Big moment for Twitter: Ashton Kutcher beats CNN to become the first Twitter millionaire, having over a million followers. Rumors are that Google might announce a Twitter acquisition tomorrow. More Google eyes into my life – that makes me nervous and it makes me glad I removed my Google ads from this blog.
I read through the letter to the Hebrews again yesterday, and noticed that believers are to “exhort each other daily”. A daily connection is difficult with a typical weekly church rhythm, or with our lives of geographical isolation. But social media can make a positive difference in helping us stay connected, share how we are doing, and offer quick 140 character exhortations to each other.
Darker side? A follower is not necessarily a friend. I would rather have a single good friend than a million followers.
“A man of many companions [followers?????] may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” Proverbs 18:24
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here. here.
That’s why I haven’t joined Twitter – the concept of a person attracting followers seems to me to go against the notion of forming relationships. I just can’t do that with 140 characters at a time. If I ran a nonprofit or was on a missions adventure, I can see the advantage of Twitter to keep folks abreast of what’s happening.
I joined MySpace and later Facebook as social networking tools. I don’t call the people there in my friends list as “friends” but rather business associates though mixed into that are as few family members, friends I knew offline first and some online folks who have become friends. I find that distinction helpful so one doesn’t go over to the darker side here.
Andrew – Thanks for making the distinction between friend, follower and real life friend. I am a pastor at a local church and have found Twitter allows me to connect with persons in the congregation or community to which I would not otehrwise be able. Is it all good? Probably not, but I have found it to be a good experience. I appreciate the reminder of exhortation. A good use of the tool.
i find that twitter allows me to post trivial things about my life that i probably used to blog a decade ago but now belong on a micro-blog rather than my main blog.
long live trivia!
there are a lot of people that are interested in our journey around the world and i guess following my twitter feed is one of the easiest ways to keep up with the Joneses [forgive the cliche]
Millions of narcissists, encouraging each other 🙂
Andrew, let us consider how we may tweet one another on toward love and good deeds.
well put. I love the community aspect that social networking like twitter and facebook because it has so much good and can be used to stay connected during the week, because we don’t just want to be Sunday friends. It’s my primary way to stay connected. I love it, and have been encouraged by my fellow believers in this way.
Well some of us are calling it twurch… and already sharing prayer posts and such. I vote for 140 character confessionals…
what’cha think?
blessings.
cat
I’d rather not have my confessions out there for the whole world to see. I saw a teacher noting that she has some of her students on her facebook account, so she is careful what she puts on facebook but she uses twitter to talk about the things she doesn’t want them to know about. She (and many others) either don’t realize that Twitter is totally public or they just don’t care.
The Q to ask are you tweeting to create community or advance your own agenda? Most Xn author/speaker twitter feeds that I see seem to veer towards the later. I can see where this would be a valuable service for someone involved with running a church or other organization to keep folks informed. And some folks like Andrew tweet in a way that it’s not just about them but all the people they meet along the way.