Are you a Christian Leader and Not Interested in Social Media? You're failing the next generation.

If you're a Christian leader then your stance towards Social media is probably going to fall into one of three places:

1. Living it: you've got plenty of social profiles and presence and see it as an excellent tool in your ministry.
2. Ambivalence: Not really into it, but you've maybe got a social profile on a platform or two.
3. Opposed to it: Don't have any social profiles and it drives you a little wild to see how often others are always on their phones.

Well I'm going to start at the bottom first...don't worry, we'll be working our way to the top over the next couple of weeks...but if you're opposed to social media, it may just be you're to much in love with your the way you want the world to be.



You see, there's a great quote from Douglas Adam's, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that I came across first in John Dyer's, From the Garden to the City:

"I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:
1. Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
2. Anything that's invented between when you're fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things." (The Salmon of Doubt)

For anyone who is under 10, they've never known a world without FaceBook. And for those under 20, it's strange to think that once upon a time the interwebs was not always available 24/7. That you had to actually make a call to get onto the internet...

The Matrix Metaphor Doesn't Work Anymore

That's right, the whole metaphor of dialing into The Matrix (1999) just doesn't represent the way the internet has become a part of our lives. Instead of actively making a decision to dial in and access the world wide web, we just move seamlessly between it an the rest of the world. It's at our fingertips. On our phones. In fact, it even let's us know when there's a new reason to swing by again.

Tweet: We don't live in two realities, a real one and a virtual one. There's only one reality and it includes offline and online.

Our language shapes how we see the world. And if our language is still creating an image of the world where we live in the real world, and go into the "virtual world" for escapism, we've lost resonance with the next generation. Their world is one symbiotic online/offline environment. Just like ours. So if our language hinders our ability to see the same world that the next generation does, it is unlikely that we could hope to provide leadership within it. Christian leaders cannot ignore the reality of Social Media platforms as an integral part of the social fabric of so many lives. And just tsk tsking from the sidelines only makes you sound out of date and out of touch. Like those tsk tsking when the printing press arrived....or when radio arrived....or when TV arrived....

Good Leaders Learn: Social Media has Rules

But it's important to be mindful not to take on Social Media without taking the time to learn the different rules of the different platforms. And by rules I don't mean reading through all the terms and conditions you didn't read when you clicked accept. 

Like any social situation, there are rules of engagement. Social Media platforms have their own rules and it's important that you get a handle on them before you begin to be active. A good place to start is by sparking some conversations with those you see using the platforms. Don't start with a "how do I sign up" followed by a "how do I friend you". You need to remember that a Christian leader may be the last person someone may want on their friends list. It's not that they're personally against you. It's just that as social media does allow a bigger window into the private lives of individuals, some may not want their Christian leader looking in there. Particularly if previously your attitude has been a negative one towards Social Media.

It might take time. Building trust always does. But learning how to engage well within the Social Media environments will play a big part in how effective your leadership will be in that space. And part of that may be that you're not as active in posting and engaging on the social media platforms as you thought. Instead, you may be finding opportunities to open offline dialogue with those who now trust you to be in their online social space.

So what's your attitude to Social Media? Do still view it as a mindless distraction? Or have you tried to get involved with disastrous results?