That is the question that Twitter asks, “What are you doing”? In 140 characters or less, you get to share your life with friends, family and anyone else in your life who cares to follow you. It is a simple, yet powerful phenomena that has taken the social networking world by storm over the past year.
It seems strange at first, I know, but you really have to try it and practice with it to understand it. This short video clip will also help explain it.
Many are aware of Facebook and what a powerful tool it is to stay connected with your friends and many probably wonder why would I also want or need to “twitter” about what I am doing? Facebook is what I would call a fully featured social networking site where in addition to sharing your ‘status’ you also share what you music and books your like, pictures, videos, write on people’s walls, send private messages, and many other interests. Twitter is focused only on one thing - what are you doing? In doing so, you also get to follow others you care about and see what they are doing. When you are signed into Twitter, you see your Twitter ‘stream’ which is a running history of status updates. Unlike Facebook, which only shows you what your friend’s latest status is (unless you look at each one’s individual profiles), Twitter gives you each update in chronological order with the most recent at the top. But don’t worry about have to keep both Twitter and Facebook updated with your latest status, the guys from Twitter have you covered. You can easily add the Twitter Facebook application to your Facebook profile which will automatically update your Facebook status with your latest ‘tweet’ from Twitter.
Before you scoff and shrug it off, I encourage you to give it a try for 30 days. What have you go to loose? It is free. If you do, you can choose to follow me for practice. What I really like about “micro-blogging” with Twitter, even more than regular blogging, is that it makes you, and the people you follow, real. It is real life. If you are a church leader that is crucial. If you want credibility with people in your church today, you need to be approachable and real.
But don’t take just my word for it. Twitter can be a great tool for the church as well, and there are several other blog posts about it. Check these out:
Twittering. Tweeting. Do you do it? Does your youth pastor do it? You might want to think about it. It’s a simple, effective way
to get a message out to friends and people who need to know.
Twitter, like social networking in general, is about building relationships. I believe Jesus would have twittered. Jesus was all about connecting with people and building relationships. I believe it is our calling to meet people where they are and build relationships for the sake of Jesus.
Oh, and by the way, you might want to check out some of the “Top Tweeters & Church Leaders”. If you want to get a feel for how some well known leaders make themselves real - check them out and follow them for a while and you’ll get some clues on how to do it yourself. If you decide to give it a try after reading this, leave me a comment here. I’d love to know!
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