Over the past few weeks I’ve interviewed 11 pastors (well, that includes a few “church leaders” who aren’t technically “pastors”) for a paper I’m writing on pastors who use multiple Facebook accounts — one account for professional purposes and another (often more hidden account) for personal purposes.

I’m still compiling my research and making it pretty in a big paper for an Independent Study on digital religion that I’m taking at the University of North Dakota. But, dear readers, here’s a few quick little unofficial reflections:

Why do pastors use two Facebook accounts? In my interviews, the reasons are mixed but several spoke of a bad experience with a pastoral care situation or congregational member interaction on their Facebook walls. Often, pastors feel as if these interactions become out of their control, and they wish to avoid their Facebook walls as places inciting conflict — among the congregation, and between parishioners and Facebook friends unconnected to the church. Many of the pastors (all, maybe?) had Facebook profiles before they took their current calls, so they consciously chose to interact with parishioners on a new separate page. Several pastors also noted that they didn’t want to bore — or push away — their non-churchy friends by talking pastor stuff on the Facebook wall all the time.

Boundaries? Big time. Many pastors spoke of seeking clear boundaries in their ministry, and that in their view having two Facebook accounts makes healthy boundaries easier to manage. Some only check their professional account while at the church. Most are careful to friend parishioners on their personal accounts to avoid the perception of different treatment for parishioners friended on both accounts. Others anticipated the challenges of leaving their congregation in the future and noted an “easy break” would be made simple by deleting their professional account and starting another in their new call.

Practically, how do they distinguish the accounts? Pastors use a variety of approaches. While some use identical names on both accounts and simply have different profile pictures, others use middle initials or middle names on one account or the other to distinguish them. Some people put “Pastor” in the title of their professional account. Others simply use a church Facebook page for their professional interactions.

Challenges.  There are many, but overall most pastors who use separate accounts recommended them as a positive thing for their ministry, and they encouraged other pastors and future pastors to carefully consider opening two accounts (though it’s — I think — technically against Facebook rules). That said, pastors noted the challenges of having friends who interact with them on both accounts, of practically managing two accounts, of whether to reveal the existence of both accounts to congregation members, and how to manage Facebook groups with two accounts.

I’m not ready for any formal conclusions quite yet, but I will say that I went into this project as an advocate for pastors to use only one Facebook account. While I haven’t quite changed that position, hearing the stories of pastors with two accounts has really complicated my understanding. Several pastors I spoke with had clear and valid reasons for having two accounts. In fact, I’d go as far to say the two accounts made them better pastors and more faithful individuals outside the congregation. So, much more later including interesting exceptions to my points above, but I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.