As an avid user of social media in my work, people seem to enjoy sending me negative articles on the rise of social networking and its negative impact on our culture. Yesterday I posted similar thoughts with an encouragement to develop a personal social media policy. Read that post HERE.
The critics of social media claim:
- Social media promotes the person and only builds another’s ego
- Wastes time
- Is not real ministry or work
I am reminded that everything good can be misused. The key in using social media, in my opinion, is finding the right balance. Here are a few suggestions I recommend:
- Have a purpose for social media. It could be fun, business, or both, but know why you are using it.
- Limit to 2 or 3 mediums at most. I use Twitter, Facebook, and my blog.
- Learn enough about the medium to use it effectively.
- Discipline yourself so the practice does not control you.
- Figure out how to simplify. Use tools such as Tweetdeck, synchronizing various mediums, etc.
Social media is a part of modern culture. If the church or business ignores the world of social networking it will ignore a major portion of its target market.
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As we said during my broadcast news days, "all generalizations are bad". Those 3 points are better rendered as "Social media CAN be self-promoting", "CAN be a time-waster" and "CAN be an unacceptable substitute for real ministry or work". These are things to keep in mind and guard against, but not reasons to reject it altogether. But properly used, it can be an important means of communicating revelations and encouraging words from God. How else would you and I have connected? And there are a number of people from all over North America that I have connected with and been able to share with and learn from via social media. Just like a rifle can be used to terrorize people or feed them, social media depends on the person pulling the trigger.
Amen. Good word.