As this social experiment evolves, I continue to parse through what is worthwhile and what isn't.  And although I am wondering even more seriously about the ROI of blogging, I am getting into a workable routine of surveying my social media environment and trying to manage some sort of momentum.  And maybe that's what this part of the voyage looks like--surveying and maintaining.  We all know that if there is nothing new--whether it be in our Facebook or Twitter work, we will die.  Well, ok, that might be overstating the metaphor, but if we are too inactive, people will stop paying attention.  But if we are too active, they might forget what we look like at our real job--the one we get paid for. So maybe my lesson for today is that when things get busy and we don't have anything terribly pressing to say, we need to shift into survey and maintain mode--keeping enough wind in the sails to keep us moving so when the next great idea comes, our sails will be ready to go. As I sit in the social media doldrums, I will continue to move.

Sail on, baby, sail on.

I have come across 2 words that beautifully describe the "ministry" part of social media: Reverent Acknowledgement.  Blogger Keith Anderson refers to this concept, plucked from seminary classrooms, to describe the act of "bearing witness, of beholding" the lives of people we want to bless. "The logic is that when people know they are heard, seen, and understood, they can be more open to God."

So how does reverent acknowledgement happen in the face to face world? It might include asking people on Sunday morning about their week or their sick child or their home improvement project.  It might include calling during the week to see how the job interview went or dropping a card in the mail encouraging a weary young mother.  Each of these acts say that you are paying attention to the life of your friend and that you care.

While it isn't exactly the same, there is no reason we can't use social media to acknowledge the joys and struggles of our friends in a way that is even more timely (we dont have to wait until Sunday morning) and more focused (we don't have to guess as to what they are worried about--it is right on their Facebook page).

The real trick is to take a technology tool that highlights one-way communication and self-messaging and turn it into a tool of acknowledgement and blessing.  According to Anderson, this happens through quick Facebook "likes", Twitter shout-outs, blog comments, or even a well-timed e-mail or wall post.  It doesn't have to take a ton of time, but from personal experience, I know I get absolutely shiny inside when I get a bunch of "likes" on my Facebook post or someone retweets what I said. In one quick push of a button, my friends tell me they are paying attention, they care about me, and they think that what I had to say was nice.  The occasional friend's comment on a blog or a Facebook post are an even clearer way of them pitching in and entering my world.

If we want to be using social media in a way that impacts people's lives, I sincerely think we need to move beyond one-way, self-centered (or church-centered) broadcast messaging and figure out how to use the "social" part of social media to be present with the people we care about.  And as lovely as reverent acknowledgement is for our family members and close friends, how much more meaningful can these little acts of kindness be for those who respect us or look up to us?

So, here is the challenge for today: commit to taking 5-10 minutes a day and read through the Facebook and Twitter posts of friends, family, people who look up to you, and people you feel particularly called to reach out to. Be free with your "like"s, quick comments, and strategic affirmations.  Remember, it doesn't have to be big.  After all, a quick hug can say much more than a personalized sermon.  When it comes down to it, social media doesn't have to be a mass of random messaging and narcissistic primping.  It can be a way to shine a little sunshine, a little affirmation and a little fun into people's lives.

Before I get too far, I have to admit my naivete in this field.  But, as confusing as all of these tools and numbers are, I have learned one thing--analytics can help you measure your effectiveness and, even more important, focus your effort into the things that are actually working.

The first step in keeping track is to figure out who is watching.  After all, if you know who is paying attention, you can do a better job of focusing your messages for that particular audience. While there are a number of ways to keep track of who is looking at your sites, there seem to be a few tools designed especially for people like me; people who are just getting started.  The one I have fallen in love with is Google analytics.  One of the reasons I like it is because it is free.  It requires that you paste some HTML code into your blog (a little techie but not too bad), and the payoff is really fun.  Unlike my blog site's statistics reports, Google analytics adds a number of pieces of feedback like where the people who read your site live (it gets down to a city by city analysis) and is loaded with colorful graphs and pie charts.  Another helpful aspect is that it measures which keywords people are using to find your material.  Using keywords to your advantage is key (get it--key) to drawing attention to your site.  There are lots of ways to say things, but if you use a few of the right words, you can increase how many people will find you.

A second tool that has been recommended in a number of blogs is HootSuite. I haven't looked into that format too much, but the tool will track not only your blog, but all of your social media.  It is also a nice way to organize your tweets, Facebook posts, web sites, and lots of other tools.  If you have more than one person working on social media, it is a nice way to collaborate and organize what you are doing.  HootSuite can also schedule your tweets or Facebook posts for the week.  So if you want to do a bunch of blogs or tweets on Saturday when you have time, HooteSuite will allow you to schedule the time and date those things will actually appear.

While knowing your audience is important, knowing what they are saying about you is also a good idea.  One of the easiest ways to do that is to track your Twitter "mentions".  My TweetDeck does this beautifully, so that if any tweet shows up with my name or my church's name, I can see it.  Seeing what strangers say doesn't mean I will reply, but it seems pretty important to know what topics resonate with people or what things really tic them off.

So, do numbers really matter? I say yes.  It makes me feel better that just because my blog post looks lonely, doesn't mean it hasn't done it's job. And, as I refine my blogging, tweeting and posting skills, I am getting a better handle on who I am talking to and what is most important to them.  Social media analytics doesn't have to be confined to nerdy statisticians and computer geeks.  With a little work, we can use numbers to make us better at what we do.

According to David Hansen, blogger and frequent tweeter, Twitter is made up of “a group of stranger-friends” where we “offer one another mutual support and prayer. We mourn together, seek advice together, and rejoice together. I consider this community.” As much as I yearn for that, I simply don’t see it flourishing in my experiences, each made up of 140 characters.  According to Elizabeth Drescher, author of Tweet if you heart Jesus (and also a twitter “friend”), the power of social media is in the social aspect—not the broadcast aspect. It is when we share with others about our days or our thinking that we build the stepping stones of relationship. While that sounds SO compelling, the closest thing to an “interpersonal conversation” I have had is when someone told me I simply didn’t understand how to use Twitter. Those 140 characters cut me like a virtual knife--but at least he talked to me.

David Hansen asks an interesting question: “is being ‘face-to-face’ really the most important common denominator for community?”  After spending countless Sunday mornings talking to people who I know as well as my formless twitter friends, I would have to say "no", relationship-building is clearly the most important part of building community. When you don’t spend time interacting with one another, whether online or face to face, community won’t work. But, my bottom-line problem is that I haven’t figured out how Twitter works as “interaction”. It seems more hopelessly one-way and broadcast-based than Facebook.

So here I am.  Frustrated and skeptical of those who preach the gospel of ministry and love through Twitter. I want to believe. I really do.  I want to be a Twitter cheerleader, an agent of change, a virtual lover of all things new, but after “following” every person I know in real life and trying to “talk” with my new formless Twitter friends who don’t have a clue who I am, I am tired.  So if you happen to read this and DO feel community on Twitter, please talk to me. Tell me what it takes. Tell me what to do before I become a Twitter drop out.

It was the day my friend came into my office, once again sharing with me her joy of Pinterest, that I decided to take my own advice, jump in, experiment and not quit as soon as I became overwhelmed.  Since this particular friend is an advanced social media junkie, I asked her to explain.  We pulled up the program and she showed me how to create my own Pinterest boards.  She showed me her boards and the kinds of things she likes to look for.  She showed me how to put the “pin” button on my Internet navigation bar so I can easily “pin” things I like. Then, like a parent pushing a child on a bike with no training wheels for the first time, she shouted “you can do it, Peggy!” and went back to work.

I fooled around for awhile, then found a topic I liked—recipes.  I hate cooking and ran out of good recipes years ago so I started wandering around pretty pictures of food.  Those pictures brought me to lovely recipe sites. I began pinning recipes I could make the next week.  When shopping day came, I just went on my pinterest board and quickly compiled my menu. I also wandered around humor sites and found some great pictures—since visual humor is always easy to share, I pinned a few things that I can put on Facebook later when I don’t have anything particularly fabulous to say. Pinterest; I get it. Am I a Pinterest junkie. No.  Can I ride through the garden without training wheels? Oh, yeah.

So here is my advice—it is the same advice I’ve given before.  Don’t give up. Take baby steps and keep taking them until you find the loveliness in the tool.  Find someone who uses it well and ask them for some pointers. Once we understand the tool, then we can do a better job of choosing what works best for each task. Pinterested? Yes, thank you, I am.



I know, however, that there is more to it.  I totally understand that community takes time and energy to develop and maintain.  Staying on top of issues in my professional field takes proactive searching and reading. The question is--do I have the time and energy to keep up?  The answer is--I need to prioritize.

Ok. I'll be honest. The real problem was that I went back to work today. I have this fabulous job where I get every 4th January off to conduct research (or something that at least sounds kind of academic). But January is done.  It is now nothing more than good tweet memories and exciting livechat experiences. It was fun, but now I have to figure out how to have a job, blog, tweet, Facebook, pin, stack, poke, AND play temple run--oh, yeah--and cook dinner.  What stays and what goes?  What does it really take to stay on top of friendships AND professional reading using my new social media tools?

I am in the midst of developing a morning and afternoon routine.  I glance through Tweetdeck & Facebook each morning, tweeting or connecting with friends.  Then in the afternoon, I go through Tweetdeck again, stopping to link to interesting blogs or commenting on professional topics. I am hoping this schedule wil at least help me keep up with the network I have worked so hard to develop.

My biggest problem is the blog.  A good blog takes a while to research, then another chunk of time to write. Here are some really good ideas from Bridgett at Perideau Designs that I am going to try out.  The best idea is a "blog log" where you can keep track of things to blog about in the future, as well as a place to keep track of helpful links that can be used in those blogs to make them more interesting and credible.

If you are following along with me on a social media journey to competence, let me be the voice of encouragement.  We can do it.  It might be time to pare down and reprioritize, but I am more convinced than ever that social media can minister to people in a way that those social media critics and spectators just can't understand until they see it happen for themselves.

Clearly, taking a technology break is a good idea.  We can’t have balance unless we understand how imbalanced our lives are.  That usually requires taking a step back and prayerfully observing and considering the little choices we make every day that either draw us closer or push us further from “loving God with our whole hearts”.  Fasts can highlight what those choices are. Fasts can reacquaint and remind us of the goals we say we have for the technology in our lives.

But there is another way of thinking about this.  In the discussion we had at #chsom about Lent and Social Media, the overwhelming consensus seemed to be that giving up social media for Lent was exactly opposite of what we should do.  Instead, we should be using social media to inspire and remind people of everything Lent stands for.  According to one participant “Tweeting is a discipline” and if we use it wisely, we can reach people’s hearts in an intimate and purposeful way.  This perspective seems so opposite what most people think of as Twitter and, to be honest, it feels a little naïve.  That being said, however, first thing Sunday morning, when I hopped on Twitter, there was 5 messages to “all those pastors out there”, each one encouraging and uplifting.; things like “have a great sermon today” or “enjoy this Sunday God made just for you” or “praying for the connections you will make today”. I can’t tell you how inspiring the sweet tweets were and how much I felt like I was part of the body of Christ.

So, the question still remains---what do we do with social media and Sabbath? The answer is…I'm still not sure.  What I do know is that it is a lot more complicated than simply turning the Tweet off for the day.



The solution to organizing all of the digital “stuff” I am accumulating? Delicious.com. It is described as “the world’s leading social bookmarking service”. The greatest benefit to delicious is that it stores all my “oh, that is cool” places all in one spot.  It also organizes them.  For instance, I have collected a number of potential resources for a class I teach in Computer Mediated Communication.  I also get frequent requests after I speak somewhere for a list of good resources.  Not a problem.  The other benefit to a site like delicious is that it is social.  So if I want to share my class resources with my students or writing resources with interested audiences, all I need to do is send them my delicious link and they can peruse through my collection.

The other benefit that I haven’t quite figured out yet has to do with sharing organizational patterns.  For instance, if my tags are “public” and I tag a site on puppies, I might put it in the file I label “communication strategies”. Other people who tag the same thing can see how I organized the site and may get a whole new perspective on puppy love.  They might also see that I am a like-minded communication person and we can build some sort of virtual relationship.  I also think it is like the geeky habit of looking through other people’s bibliographies for good ideas of what to read.  This time, though, I can take a stealthy perusal through someone’s “collections” or “stacks” to see if there is something new to see. And it’s a lot more fun than looking at boring APA citations.  For instance, I looked under “the evolution of the modern bathroom” and found fun pictures, blog excerpts, and videos of bathrooms throughout history.  I also do a search into social media and church and find the top sites that have been tagged by other delicious users.  I also get a good feeling for what keywords I should be using in my blog posts.

Well, the whole thing is kind of fun—in a weird, geeky, organizing way.  As my social media use is increasingly cluttering my thinking and my workspace, it is so very important to find tools that will help simplify and structure my experiences. Delicious.com and TweetDeck and just 2 of the best things I have found.



The moderator began with a request for introductions. She seemed nice, so I said “hello”—well, not just hello, but “hello” in a spunky, yet sophisticated way.  Before I could start breathing again, 3 different people welcomed me! I must have done that first part right!

The discussion began and, even though I had a hard time keeping up with some of the conversation and didn’t quite understand some of the abbreviations (IRL took me a few minutes), I started learning things.  I learned how to talk fast in 140 characters.  I learned how to retweet. I learned how use # and @.  Sure, I learned a little about social media and lent, but mostly I became more fluent and confident in the language of the Twitter man. Experimenting can pay off.

I think the best part of hopping into a real-time Tweet chat is that I feel like I know some people.  I got to see some personalities and I am feeling more like I am part of the #chsom club. The weird thing is, that as I lay in bed that night, I thought in tweets. My dreams were filled with conversations—all in 140 characters or less. I woke up with ideas for at least 2 or 3 good tweets to put out there.  As I got out of bed, I couldn’t wait to check my tweetdeck to see what my new friends were doing. 

If you are reading these blogs, I would challenge you to go for it.  Hop in and see what it’s like.  No matter what, you will be smarter than when you started.