management participation in discipling and accountability relationships (87 percent). Additionally, 68 percent agree that BAM companies should have an advisory board. (6.3 and 6.4)
• Results indicate that the primary influence of these two types of management support is on the company’s evangelism efforts and focus on the developing world. (6.3 and 6.4)

Sustainability (6.6-8)

• Sustainability is considered a highly important aspect of Business as Mission, with over 85 percent of respondents agreeing that Net profitability of the organization, Growth in capital base for future development of kingdom businesses, and Development of a succession plan are valuable elements.
• Respondents correlate net profitability with the ability to build the local economy and to bless the nation. (6.6)
• Respondents also believe that developing a succession plan facilitates the ability to evangelize and the focus on the developing world. (6.8)

• All three aspects of sustainability are negatively correlated with the goal of gaining access through Business as Mission.

The following is another excerpt from the BAM Survey 2007 Report. The BAM Survey 2007 Report is an in-depth assessment of the state of the Business as Mission movement based on survey responses from 497 people in 38 countries. You can purchase an electronic copy of the BAM Survey 2007 Report for $14.99 here.

Who are the Business as Mission leaders? (part 3)

Business as Ministry

It is clear from the survey results that the belief that missions/ministry work can be done in the business context is widely accepted (Exhibit 4). In fact, as many survey respondents believe that Business as Mission is beneficial to the kingdom as those who believe Missions work is beneficial to the kingdom (96 percent agree with each) (4.1 and 4.2). However, it is not as widely accepted that general business (operated ethically) is beneficial to the kingdom (only 60 percent agree and 21 percent disagree) (4.3). The fact that 83 percent of all respondents agree that Work in a business is a ministry (4.4) suggests that the Business as Mission movement distinguishes between the impact a business (organization) can have and the impact that individuals within a business have.

Business as Mission is more than just doing business ethically

It’s particularly interesting that respondents in the Business, Non-Profit, and Education fields all agree to the same extent that Work in a business is a ministry (82 percent, 82 percent, and 85 percent respectively). However, fewer Business respondents agree that Any ethical business is beneficial to the kingdom (59 percent) compared to Non-Profit and Education respondents (64 percent and 63 percent respectively).

This may point to an increased awareness among Christian businesspeople of the importance of being intentional in using business as an opportunity to minister. Whether this is a result of experience or in response to increased scrutiny and criticism the business world receives as a result of the sacred/secular divide is unknown.

In Business as Mission, the company itself is a part in the ministry

One of the core distinctions between Business as Mission and other approaches to integrating business and mission/ministry (e.g. workplace ministry, tent-making, micro-development, etc) is that in BAM some or all aspects of the business (organization) contribute to the missional purpose. Business as Mission involves the manifestation of a missional purpose at both the individual level and the organizational level. What the missional purpose is and how it is manifested at both levels is influenced by many different factors.

Given that respondents universally accept the benefit of Business as Mission (4.1) but do not completely accept individual (4.4) and organizational (4.3) impact in business implies that some people do not understand how Business as Mission incorporates both. Only 53 percent of all respondents agree that Work in a business is a ministry and that Any ethical business is beneficial to the kingdom. Additionally, 22 percent of respondents who agree that Work in a business is a ministry did not agree Any ethical business is beneficial to the kingdom.

Thus, a majority of people understand the individual aspect of BAM transformation; but, a significant portion of the movement does not understand or agree with the organizational aspect. In order to address this disconnect, it is important how BAM leaders run their companies to create impact. In the next section we look at four aspects of Business as Mission strategic management: objectives, organization and coordination, metrics, and resource allocation.
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This is the third installment sharing highlights from the BAM Survey 2007 Report. Today we take a closer look at the global leaders of the Business as Mission movement and the beliefs that drive their efforts in spreading the Gospel through global business entrepreneurship.

The BAM Survey 2007 Report is an in-depth assessment of the state of the Business as Mission movement based on survey responses from 497 people in 38 countries. You can purchase an electronic copy of the BAM Survey 2007 Report for $14.99 here.

Who are the Business as Mission leaders? (part 2)

Embracing the Priesthood of Believers

Our research shows that businesspeople around the world are enthusiastically responding to God’ s call for them in the workplace (72 percent of respondents believe they are called to business) and are forging ahead to use their business activities to create transformation (83 percent of respondents believe that Work in business is a ministry^[1]) (Exhibit 3).

Results highlight a greater prevalence of being called to business versus being called to missions.

• Nearly three-quarters of all respondents indicated that they believe they have been called to the business world (72 percent). A slightly lesser percentage of respondents believe they are called to Business as Mission specifically and to missions (69 percent and 67 percent respectively).
• 86 percent of respondents from the Business field feel called to business compared to 72 percent of Non-Profit respondents that feel called to missions.
• Of survey respondents that indicated they are “Very Familiar” with Business as Mission, 82 percent indicated that they feel called to business compared to 75 percent that feel called to missions.
• Of survey respondents that indicated they are either “Not Very Familiar” or “Not At All Familiar” with Business as Mission, 63 percent indicated that they feel called to business compared to 43 percent that feel called to missions.

Respondents from different age groups demonstrate different degrees of feeling called to business, missions, or Business as Mission.

• Of respondents in the 18 to 29 year old group:
  • 66 percent feel called to business.
  • 64 percent feel called to missions.
  • 58 percent feel called to Business as Mission.
• Of respondents in the 30 to 44 year old group:
  • 75 percent feel called to business.
  • 72 percent feel called to missions.
  • 79 percent feel called to Business as Mission.
• Of respondents in the 45 to 59 year old group:
  • 71 percent feel called to business.
  • 63 percent feel called to missions.
  • 67 percent feel called to Business as Mission.
• Of respondents in the 60+ year old group:
  • 71 percent feel called to business.
  • 74 percent feel called to missions.
  • 66 percent feel called to Business as Mission.

Feeling called Business as Mission is linked to feeling called to either business or missions.

• Respondents that feel called to business (relative to those who expressed no opinion or do not feel called to business) are 2.6 times more likely to feel called to Business as Mission (84 percent compared to 32 percent respectively).
• Respondents that feel called to missions (relative to those who expressed no opinion or do not feel called to business) are 1.4 times more likely to feel called to Business as Mission (76 percent compared to 54 percent respectively).
• Of respondents that feel called to both business and missions (45 percent of all respondents):
  • 91 percent feel called to Business as Mission.
  • 2 percent do not feel called to Business as Mission.
  • 8 percent expressed no opinion.