Category: Social Media (page 9 of 10)

Do you ChaCha?

Have you ever had an unsolvable argument with somebody because neither of you knew the answer to a certain, random, completely unimportant question? Like “What was the final score from the 2007 NFL Super Bowl football game?” or “How many stop signs are there in the state of TN?” or “How many hours would it take watch all 3 extended versions of Lord of the Rings?” You can wait until one of you has time to look it up, or…enter ChaCha. It’s a mobile answer service. Just text any question you have to the phone number 242242 (which spells ChaCha), they’ll route your question to a knowledgeable person, who will text you back with the answer. ChaCha gets hundreds of thousands of questions a day.

I’ve been using it for a while now, and really love it. Laura doesn’t like it…she says it’s not reliable (of course, she usually says that when it proves her wrong!…hah…j/k…kind of). It’s about as reliable as any web engine search or Wikipedia. It’s answered lots of questions I have. Most of my questions are completely random. Here’s an assortment:

Ques: Where did the chicago cubs get their name? I haven’t heard of any bear sightings in the Chicagoland area.

Ans: The name ‘Cubs’ was imposed upon the team in 1902 by a newspaper writer who thought the team looked very young.

Ques: How many Sham-Wows would it take to soak up the water in a typical baptismal?

Ans: Probably at least 5,000 sham wows, but if you only had one sham wow, you could just keep wringing it out!

Ques: What is the line on the University of TN/University of FL game this weekend?

Ans: There isn’t a line. They are not playing this weekend.

My response: Yes they are. 615 est.

Ans: yeah, you’re rt. Fl by 14.

So, what question are you going to ask ChaCha? Post them here as a comment!

A Creepy Email

June 24, 2009 / Ben Reed / 0 Comments

I received an email today from a store that I shopped at just a couple of weeks ago. For the record, I never logged in and told them what I purchased. This email was sent unsolicited 2 weeks after the purchase. Here’s the email:

I’ve got two thoughts from this:

1. Nothing is private. Not that we can hide anything from God anyway (see Psalm 139:7-13 for further proof of that), but anytime you use your credit card, that information can be tracked. Any time you post a picture on Facebook, it’s there permanently. Any blog post I write is public information, and is representative of me. I can continue to feel weird about this, or I can wisely use social media and blogging to my advantage. I choose the latter.

So, be careful what you place online. It is “tracked” by those you lead and by those you are doing life with. It is a representative of you, whether you like it or not, and will continue to represent you in the future. It’s public and permanent. Make sure that, when you post something online, you ask yourself the question, “Will I be proud of this in 5 years?”

2. Polling those you lead is important. At some level, I feel valued by this organization (represented in the email above). I feel like I have a voice with them. They give me the freedom, in my response, to say that I hated what I bought…or that I loved it. I strangely feel empowered, and that my voice counts for something. If I say that I hated it, they really may rethink putting that item on the shelf again (or I could be fooling myself, but for argument’s sake, please let me feel important right now).

If you’re a leader, make yourself vulnerable. Ask, “Is this working?” and be ready and willing to change things if they’re not functioning like they should (i.e., accomplishing the “end” goal). Asking for opinions shows that you care what others think, but if you open the door, be ready to walk through it. Making changes based on feedback shows that you value others’ thoughts and the effectiveness of the organization as a whole. Asking for feedback and making no changes is a slap to the face of those who shared their thoughts.

As a Christian, and a leader, both of these points resonate with me. I need to be careful with the way that I live my life, and ready and willing to change our system (see my post about that here) when it’s not making disciples of Christ.

How do they resonate with you?

John Piper on Twitter

June 5, 2009 / Ben Reed / 1 Comment

I believe that Twitter is a good thing. I’ve been using it for over a year now, and have found many great uses for it. As some of you may know, John Piper is one of my favorite pastors and authors. He’s written a great post on why he is beginning to Twitter. Read it below. Does this convince you to use Twitter, if you don’t already?

Why and How I Am Tweeting

// //

By John Piper June 3, 2009

I see two kinds of response to social Internet media like blogging, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and others.

One says: These media tend to shorten attention spans, weaken discursive reasoning, lure people away from Scripture and prayer, disembody relationships, feed the fires of narcissism, cater to the craving for attention, fill the world with drivel, shrink the soul’s capacity for greatness, and make us second-handers who comment on life when we ought to be living it. So boycott them and write books (not blogs) about the problem.

The other response says: Yes, there is truth in all of that, but instead of boycotting, try to fill these media with as much provocative, reasonable, Bible-saturated, prayerful, relational, Christ-exalting, truth-driven, serious, creative pointers to true greatness as you can.

Together with the team at Desiring God, I lean toward response #2. “Lean” is different from “leap.” We are aware that the medium tends to shape the message. This has been true, more or less, with every new medium that has come along—speech, drawing, handwriting, print, books, magazines, newspapers, tracts, 16mm home movies, flannel-graph, Cinerama, movies, Gospel Blimps, TV, radio, cassette tapes, 8-Tracks, blackboards, whiteboards, overhead projection, PowerPoint, skits, drama, banners, CDs, MP3s, sky-writing, video, texting, blogging, tweeting, Mina-Bird-training, etc.

Dangers, dangers everywhere. Yes. But it seems to us that aggressive efforts to saturate a media with the supremacy of God, the truth of Scripture, the glory of Christ, the joy of the gospel, the insanity of sin, and the radical nature of Christian living is a good choice for some Christians. Not all. Everyone should abstain from some of these media. For example, we don’t have a television.

That’s my general disposition toward media.

Now what about Twitter? I find Twitter to be a kind of taunt: “Okay, truth-lover, see what you can do with 140 characters! You say your mission is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things! Well, this is one of those ‘all things.’ Can you magnify Christ with this thimble-full of letters?”

To which I respond:

The sovereign Lord of the earth and sky
Puts camels through a needle’s eye.
And if his wisdom see it mete,
He will put worlds inside a tweet.

So I am not inclined to tweet that at 10AM the cat pulled the curtains down. But it might remind me that the Lion of Judah will roll up the heavens like a garment, and blow out the sun like a candle, because he just turned the light on. That tweet might distract someone from pornography and make them look up.

I’ve been tweeting anonymously for a month mainly to test its spiritual and family effects on me. In spite of all the dangers, it seems like a risk worth taking. “All things were created through Christ and for Christ” (Colossians 1:16). The world does not know it, but that is why Twitter exists and that’s why I Tweet.

By his grace and for his glory,

Pastor John

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Desiring God.

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

Communication 2.0

June 4, 2009 / Ben Reed / 1 Comment

People want the newest and the latest, right? That’s why a new iPod can come out, with very few new features, and have a splash in the market. That’s why new movies, new sandwiches, new TV shows, and new churches can initially do really well. That may not be what keeps people longing for second helpings, but “new” attracts people. Since I’m a blogger, I’m always asking myself, “What’s the the next new thing with blogs?”

I don’t know. I can’t answer that question for you. But somebody will. And they’ll launch with a splash in the market. It may be completely different, or it may be a twist on what you see now, but rest assured that there will be another wave. Let me assure you of one thing that will have to be present for that blog, or website, or ministry to continue to be effective and relevant: genuineness.

Blogs that are effective now give a glimpse into a person’s life. Ron Edmonson is a great example of that. I read his blog, and love it. He shares great information, communicated through his personality. It’s a snapshot of him. Warts and all.

I believe that this is a big reason that Twitter has become viral. Twitter is a way for people to say, “This who I am.”

These days, I believe that people want content that communicates personality, not just information. Cutting-edge information is great, and is needed, but if it’s stale and lifeless people will leave it on the shelf.

How are you communicating, whether that’s through a podcast, a blog, Twitter, Facebook, sermons, or presentations, using your personality? Go ahead and try it. Be vulnerable, honest, real. Your audience will appreciate it.

The end of email?

June 1, 2009 / Ben Reed / 10 Comments

I’m a small groups pastor, and the major way I communicate with small group leaders outside of Sunday morning is via email. I’d love to be able to have coffee with all of them regularly (because they’re some of my favorite people), but it’s just not possible. With the fast-paced nature of our society, and our group leaders in particular, combined with my own personally busy schedule, the ability to communicate important information to multiple people at once is essential.

When I communicate via email, much of the information I send out is never read. In fact, one of the guys on staff (who will remain unnamed) told me that if my email is more than one line long, he won’t read it! I could get upset about this, take it personally, and require group leaders to read the weekly (though it’s more like bi-weekly) emails. But you and I both know that that approach would not lead to increased reading and response to this important information.

I’ve tried vastly shortening my emails. Now, instead of a devotion before the “important” stuff, I start with “Here are the vitals you and your group need to know…” I give them a list of a few major things, and that’s it. But still, the emails are not being read. Why?

Why my emails (and yours) aren’t being read:

1. Their inbox is already full of other important information. My email is 1 of 1000 that they “have” to read.

2. It takes thought to read emails. Reading my emails is not always mindless, because they need to read and process the information for their group.

3. My emails are boring. Since I’ve pared them down to only vital information, they’re pretty boring. Concise? Yes. Thrilling? Not even by a long shot.

4. “I’ll read it later.”

__________________________________________________________________________

So are we seeing the end of email? Maybe. Email is boring and lifeless. It’s often filled with spam, and forwards that we don’t want to read. We get mass emails and “reply all” messages that don’t pertain to us, and our inbox rarely reaches zero. The rest of the world has taken massive leaps forward in terms of communicating, yet email still seems to lag behind in black & white letters and numbers.

I’ve begun utilizing Twitter and Facebook to communicate with my team. Both of these platforms integrate networking with information sharing. Communication moves from the mere passing of information into the realm of knowing somebody better. I put a face with a name in Facebook. I get a snapshot of a person’s life (at least what they want the public world to see) in Twitter. That’s where lots of the group leaders at Grace Community Church “hang out,” so that’s where I’m going to communicate.

I have recently begun using The Flip video camera. I’ve really liked the ease of use, because I can throw it in my bag and have it ready to catch the many things that my wife and I don’t want to miss our son doing. In addition to family videos, I’ve begun using it to shoot some videos for our small groups. I have a lower quality version, but there are even some new, HD models of the Flip available. At the end of the day, I’d sacrifice video quality for ease of use. Based on the response of my small group leaders, they’d much prefer watching me yack on a video than reading it.

Is email dead? I think it’s being quickly outpaced by lots of other mediums.

How do you communicate? What medium to you prefer? Maybe, more importantly, which mediums do “your people” prefer?

Here’s the video I sent to my small group leaders. It’s not the best video you’ve ever seen, but I know that more people watched it than normally read my emails:

12 Reasons to Twitter

May 2, 2009 / Ben Reed / 0 Comments

I recently read this post by Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, the largest Christian publishing company in the world and the seventh largest trade book publishing company in the U.S. I’m often trying to explain to people why I use Twitter, and I love the reasons that Michael gives on his blog. Read below, or click here to read it at his site.

12 Reasons to Start Twittering

I originally committed to using Twitter for 30 days. So far, I have enjoyed the service and intend to keep using it. My wife, Gail, and four of my five daughters are active. I am sure this is one of the reasons I am still using it.

Don’t know what Twittering is? Read my original post on this topic. If you want to know how to get started, read my Beginner’s Guide to Twitter.>

If you are wondering why in the world you should consider it, here are twelve reasons:

It will enable you to experience social networking first-hand. One of my pet peeves is people who pontificate on new technologies but have never actually used them. This is particularly annoying—but common—among CEOs. Real users can always tell the difference. There is no substitute for personal experience.
It will make you a better writer. Twitter only allows you to post 140 characters at a time. As a result, you are forced to be concise. In my opinion, this is one of the hallmarks of good writing. Short messages. Short paragraphs. Short sentences.
It will help you stay connected to people you care about. This is one of the few technologies I’ve found that actually contributes to community-building. In today’s busy world, it’s difficult to keep up with others. Twitter makes it easy—and fun.
It will help you see a new side of your friends. In an odd sort of way, Twitter “humanizes” people and provides a context for better understanding them. If you follow me on Twitter, for example, you’ll quickly see that I get excited, bored, frustrated, and confused—sometimes all in the same day. You’ll also learn what is important to me and what drives me crazy.
It will introduce you to new friends. I have now met several new people via Twitter. These have contributed to my life in small but significant ways. Gail and I have even had dinner with a couple that we met via Twitter.
It is faster than text-messaging. In a sense Twitter is a universal text messaging system. You can broadcast to all of your “followers” (i.e., people who subscribe to your Twitter feed) or send a direct message to just one. As a result, I have almost completely stopped text messaging. The only time I use it is to reply to someone who messages me outside of Twitter.
It will make you think about your life. As you answer the question, “What am I doing?” you start to see your life through the lens of the people following you. Interestingly, it has made me more intentional and thoughtful about my life.
It will help you keep up with what people are talking about. Via Twitter, I have learned about hot books, cool software, breaking news, and even great restaurants. Because the information is coming from real people who care enough to Twitter about it, I have found it more valuable and authentic.
It can create traffic for your blog or Website. I have noticed a 30% uptick in my blog traffic in the last 30 days. It may be related to the fact that I have been in the news more or have been writing on more controversial posts. However, I also think it is related to the fact that I am Twittering every time I post a new blog entry. This seems to have a viral effect.
It requires a very small investment. Twitter itself is a free service. In terms of my time, I probably invest less than 10 minutes a day. Since “tweets” (i.e., posts) are limited to 140 charters or less, you can scan them in a second or two. Writing them usually takes less than 30 seconds.
It can help build your personal “brand.” When people hear your name, what comes to mind? What is your reputation? What is the “brand promise”? Brands are built incrementally, one interaction at a time. Twitter gives you one more way to build your brand, one tweet at a time.
It is fun! Twitter is just plain entertaining. Following your family and friends is kind of like watching reality TV. The difference is that you know the people and actually care about them. In this sense, it is even more fun, because you know more about the people from other contexts. Don’t believe me? Give it a try.

I’m sure there are some downsides to Twitter that I am either ignoring or don’t recognize. But I would rather jump into the fray and shape the future of social networks rather than sit on the sidelines and throw stones.

Question: How about you?

The Value of Networking

February 16, 2009 / Ben Reed / 5 Comments

In my line of work, I see much value in networking. I have, despite heavy criticism at times, continued to use Twitter, in addition to Facebook, blogging, lunches and coffee meetings, to network with others. Do you see any value to networking? I wholeheartedly believe that there is. Here are 8 reasons that I think that it is worthwhile. I’ve tried to leave most of them vague enough so that if you don’t work in the church world, like I do, you can apply them in your sphere of influence, because networking is valuable in almost any leadership field.

8 Reasons Networking is Valuable:

1. I don’t have a corner on the market of ideas. In fact, I’m more of a task-oriented person than a guy full of grand ideas. I know that other people in other organizations have lots of ideas, and I benefit in hearing them. Of course, I have to do the work of processing them in our context.

2. Going outside of my organization gives a different, outside-of-the-box (Literally…our office looks like a box.) look. I work out of one office building, in one city, for one church. If I’m not careful, all of my ideas will revolve around one box. It’s helpful to get ideas from outsiders, those who don’t live and breathe the same air that I do.

3. I learn from others who do what I do, only better. I don’t claim to be the most talented, gifted leader. I want to continue to learn from those who perform better than I do.

4. Networking helps me move our organization to where we need to be. In looking at our structure, I see things that need to be improved, but often I’m not sure what our next step should be. In meeting with other leaders, I see that they’ve arrived at many of the places that I’d like for us to arrive, accomplishing moves and advancements that I would like for us to make. Seeing how they got there help my thought process.

5. I can learn from the mistakes of others. If I can have a heads up on ideas and practices that have failed, I can sidestep those failures. When I can sidestep a failure, it’s as if I take two steps in the right direction.

6. We can accomplish more in working together than in working separately. I can strive with all of my might to help grow the kingdom, but my efforts are multiplied when I collaborate with others. I have certain giftings and passions. I thank God for them, but I know that I am not gifted in every way, and don’t have passions in everything. The Church is the body of believers globally. I am not the Church unto myself.

7. Others help me to evaluate my system. Often, I make it a point to lay out our whole church strategy, making sure to show where my area of ministry fits within the system, to those I meet with, so that they can help me evaluate our system. It helps to think through why we do what we do, and to see how that sounds to someone outside of the organization. Maybe, because I’ve worked so long in our system, there are holes I haven’t noticed.

8. I’m encouraged when I hear of the Lord’s work in other churches and in other cities. It’s helpful when I’m reminded that the Lord’s not only at work in my little bubble of Clarksville, TN.

Do you make it a discipline to network with others?

Is Twitter Biblical?

December 30, 2008 / Ben Reed / 7 Comments

Again, I acknowledge that many of you hate Twitter. In fact, the person I love most in this world probably hates Twitter the most. However, I have found much use for this social networking tool. In addition to connecting with family and friends and having an outlet for my often random thoughts, I have been able to use Twitter to connect with other pastors throughout the country, building relationships with them that further my ministry and theirs. Twitter has also helped me find a number of great blogs, and has connected others to my blog. All-in-all, I have found Twitter quite helpful.

I knew that when I chose to pursue my Master’s degree at Southern Seminary I was making the right decision. A recent article published in their newspaper just confirms my decision. In addition to the reasons I’ve already listed, here’s an ever greater reason: Twitter is Biblical!

Living in a Twittering world
December 1, 2008
By Chuck Lawless

Chuck Lawless, Dean, Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth, Southern Seminary

If you haven’t begun to use “Twitter,” you’re already behind in the social networking world. “Twitter” is an Internet-based program that allows you to “communicate and stay connected through the exchange of short status messages.” That is, you can tell someone where you are and what you’re doing at any moment during the day. Dial the Twitter system into your mobile phone, and you can follow — and be followed by — all kinds of people all day long.

I, too, am guilty of playing the Twitter game, but sometimes I’m surprised by what seemingly insignificant information others share. “Got up early this morning.” “On my way to the store to buy bread.” “Reading a book.” “Working out.” “Raking the leaves.” “To the office — many meetings today.” “Tired this morning.” “Can’t sleep.” On and on the text messages go. To be honest, I’m just waiting for someone to let me know when he is having a bowel movement — and that kind of sharing becomes the norm. Nothing, it seems, is private in
a twittering world.

But, maybe that’s not all bad.

Sure, some privacy is important. The physical joys of marriage are meant to be enjoyed privately. Not every confession of sin should be spoken so publicly that additional problems are created. Some prayer needs are so deeply felt that sharing them with more than a few people is emotionally draining. Ministry often requires us to hold information responsibly, being careful not to make publicly known what is shared privately.

On the other hand, too much privacy sometimes results in tragedy. You know the story — a follower of Jesus falls into sin, hides it and soon finds himself entangled in a sinful mess. This course of sin should not surprise us, as it began with Adam and Eve and has continued since then. Having wrongly chosen to eat from the forbidden fruit, the first human beings hid themselves (Gen 3:8). Indeed, they were so deceived that they thought they could hide “from the presence of the Lord God” — as if that were even possible! The enemy so ensnares us in his web of deceit that we somehow believe that God Himself does not know what we do in private.

Having studied spiritual warfare and the enemy’s strategies for many years, I have watched far too many men and women mess up in their spiritual walk. What I have never seen, though, are believers who just “wake up” on the other side of sin, as if they unexpectedly and unconsciously find themselves there. Instead, what I have seen is the believer who makes one wrong choice that leads to another wrong choice … that leads to even more wrong choices … and eventually to a fall. Almost always, secrecy marks the downward process somewhere:

• pretending that I am faithful in my practice of spiritual disciplines.

• viewing Internet pornography when nobody else is around.

• finding it easier and easier to lie to my spouse about anything.

• hiding text and email messages so that no one reads my communication with that particular person.

• meeting alone to have lunch with that person who is attractive to me.

• finding excuses to avoid planned accountability meetings.

Moral failure almost always involves our covering up secrets, even while convincing ourselves that our actions are acceptable. The result is ultimately spiritual disaster. And — lest we find ourselves arrogantly inattentive to the warning signals — only a fool thinks he is immune to the possibility of falling.

How do we remain faithful when a very real, supernatural enemy seeks to lure us into the darkness? Here is one step in the process: make sure that somebody who loves us ALWAYS knows where we are and what we’re doing. If we are never in a place, never in a situation, and never with a person that demands our hiding, the likelihood of our falling
decreases significantly.

Sound complicated? Perhaps, but I don’t think so. Call your spouse or email her when you get to work. Get in touch with her when you go to lunch and when you return to work. Let her know when you head home. If you are running an errand and get detoured, let her know. Frankly, you might even find that talking more with your spouse is good for your marriage.

Or, if you are not married, find someone of the same gender to carry out this accountability role for you. The cost of falling is simply too heavy for any of us to give ourselves per-mission to live secret lives.

In fact, I probably need to rethink my opinion about Twitter. If using Twitter makes it more difficult to hide, it’s likely a smart move to start sending text messages about everything we do. (http://www.towersonline.net/printer.php?grp=issues&id=239)

Category: Social Media (page 9 of 10)

Why and How I Am Tweeting

Why my emails (and yours) aren’t being read:

12 Reasons to Start Twittering

About Me

Let’s Connect

My Book

Starting Small: The Ultimate Small Group Blueprint