A Social Media Audience

Several days ago I heard a presentation on gaining an audience via social media.  It was given to an Author's Club group.  The presenter is a photographer/writer named Dave M.  He is a native of Ireland and still  lives there about half of the time.  Reno County is his home the rest of the time.  I first met him within the past year, and had an interesting conversation with him then about how he came to love living here. 

I really enjoyed Dave's presentation.  He suggested substantive and good ways to avoid stepping into minefields on social media, along with pointing out how to keep people positively engaged with whatever you're presenting.  I took notes and will draw on those notes in this post.  At some point during the presentation, however, I realized that my purpose for involvement in social media diverges from the one Dave focused on:  gaining an audience.  Maybe that's because I grew up Amish, and just can't feel good about intentional self-promotion.  Also, I do not have separate professional and personal accounts on social media.  Everything I post goes into my personal account.  Dave was not really addressing personal accounts.

Furthermore, Dave advised steering clear entirely of religion and politics.  I absolutely understand why this is necessary if one hopes to appeal to the widest possible audience.  But what if your goal is different?  What if, for example, you see social media as one aspect of living a life of obedience to God by speaking truth, sharing encouragement and joy and being "real" in that pursuit?

Dave in no way cautioned against involvement in social media per se.  To do so would have distracted from his main topic.

In contrast, most of what I've heard about involvement with social media has focused on the need for caution.  I often hear statements like "No one ever changes their mind based on something they read on Facebook."  I believe this to be demonstrably false.  One reason is that I know of cases where "mind change" has happened in the course of social media interactions.  Such cases may be comparatively rare, but they exist.

Another reason I object to such sweeping statements of condemnation is that it implies that social  media consists of nothing more than uninformed opinions, poorly presented and heavily overlaid with pride and prejudice.  That's slightly exaggerated, but the main point remains:  People who think this way seem to me to be unaware of social media's potential for spreading good content, or maybe they never see good content or don't recognize it when they see it.  Maybe their own combination of gifts, limitations and preferences simply predisposes them to prefer spoken words over written words.

I also hear that face to face conversations are always better than written communication, especially on sensitive topics.  Scripture is often cited along these lines (Read this for a perspective on Matthew 18 that may differ from the one you've heard most often).   It's true that we have no record of Jesus communicating by writing, except when he wrote on the ground with a stick while the adulterous woman was facing her accusers. Scripture, though, is a written document.  Paul, the apostle, communicated extensively in writing, even on extremely sensitive topics.  Because of the written record of those communications, more than 2000 years later, we still have access to the wisdom conveyed in those words.

While Paul was imprisoned, his options for communication were very limited.  While I've never read anything on Facebook that was sent by someone who was incarcerated, I believe that many who communicate on Facebook do so in an effort to overcome communication barriers of other kinds.  To some such people social media feels like one of the only good options available to them.

I understand that Facebook was originally conceived as a tool for students on large college campuses to connect with each other.  It was envisioned as a way to foster relationships.  Some people still use it that way, but obviously it's gone far beyond this in both good and bad directions.  The use of social  media as a platform can be either good or bad, depending largely on the content of what is shared.  The  manner in which it is shared is consequential as well for ethical and moral reasons.  I lament the fact that on social  media lies are as easy to share as truth, and that bad behavior is often in evidence.  If you're using your platform constructively and kindly, however, don't let anyone make you feel that what you  have to say is tainted by the tool with which you're communicating.

To be continued, since this is long enough and I haven't really gotten to any of Dave's good content.