Christian Social Networking News

We are putting this blog on hold until we have several interested, qualified bloggers who would like to contribute.

In the meantime, a good blog on Christian social media is Linked in Jesus by Lee Raney, President of Christian.com.

We’ve updated The List of Christian Social Networking Sites, and included a few more and thumbnails as well. Please comment to help us build the list.

Christian.tv recently acquired social networking site Xianz along with related portal site Praize.com. Xianz is already one of the top Christian social networks, and we are looking forward to seeing good things to come with the new ownership. We are waiting for an official press release.

Earlier this summer, Christian.com acquired HisHolySpace.com and FaithItUp.com. Seems there is starting to be some consolidation among the larger Christian social networking sites.

Christian.com has announced plans to merge recently acquired sites - HisHolySpace.com and FaithItUp.com - to become the starting place of the new Christian.com social networking community.

As far as we know, this is the first time two large Christian social networks have merged together.

From the Christian.com announcement:

This first Christian.com site launch will happen in July 2008, and we are calling it the “Pre-Beta” Christian.com site. The site’s features and functionality will remain similar to what the members of HisHolySpace and FaithItUp are used to, which is very close to the functionality of MySpace. Members of both sites will have most or all of their information brought over to the new site, so there will be very little for members to have to do to enjoy the new site.

The New Christian.com Logo…

Christian.com President Lee Raney shared more about plans for the new site in the announcement:

It is with great pleasure that I am announcing something that has been several years in the making, and has already involved thousands of hours of hard work and prayer by myself and many others.

In some ways the journey for me started back in the mid-90’s, but in other ways it is only now beginning. I envisioned an on-line Christian community, a “social network”, many years before MySpace or Facebook were in existence. Finally many years later, in 2008, we are getting ready to finally launch Christian.com, and my goal for the site is ambitious yet simple…to build the best Christian social network in the world.

But not just a social network. The site should be more than a “Christian Myspace” or a “Christian Facebook”. We can do better than a copy-cat of a secular site, and the vision is much bigger than that. Christians need something special on-line, something unique, something…God-ordained. And it has to be something that the community builds- not just me. I am committed to the community - the site members who want to be a part of this vision - coming together and being a part of designing and building Christian.com. It will not happen overnight, and will take some time and a lot of changes and improvements before we get it right. But I think the outcome of the process will be something truly unique in Christian history- a community of millions of Christians worldwide “linked in Jesus” and growing together in spiritual maturity and in love for Christ and for one another.

If you are reading this blog, you probably already know what social networking is. But for anyone new to it, this quick video gives a great explanation…

I found this on the blog Common Craft.

Just announced today, a $53 million investment from Bain Capital Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners values #3 social networking site at $1 Billion.  The VC’s received 5% of the company for the investment.

In 2007, Microsoft paid $240 million for 1.6 percent of Facebook, making the Facebook valuation at that time around $15 billion.  Linked in has 23 million members; Facebook about 70 million.

MySpace, owned by News Corp, just relaunched with a brand new look today as well, seeking to stay ahead of the pack as the #1 social networking site.

Social networking sites continue to be the hottest sector of both site growth and VC funding, and the investment is not limited to the big secular sites.  Last month Christian video sharing site GodTube landed $30 million from GLG Partners. The investment valued GodTube at nearly $150 million, according to PaidContent.org.

What is called the largest scale relaunch of a website its size ever, the new MySpace site is only 3 days away.  Global media company News Corp has been working for 6 months on a relaunch that will change its home page, navigation, profile editing, search, and many other features.  The goal is to widen its demographics and boost user engagement on the site, and allow it to remain the #1 social networking site. 

“This is more than a face-lift; we’re changing the way people interact with the site and with brands,” MySpace said. 

With 118 million unique users, for awhile MySpace was the only major social networking site, but will rivals like Facebook and LinkedIn gaining ground, Myspace is hoping to stay on top with a complete makeover.

Read articles on the MySpace Relaunch

Since many of the the existing Christian social networking sites (HisHolySpace, Xianz, and FaithItUp.com for example) are very similar to the soon-to-be old MySpace, will these sites also upgrade and evolve?

READERS: Which social network do you prefer to use, MySpace or Facebook? Share your opinions in the comments below.

Christian media company Christian.com has acquired HisHolySpace.com, one of the leading Christian social networks.  Christian.com operates a network of Christian websites- the Christian Web Network.

HisHolySpace has over 36,000 members and is one of the fastest-growing Christian social network sites.  Site founder and administrator Jeff Broderick made this announcement yesterday to the community members…

Well here is one big announcement and there will be a few more big announcements to follow soon. I want to first start by saying how excited and blessed I am to have been a part of HHS. It has been a blessing to be part of seeing God’s plan through, by creating an online Christian community, centered on glorifying Jesus Christ. When God put the passion in my heart to start HHS I had no idea just how much of a blessing HHS would truly be. After a little over year of existing, and God has grown the site to almost 40,000 members from all over the world. I get hundreds and hundreds of emails from people, saying what a blessing HHS has been to them. It is so encouraging to read how people have grown in their walk with Christ while here on HHS. Of course the emails of how those who were seeking, found Christ while here on HHS has been one of the utmost blessings. I want everyone to know, that I thank you sincerely from the bottom of my heart for the blessing each of you in your own special way has poured into HHS. You are truly Gods blessing to one another here. I want to thank God and you fore allowing me to be a part of this whole experience so far……….wait a second is this goodbye??? HA yeah right, do not think you can get rid of me that easily.

Although I have sold the site to Christian.com, I myself have personally decided to join with Christian.com Media Group. The president of Christian.com Media Group is Lee Raney. He is an awesome brother in Christ and I have been blessed to get to know Lee over the past months. Lee has a vision for HHS that will truly take this site into the future and bring more and more that will truly glorify God. I will continue to assume the role of site admin and will have the honor of working closely with Lee. Please be sure to take the time to let Lee know your thoughts and excitement about the future of the community. Lee and I will be sharing more updates with you in the weeks to come. God bless you all and praise God for He is worthy.

All For Him

Jeffrey J. Broderick (a.k.a. HHS Servant)

Many Christians use MySpace or Facebook, but a lot of Christians would also like to find a social networking site where they can connect in a safe community for Christians and grow in their walk with Christ.  There are quite a few to choose from.  We will be maintaining this as “The List” of Christian Social Networking sites.

List last updated 7/31/08

LIST #1 - TOP CHRISTIAN SOCIAL NETWORKS - NORTH AMERICA

This list is limited to sites with the following criteria:

• Primarily a social network similar to MySpace and Facebook (e.g., sites that are primarily news sites, services for churches, or video sharing sites not included)
• At least 10,000 members
• Majority of membership in North America
• Limited to sites in English
• Owned and operated (as far as we can tell) by Christians
• A stand-alone site (e.g., not a group on another site, not a Ning site)

So given those criteria, here is the list:

Christian.com

FaithFreaks.com

JCFaith.com.com

myPraize.com

YourChristianSpace

ShoutLife.com

Xianz.com

7/08 Note: HisHolySpace.com and FaithItUp.com are no longer on the list; both were acquired by and merged with Christian.com.

Know of another one that meets the criteria above?  Tell us about it.

LIST #2 - ALL THE REST

Sites not meeting the above criteria but still worth mentioning are listed here…

GodTube.com
MyChurch.org
JesusCrowd.com
LiveKite.com
KindleJoy.com
DittyTalk.com
Christianster.com
HolyPal.com
BattleCry.com
MeetFish.com

Is one of these is your favorite, post a reply and tell us why! Or if your site is not mentioned above. please post a reply.

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