This is the one. The one post where I admit the darkest thing any blogger could admit. Here it comes. My biggest blogging sin. I am terrible at social media. There I said it. I’m terrible at twitter and connecting through 140 characters. I like face to face interaction over coffee at a coffee shop. I like to hear stories and really know people. I find 140 characters very limiting.
It’s really hard to tell a story in 140 characters. Take the story of God’s love for example:
God loves you. Jesus came. Lived a great life. Loved, taught, shared and died – for you. Now he wants us to share this news with others.
It misses out on the key points right? What about all those years God tried to get into relationship with us? What about all the wandering and moving and leaving and running that happened before God finally said enough is enough I’m coming down there? Where’s the salvation and hope and glory that goes with it? There’s a lot missing when you can only speak in 140 characters.
It goes beyond just getting the point into 140 characters or less. I also have a hard time remembering to do it. One of the things I work very hard at doing is not becoming obsessed with my phone. It’s hard. Really, really hard. Some days all I want to do is sit and receive the instant gratification that knowing my posts were read/commented on or the entertainment that twitter can provide. Somedays I want to but I know how annoying it is to sit at a table with someone at lunch and be ignored because they’re texting someone more important than me. I make the choice daily not to do this as it’s not a nice feeling to be ignored. So I don’t have my phone with me all the time. I annoy people because I don’t instantly respond and that doesn’t serve me well in social media. You need to be connected to be a social media maven. I am not always connected.
My life is not lived entirely online and for that my blog might suffer. There are people I see and interact with who matter to me. I want to be present in their lives and also present in my own. Life moves too quickly and I’m really trying to be present for it. In the last month I’ve gone offline for a large chunk of the day. I’ve enjoyed more of what life has to offer. I’m present in the moment. I read and devour books that I previously didn’t think I had time for. I’ve been getting more done and I really like what that means for my life. I have more time and I appreciate that time.
I’m terrible at social media but I’m okay with it. I may not carry my phone with me wherever I go or tweet my news as it happens but I think that’s okay. My life is lived here, in the present. My time is spent with those I care about and I am able to use Twitter and Facebook for what they were meant to be used. As a means to connect but not the entire connection. I love the people I’ve met through the blog and twitter but somedays I wish we could just sit down and have coffee together. I’m terrible at social media but I am pretty good at the face to face stuff. I guess in the end that’s all that matters, right?
So now I turn the conversation over to you. Are you good at social media? Does it come naturally to you? And if you are how do you manage your time so that it doesn’t eat up your life? I’d love to know.
