Why Social Media Matters

If you are still wondering about the importance and value of social media, here's a rundown of my day and how my networks allowed some really cool opportunities.

I started the day having breakfast with a Facebook, pastor friend. We talked about different ways of connecting with people in our congregations. By the time breakfast was over, I had convinced him that he really needed to give Twitter a try. I hope to be able to connect with him there soon.

Next, I spent some time on Facebook connecting with some old friends from high school and college. One of them contacted me within an hour of my connecting with him to share some pretty heavy stuff. I was able to offer some encouragement and prayer and share some of the struggles from my own life. I really hope I am able to continue to redevelop this friendship with a really cool guy who has faced some tough times.

Then, I sent out a couple of tweets based on Sunday's message that were picked up by a couple of other guys in the Twittersphere and passed along to their network. Pastors, if you aren't using social networking for getting one more touch with people during the week and to reinforce what you taught on Sunday, you are missing out. It's neat to see the message you poured your heart and soul into the week before having more of an impact than just a few minutes on Sunday morning.

I also added a new app for Facebook called Seesmic that sends feed from your friends' Facebook status updates to your desktop. Very cool and makes staying connected with people faster and easier.

After lunch, I had to go to Jo-Ann's Fabrics to pick up some Spandex to use as a screen for our projector in worship. I tweeted about this, which sparked an ongoing conversation between friends and church members (one of them hundreds of miles away) on both Twitter and Facebook, very cool.

Then, a DJ from a local classic rock station contacted me via Twitter to ask if he could get an invitation to come visit our church sometime. That is so cool that it almost made me burst, that a guy out of the blue just contacts me via Twitter because he has been following me and heard about our church and wants to know if he can come. If you don't see the value of social networking, THERE IT IS! Don't know if this guy knows Christ, but he may get to know him BECAUSE OF TWITTER, PEOPLE! Oh, yeah, and I told the guy we'd love for him to come check us out.

Finally, on Facebook I got reconnected with one of my cousins who I haven't seen in a couple of years.

Totally awesome day on social networking.