Tag Archives: Twitter

Social media & missions

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I’ve been asked to give a class on the use of social media in missions. I’ve got lots of ideas, more than I would have time to share in one class period. However, I’m slowly learning that my cyber-friends are much wiser than I. So I’m appealing to you. Help me out with some thoughts on this topic. To make it easier, let’s keep it broad. Rather than focusing merely on missions, let’s think about non-profits in general and religious groups in particular.

I’d like to hear your thoughts on things like…

  • What are some non-profits that do an especially good job with social media?
  • Who are some individuals who excel in the use of social media?
  • How have you seen Facebook used effectively by religious groups or individuals?
  • How have you seen Twitter used effectively by religious groups or individuals?
  • How have you seen blogs used effectively by religious groups or individuals?
  • What about some of the other social media, like Google+, LinkedIn, etc.? How do you see them being used well?
  • What are some “best practices” that would span all social media?

Is that enough to get some thoughts rolling? Can you see how I’m not worried about having enough to talk about?

Thanks for any input you can give.

Celebrities are people too, Part Two

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fabricio_oberto_encourages_his_teammates_v_ind_102505_560A few months ago, I started using the service Twitter (I’ll write more about that some other time). I discovered that Fabricio Oberto, an NBA player that is from the province of Córdoba in Argentina, publishes on Twitter. I started reading what he writes. (following him, as they say on Twitter)

Not soon after, Fabricio wrote something that wasn’t right. I sent him a message with the right info, and he wrote back, thanking me. “Wow!” I thought, “This NBA player actually wrote to me.”

The Argentine soccer team had a game on Saturday against Colombia. On Saturday morning, Fabricio posted a comment about the game. I sent him a message saying “Go Argentina!” He wrote back saying, “It should be a good game.” Again, I was thrilled. But I was also trying to find the game on TV and couldn’t find it anywhere. So I decided to ask Fabricio. “Channel 457,” he wrote back, “Pay per view.” I was pleased that he was corresponding, but also knew that I couldn’t pay $30 to watch a game. I tried to find the right way to say that to a guy that earns millions playing basketball. He immediately wrote back to tell me the website where I could see the game. Really nice of him. “Wow!” I thought, “This NBA player took the time to help me.”

Yesterday I saw that Fabricio had a heart treatment last week. I knew he’d had heart problems ever since a collision in a game a couple of years ago. I remembered what I wrote a few weeks ago, that celebrities are people too, so I wrote him and said that we would pray for him. He wrote back to say thank you.

If you get a chance, offer a prayer for Fabricio. He seems like a nice guy from a small town in the Córdoba hills. (His dad sells tractor equipment, if I remember right) Interestingly enough, one of his relatives that lives in the city of Córdoba was contacted through Let’s Start Talking and continues to study with Jacquie Mitchell at the church in Córdoba. Go ahead and pray for the whole family. Famous people need Jesus too.

Raising my profile

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Businessman silhouetteRaising my profile. An old friend expressed his surprise at finding me on Twitter, and I responded that I was trying to raise my profile. I accidentally responded in such a way that everyone could see it. That was good, because it made me think.

To be honest, a number of things that I do on the Internet are intended to do just that: raise my profile. I don’t think I’m unusual in that; I’ve noticed that people that write a blog put their blog address when they leave a comment on my blog. We want people to see us, to be aware of us.

Having recently finished writing a book with Steve Ridgell, who also works with me at Herald of Truth, I’ve been aware of what they call “your platform.” Writers need a platform, that is, a group of people that would be interested in reading what you’ve written. Publishers want writers that have platforms. Writers do certain things to create an awareness of them and their writings so that their books can be sold.

This puts me between two things that pull me in opposite directions. One is the need to create an awareness of our ministry, which personally means trying to find a way to promote myself. I’m not good at self-promotion. The other thing, however, is the “monster within” that I wrote about the other day. I want to be noticed and admired, lauded and applauded.

For now, I’ll press on, in some ways: trying to attract more readers for this blog, for example. But I won’t actively seek more friends on Facebook nor get into one of those schemes to get 1000 followers on Twitter.

What do you think? Is it too crass to think in terms of “raising your profile,” of making people aware of who you are? Do you find yourself doing that in any way on the Internet? What are appropriate ways and inappropriate ways?

{Photo by Barun Patro, www.sxc.hu}