The Pros of Social Networking as a Ministry Tool (Part 2)

By Chuck (Sharing Compassion)

As I mentioned in my last article I would like to use this opportunity to explore the positive aspects of using various social mediums as a ministry tool. As I discussed before there are quite a few of us Compassion advocates that use Facebook and Twitter in our ministry. Child packets are posted on sites that are available for sponsorship. Prayer requests are "twittered, posted and shared." It is really amazing how fast things can go viral on the web with social networking. Compassion itself has a blog, a twitter account. and a Facebook account. Things get posted and shared constantly. The question exists though, just how successful is using these mediums as a ministry tool?  Since this is a fairly new area I think it will be a few years until we can really determine the answer. I know that on a local level it has proven to be beneficial. My wife took a child packet and ran it for several days on her Facebook feed. One of our friends from out west saw the packet and told a friend in San Diego. Within a week that child was sponsored by someone we never would have connected with except through social networking. Many advocates have done the same with great success.

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Facebook Ministry (Part 1) - The Beginnings

By Chuck (Sharing Compassion)

Social networking is a fairly new phenomena in the scheme of things. First there was instant messaging, then MySpace, then Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Two years ago I could not have begun to explain these things to anyone but now I am an avid Facebook person and Twitterer. (Ok not to the extent that some of you are but still active). I even have my own blogs.

Interestingly enough my love of these sites was not from being a computer person but rather from my love of Compassion and wanting to share my ministry. In 2005 I began exploring the use of forums as part of my playing online Disney games but that is another story. I think in late 2008 I thought it would be cool to have a Facebook account. I am not really sure when I activated my account or what I really originally did with it. I certainly did not spend a lot of time with it.

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Don't Forget

By Alan

"Don't Forget..." - this phrase is often used, especially from parents to their kids so that they remember to do something, pick up something, don't do something, or remember some life lesson.  The proper response is:

- Okay, Mom, I will.

- Oh, Mom!

- How could I forget that?

We get annoyed that we can't find our phone, that we forgot to take out the garbage, or to remember the homework due tomorrow.

But, what if you _couldn't_ forget?

What if everything was stuck forever in your head?  Good events are great to recall, but what if you remembered every minute after your grandmother died, or you couldn't forget the sadness after missing old friends, or taste of bad food.

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The Human Brain and Social Networking: Programming Musically

By Alan

Sometimes we have interesting things going on in our heads that we don’t understand, but have ways to tap into that unknown quality.

Take for instance this demonstration by Bobby McFerrin at the World Science Festival. He demonstrates that the brains in all humans (regardless of the cultural history or musical training), all have some built-in choral ability to recognize the Pentatonic Scale.

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Giving Out TMI

By MAD21

I stumbled across a great article on the website BeingGirl written by Anastasia Goodstein, called "Identity Theft: Another Reason You Shouldn't Share TMI Online." For those reading this, TMI is TOO MUCH INFORMATION. But then, if you didn't know that, maybe you shouldn't be reading this because you don't text, Facebook, MySpace, etc. anyway  :o)

I know, I know. You've heard it all before. You hear it from your parents, your friend's parents, your teachers, and probably every other adult in your life."Don't give out too much information about yourself in the digital world, be it texting, or any of the social online networks..." But you know? You really need to listen. Because I don't think most of you do.

There are tons of people and places telling you all kinds of information about why you should not post too much information about you or your friends. Everyone is telling all the reasons not to share, even if you think only your friends are seeing it (and putting all your settings to 'private' doesn't always work). But having many teens in our family, I can say with certainty, I still don't think most of you are listening. Just go to YouTube. Go and see how many videos of teens dancing around and talking you can find in five minutes. It would shock you. If you were a predator, how long would it take you to find out enough information about one of them to figure out how to find them in person.

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