What is blocking the use of circles for your organization?

[chriswoodut]

I'm curious as to what is stopping people from using the circles functionality. I've failed to nudge our ward to use it for youth (stuck with groupme) with references to "it doesn't do what we need" but I never get specific reasons of what doesn't work. I think having a short list of the major issues would help me understand that maybe I'm tilting at windmills in recommending circles.

So, what is blocking your ward/org from using it?

[russellhltn]

From what I've seen here:

Leaders do not want to use a system that doesn't include everyone. There is no web client access. Not all parents give their kids smart phones, and you can't add non-members to the circle. Also, the inability to customize the circle (such as a youth leadership circle).

[johnshaw]

I'm going to plus1 on Russell....

Parents just have different ages where their kids will be involved with mobile devices. If you don't start at 11, it'll never be adopted, but at 11 it's rare for them to get a mobile devices

No Web Client - This could fix the adoption particularly among youth. I honestly can't image how we thought 11 year olds would ever use this app without a web client

No ability to create custom leadership circles

Youth don't see it modeled with Adults

[BrianEdwards]

Our main issue (and really the only core issue) is that a few youth are going to be left out of all the fun chat and other sharing that would occur via Circles. Like all other leaders, we're very sensitive to youth who would be left on the outside, and sensitive to how that would make their parents feel as well. Even if we had a current group that all had cellphones, I'd be worried that we'll get a new 11-year-old in January who won't have a cell phone, and that they'll be excluded.

Lack of customization isn't really a big issue for us (although I know it bothers others).

[kurtjohnson]

Admin can add members and/or callings to circles.

Does the Gospel Living app route through Church servers? If so, it seems it would be perfect for communication, especially for emergencies and "two deep leadership".

[chriswoodut]

Thank you very much for the responses, just a couple thoughts to bounce around....

If a child doesn't have a cell phone the communication issue exists whether it is Circles or Groupme/other app. IMO, not using Circles for worry of leaving some out will just mean the communication will still happen cell-phone based but outside of the Gospel Living app (via text usually) to their parents. In our ward for 11-13 yr olds, the communication is directed at the parents (cell phone based).

At 14 communication seems to be transitioning to the youth presidencies handling it. Another thread mentioned Parents having read-only access in the youth Circles. I think this can be a good thing but also a problem at the younger ages. I wonder if a Circle can have that read-only option for parents to be configurable. I agree that trying to get 11 yr olds to use it wouldn't be a great approach.

Will youth really use a web app? I'm guessing they won't. IMO, a better alternate than a web app is using the app on a tablet. Someone on another thread pointed out a person could use an android app emulator like Bluestacks to run the app on a PC. IMO, the problem with a web app is that a person has to go look to see if any new messages are there. That means they will check infrequently and after a few times of not seeing new messages they will slowly stop checking. The buzzing of a cell phone notification is the driver for adopting the tool.

I think there's a training opportunity as well for youth. One big gotcha I'm seeing with my son is that people that send the messages electronically assume that everyone will read the messages they sent in a short amount of time (if at all). (I'll ignore the fact that there seem to be 3-5 different text threads with different groups on different threads.) As an example, my son's quorum sent out a message 1 hour before their activity about where/when/what they were doing. He checked his phone 2 hours before the scheduled time and assumed they weren't doing anything. At 1 hour before the youth presidency had posted "let me know if you're coming to the activity". When they didn't get a response they assumed that no response meant they weren't coming, not that they didn't see the message. No follow up call to verify they knew about the activity, etc. The activity ended up with very few there and leaders missing as well. This is not so much a tech issue but a training issue.

[russellhltn]

I'd imagine that a lot of youth do have phones, just not smart phones. Something that will work on text messaging (SMS) seems like it would be more successful.

While you have a point about web apps, not having a web app means the door is completely closed to some participants. And that's non-starter for the youth leadership.

[chriswoodut]

I'd imagine that a lot of youth do have phones, just not smart phones. Something that will work on text messaging (SMS) seems like it would be more successful.

While you have a point about web apps, not having a web app means the door is completely closed to some participants. And that's non-starter for the youth leadership.

Gabb phones don't allow app installs. They can do SMS messaging but not group messaging, so they already are hampered by not being about to do group texts or groupme. Those youth are essentially in the same bucket as no-phone youth.

I think a tablet isn't a bad solution in place of a cell phone for the app (instead of a web app). If you are referring to adults needing the web app, I'm not sure I follow the reason there.

[lajackson]

Two issues for me.

Perhaps I do not have something set properly, but Gospel Living does not send notifications when messages are posted in Circles. Most other apps, such as GroupMe, do.

Most other apps do not require me to sign in and establish my settings again every time there is an update, as Gospel Living does.

[ortonro]

Lack of access for non-members is another challenge for our ward