Making That Internet Money...

One morning this week I woke up to this email. 

Since I made that first million with my band Drum and Tuba Christmas it looked like I was off and running to that second million. A closer examination revealed that it was not my personal facebook page making this money but another page, St. Patrick Catholic Church, Lufkin, Tx of which I one of the administrators that got this dough rolling in. I am the original administrator that created the page on Aug. 11, 2011 but for the past five years our pastor, Father Denzil Vithanage has been the main content creator. Father D loves to make photos and videos of events in the parish and lately has thrown in some of his drone footage and a bit of AI. Content creation can be tricky but I like what Father does and am in total agreement with his vision and more than happy to give him credit.

I'm not exactly sure how we make this money since the only thing we sell is sometimes after Mass groups set up with home made tacos and snow cones or enchilada plates to support various causes at the church. I guess those likes and video clicks add up and people view ads that their algorithm generates and that's a good thing for us.    

And though the money went into my bank account I am more than happy to dig in my pocket and place this extra, which looks like it will be a monthly occurrence in the collection plate. Maybe it will increase and grow bigger and better just like our parish has. 

I recall when the page first started how we stalled out with just a couple of hundred followers but now with over 3000, which is more than in attendance each Sunday I think the effort of posting current information has paid off. 

You can also check out our traditional web page. I maintain it and while probably not as entertaining and in the moment as facebook you can find out the time of services, how to register for things, links to the bulletin or how to contact people in charge of ministries. My personal philosophy as to the content here is what would a traveler or someone completely unfamiliar with our parish or possibly not a social media user need to see as that is how I use church web pages to find a parish near me when travelling. 

Just for the record most of our followers and site traffic come from Angelina county but Mexico is second place. Give us a click sometime or better yet just stop by.