Tag Archives: Internet

What social media do you use?

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I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was preparing a class on social media to be given at the Global Missions Conference. Well, the conference is next week, so it’s time for me to be finishing up my preparation.

I wanted to get one last bit of input from my readers. What social networks do you use? What websites do you use to interact with other people? I’ll throw out some suggestions. Please feel free to point me to things I might not have considered.

I hope you’ll vote in the poll, and I especially hope that you’ll use the comments section to describe your usage.

 .[polldaddy poll=5574767]

Best practices in social media

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Thanks to all who’ve responded the last few days. It’s been very helpful. I’ll share some of my views on yesterday’s question about tech savvy vs. people savvy.

I think that you need a moderate amount of technical competence to be successful in social media. I would say an average amount, but you have to set averages by generation. What’s average tech knowledge for a 19 year old is above average for a 65 year old. To be honest, the most important thing you need to know about technical things is how to find the information you need. There are wonderful step-by-step guides on the Web for just about everything.

What’s more important, and more difficult to come by, is people competence. Communication skills. Diplomacy. Understanding of what people want.

  • Above all, you’ve got to have something to offer. If you’re a superstar athlete or famous actor, the mere chance to interact with you may be enough. Doesn’t work for most of us. For many, it’s knowledge. Information. Either you have learning to offer from your own experience, or you are very good at identifying and evaluating sources of information. Content is king.
  • We have to remember that social media is a two-way street. It’s hard for many of us to get out of the mindset of traditional media, which was largely one directional. Social media is about giving the recipient a voice. They can comment. They can submit videos. They can do something that helps them feel a part of what is going on.
  • Beyond merely being a two-way street, social media comes to focus on the recipient. That seems obvious, but so many people want to spend their time talking about themselves and their projects. That’s all right, but it needs to be made relevant to the audience. On Twitter, people “follow” one another, choosing to receive the information the other is producing. It’s common to “follow back,” to follow someone who starts following you. Many businesses and individuals seek to use this to their advantage. They follow others, then when the other follows back, they send them an advertisement. “Hi, thanks for following. Visit my website at www.timothyarcher.com.” Major mistake in my view. The best are those who say, “Thanks for following. I’m really interested in hearing your views.” The guy who commented on the name of my blog was a superstar in this regard.

OK, those are a few “best practices.” Want to add to the list?

Social media savvy

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I was asking yesterday about social media. For some people, all of the changes in social media are exciting, creating new opportunities for sharing and learning.

For others, it’s a frustrating experience. The cutting edge website that they spent a fortune on five years ago now looks out of date. They’ve created a Facebook page that no one visits and have a Twitter feed that no one wants to read. What makes it even more frustrating is that it’s hard to find two “experts” who give the same advice.

Doesn’t help that the social media landscape is ever changing. I went to a Christian Internet conference a few years ago. Lots of different ideas and projects were discussed, but there was one service that dominated the conversation: MySpace. It was feared and revered.Debates raged about whether the goal should be to create a Christian alternative to MySpace or use MySpace itself for outreach. The answer is obvious now: MySpace didn’t deserve all the attention it was getting.

Or take the example of the “social media expert” who sat in my office a couple of months ago, trying to explain to me the secrets to optimizing your Google results. I tried to smile and look attentive as he explained that all that mattered now for Google was ____. If he hadn’t been lecturing me as the expert he believed himself to be, I would have pointed out that Google is constantly modifying their algorithms and any attempt to identify one element as THE element is futile. Like the rest of the social media landscape, Google is a constantly moving target.

It’s my theory that, while there are some basic principles to using social media, much of what makes for good social media usage is the same as what makes for good communication: awareness of audience, interest in audience, authenticity, etc. The technical details will shift over time; the core of what makes for good interaction will remain the same.

What do you think? Is using social media effectively more dependent on tech savvy or people savvy? Or do you need a combination of both?

Am I reading too much?

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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the time I spend reading things on the Internet. It’s a bit ironic to be writing this in a blog, but I’m wrestling with the “dispersion” of my thoughts as I read so many short articles. Obtaining information via blogs and Internet articles is not the same as getting it from books (though it does bear a certain resemblance to newspaper reading).

Years ago, my watch was stolen during a home invasion. I used that as a time to try and lessen my time addiction; I waited more than a year before I bought another watch. Week before last, my laptop was stolen (OK, Herald of Truth’s laptop). One thing I lost were all of my RSS subscriptions, all the feeds to articles, blogs, etc. that I read regularly. I had over 200 subscriptions.

I’m going to wait a while before replacing them. I’ll try and still read some blogs, and I invite you to feel free to point out to me good things that I might be missing. But for a time, I’m going to slow down my Internet reading (fully recognizing the irony of doing so while continuing to write).

This may be through the end of the year. It may be through the end of tomorrow. We’ll see.

But I want to get back to the deeper question: does reading widely on the Internet keep us from focusing on deeper thoughts? Or does it help us to be well rounded? I’d very much appreciate your input.

Online church

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There’s been some discussion around about the “online church.” Some think it’s great that people can now “go to church” in their own homes; others decry the lack of fellowship. I’ve joined the discussion in an article that’s out on Heartlight today.

But I’d like to hear about you. I don’t think any of my regular readers substitute Internet websites for actual church fellowship. But do you listen to sermon online? Do you watch videos of sermons? How often? Are there certain preachers that you listen to regularly?

Do you listen to Internet sermons?
I hear more sermons on the Internet than in person

I regularly listen to several Internet sermons per week

I typically hear about one Internet sermon per week

I listen to sermons on the Internet every once in a while

I never listen to Internet sermons

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