Building Community: Twitter/Micro Blogging
by Paul Prins at 2:12 pm
Author, Pastor, and Teacher Eric Bryant
Looking for a way to answer the question ‘What are you doing?’ Enter twitter. It is a blog, but it only allows entries of up to 140 characters.
Its a network that allows you to post short messages and when you are signed in you can see all the messages of those people following you. It’s a very easy and covenant way to keep up to date with friends/organizations/businesses you are interested in.
While it doesn’t make a lot of sense to use for a church as a whole, for individuals or small groups it can be great.
It’s hard to explain exactly how people use it, but it is used by many people in ministry. One example is a man I recently was able to hear speak, Eric Bryant, who gave a fairly impromptu talk to students at Bethel Seminary about the approach Mosaic Church has taken to church.
Checking out his personal website has revealed not only a blog that he up keeps, but also his twitter feed.
The most helpful way to differentiate between Twitter and other Micro Blogs (Facebook status is often used as a micro blog of sorts) is that due to their limited post length and an ability to update from anywhere via your mobile phone (either with text message or using free mobile phone applications). If i just had a great conversation with a friend, or just want to write about what I’m currently up to it is as simple is texting a dozen words and its updated.
Building Community?
This builds community much like Facebook does as members of your church ‘follow’ (similar to ‘friend’ing on Facebook) you on twitter they see your updates when you post them. The more frequently you post, the more often they are reminded of you and your ministry.
These posts, called Tweets, are useful to inform, and invite others to events. Posting that you are going to an event (or at an event), writing about your day, or tweeting about how awesome the sermon Sunday is going to be all helps to encourage community. This is not to ignore the ability to get pray nearly instantly when the need arises.
The accounts are free to use, so setup your account over at www.Twitter.com. For tips on how to get the most out of your twitter account check out the twitip Blog. I would love to follow and be followed by you.
November 14th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
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