This week starts a new series. In the Spring, we did “A More Effective Website,” and now, for the fall, we are offering “More Effective Social Media.” These are two of the most requested and needed topics we’ve had for Outward. Your interaction and feedback are always welcome! So, let’s jump right in…
One of the most helpful things to do for using social media effectively as a Christian is to have the right analogy or illustration in your mind and heart of who you are actually talking to and who is actually listening.
Let’s picture a couple of specific illustrations:
1. Your best friend’s surprise birthday party with everyone from their different seasons of life
2. Your family reunion, where everyone is showing up
3. Your good friend’s huge wedding reception
Why such specific and strange analogies for social media?
Because social media is walking into a huge room of people where:
– you know a small group of people well and can talk about or say almost anything
– there’s a much larger group that you’ve met and know a little, but not well, and you can’t just ‘be yourself’
– there’s another tier of people that know people you know, but you’ve never met them
Think about how you handle these 3 situations.
You have surface-level chats with the people you’ve met but don’t know well…How are you? What are you up to? How are the kids?
You meet some of the people you don’t know and are on your ‘best behavior.’ Just getting to know them.
Then, you’d be looking for relief and find your close friends just to be yourself and talk—inside jokes, inside language, long history and meaning—they know your sense of humor, beliefs, and quirks.
Why belabor this?
The main reason people aren’t as effective as they can be on social media, and even may get themselves into trouble (though they probably don’t know it), is that they have a different analogy or illustration of social media in their mind and heart.
Often Christians treat social media like it’s:
– A group of friends in the backyard at a fire
– A mom’s group from church
– A presbytery meeting conversation at lunch or the end of the day
– A gathering of seasoned Christians on a deck with certain ‘amenities’ (if you know you know)
– A church small group/home group
And so the Christian says things that make sense in one setting, but they don’t realize who is actually ‘standing there’ listening to what they say and watching the conversation on social media.
Imagine walking into the 3 scenarios above—birthday party, reunion, reception–and what it would be like if every person could hear everything you say that whole night in all settings.
That’s social media. We will flesh this out more and discuss other important aspects of being effective as Christians on social media.
But for now, think more about this and scroll through your posts. Does your social media look like you are talking to a big group of people with a huge disparity in how well they know you and you know them, or does it look more like a gathering of close friends?