We all need a human touch
I’m learning that some of the of the top websites for youth ministry games and youth group activities aren’t human. They are run by media companies that sell everything from air purifiers to vacation packages. Typically these sites generate traffic by crowd-sourcing their content or outsourcing it to the lowest bidder. They’re not really concerned about quality, they simply want generate traffic.
What makes a website human? Well, humans do. If you click on the “About” page you can find a name, maybe a photo, possibly an email address or a place to post comments. Human websites are powered by people and people have reputations that can be validated. You can have a conversation with a people. Not so much with a not-human website.
I’m not saying that some of these huge websites are evil. Some of them provide a useful resource by providing a platform for people to share knowledge. But they are a little bit like Starlings, an invasive species that crowd out the natives. When you have a site called Best Bible Games on page 1 in the Google rankings, and it’s run by perfectly decent agnostics who have a swarm of linkbait sites that can elbow their way up in search results, it might mean that people are missing out on real gems like Wayne Rice who don’t make it on the front page of Bing!
Here’s what you can do to help the situation. If you link, try and link to a human. They need all the help that they can get.
