Tuesday night I engaged in my first real time social media event—well the first event I didn’t cower in the corner, hoping I wouldn’t hit the wrong button or have someone yell at me for being stupid. No, this was different. I am determined to experiment and make mistakes during this 30-day challenge so at 9:00EST on Tuesday I joined the discussion of social media in the church with the #chsom group.
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.
Peggy Kendall 