Blog

Clover's Social Media Icons

Clover, the website service that got its start serving churches, has added the Table to its list of available social media icons. That means churches that use Clover and the Table can easily add a Table icon to their website to direct people to greater connection and community. We love integration!

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Connect with Facebook

Signing up for the Table just got easier. Our Facebook integration is finally available. Here's what the Table's new Facebook integration can do for you:

• Sign in using Facebook - When you log in you'll see the ‘Login with Facebook' option. After setting it up you can log in using your Facebook info and not need to remember your Table account info on a regular basis. Yay for fewer usernames and passwords to remember!
• Sign up using Facebook - When you first sign up you can 'Connect with Facebook' and we'll pre-populate your info from Facebook, including your profile pic! This will make signing up faster and easier, plus fewer strangers at the Table.
• Friends - Import your friends! Finding and connecting with your friends on a new social network is always a pain. But now when you connect with Facebook you can auto-friend. We'll find any Facebook friends you have on the Table and automatically connect you as friends. You can also choose to have friends suggested to you and approve them one at a time.
• Import status - You can also import your latest Facebook status to display on your profile (we're no longer limited to just Twitter).

We've always said that the Table doesn't replace Facebook, but that the two social networks both have their own place. With that idea in mind, it's important to integrate them where we can and save you time and energy. This is a big improvement and should make signing up for the Table quick and easy.

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5 Ways the Table is Different

We've talked about why your church might see benefits in a private social network like the Table versus a public social network like Facebook. Now it's time to talk about why you should pick the Table as your private social network.

There are other private social networks out there geared for the church. We're happy to be working alongside them and thankful that we're not in this alone. But we think we have something better to offer.

Here are five things that set the Table apart:

1. Nonprofit - Being a nonprofit means we're about our users and mission first. We have no obligation to make a profit, which gives us the freedom and flexibility to serve our users first. This isn't meant as a slam on our competition—we realize they consider themselves ministries as well. But the difference is in the DNA. We're set up to serve a mission, and a business is set up to serve a bottom line.

2. It's a Gift - We offer the Table up to churches completely free. This isn't a low-level trial offer, this is a limitless, any church, any size, any usage for free. We like to call it "priceless." We wanted to eliminate any barriers that can keep your church from growing, and even $10 a month can be a big barrier for a cash-strapped church.

3. Open Architecture - If the Table isn't doing what you need, you can build something to do what you want. We're working on our open API that will allow you to develop your own app for your church—and, if you're willing, share it with all the other Table churches out there. To be fair, our API isn't available yet. But it's in the plan and we're working on it (sign up here to be notified when it's ready). Other church social networks aren't even planning on it.

4. Integrators - The Table is not about re-creating the wheel. If there's something better out there, let's work with it. That's why we integrate with Fellowship One. That's why we import blogs, podcasts and videos. That's why we connect with Facebook. There's no need to rebuild what already works. We can just be the social frosting that brings it all together for your church.

5. Flexible and Customizable - The way the Table is set up individual churches can customize the experience. If prayer is important for your church, you make the Prayer Wall the default home page. There are a number of other ways the interface can be customized and allow the Table to be flexible for different groups or campuses.

Learn more about our story, our guiding manifesto and who's behind the Table Project.

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Fellowship One Integration Released

Fellowship One and The Table have been in extended strategic conversations over the past two years about how their respective products could be integrated to maximize the ministry of local churches across North America. A few months ago we announced a formal partnership and we are excited today to be announcing the completion of the first phase of the integration of our products -- the evidence of which you can see in the screen shots below. We anticipate being able to announce deeper levels of integration with this great partner in the coming months!

Over 20 churches connected their F1 database to The Table during our testing phase and had very positive feedback. As of today, this integration is available to all Table churches. When you combine the administrative strength of F1 with the community goodness of The Table, you get the best of both worlds: a platform that is helpful to church staff and engaging to your members.  

What does it do?  Let's look under the hood.

• Easy set-up - connects profiles in the F1 database to the Table in minutes
• Hands-off administration - automatically pushes and pulls the most recent data
• Targeted invite system - invites are can be sent to subgroups or the entire church
• Pre-baked profiles - upon receiving an invite from an F1-connected Table, your member's data is pre-populated to make signing up a breeze.
• Custom matching system - we help you match accounts that look similar but are not yet syncing with each other

Phase your roll-out by testing on Staging before rolling out to Production

Our match-rating system helps you connect and sync accounts quickly

When a user makes changes in F1, the system confirms the changes are appropriate on the Table as well

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