Communication With A Cause: #SocialMedia Without the Noise

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Social media has changed the way you and I interact forever.

People keep saying it’s just a fad, that it’ll just go away, but I have to believe it’s here to stay… At least it’s here long enough for us to use it to our advantage.

Different people have different reasons for being involved in social media.

  • For some, it’s an outlet. An outlet for them to state their opinions and get their feelings out.
  • For some, it’s a way to make money. They build followings and then try to make money by promoting their product or someone else’s.
  • For some, its a way to connect with long time friends. People they went to school with or have moved away from.
  • For some, it’s a way for them to keep up with news and celebrity news.

Here are the 4 biggest reasons I find myself fully submersed in social media….

Connecting – Simply put, I love to meet people. It’s just the way I’m wired. Whether it be the greeter at Wal-Mart or someone online, I love meeting new people. I think it’s how God wired us… for relationship.

Networking – I like meeting people that do what I do, fight the battles I fight, and share the struggles I deal with. These people provide inspiration and enocuragement when it’s needed most. These people also give me great ideas that I can make others think are my own. :)

Growing – I learn from social media. Whether it be a quote someone on twitter posted or a blog I read, I grow when I’m connected to social media. It’s one of the foundational principles every leader needs to adopt… do anything to learn from others.

Impacting – Through social media, I’ve been able to impact people that I would have never even had contact with without. Someone that reads this blog in Japan or someone that reads a tweet of mine in California. These are places I’m not physically present, but socially impactful.

I’ll explain more about these later in the week.

In the meantime….

If you use social media, why? What’s your goal?


Comments

13 responses to “Communication With A Cause: #SocialMedia Without the Noise”

  1. At first it was about curiosity. But now it’s about meeting and developing relationships.

  2. I’m a really social person, too, and I love to stay in touch with my friends and I love to meet people. I feel so blessed that I’ve met people like you to help me along the way. I’m, also, hoping to impact people and use social media to touch people with Jesus’ message of hope and life.

  3. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jonathan Pearson, Jonathan Pearson. Jonathan Pearson said: Blogged: Communication With A Cause: #SocialMedia Without the Noise – http://tinyurl.com/4z258bo […]

  4. I’m down with all 4 of your reasons you put, and more recently I’ve seen the power of the “connecting” bit.

    I think it’s pretty awesome, knowing that you share the same beliefs and faith on a global scale, and connect via some sort of social media.

  5. Sean Avatar
    Sean

    Finding resources: there are so many resources available on the web that Google is not longer helpful (it can’t rate things according to quality or values) but being referred by someone I know and trust connects me to great resources tha I can then easily share with others.

    1. Great stuff. Thanks Sean.

  6. I think my goals are pretty much the same was what you listed above. At first it was purely to connect with old friends and students who had gone through my ministry and are out in the working world. But now it’s grown to really be a way to connect and network with people, find resources, and being able to impact people I would never meet, or people who live in another state or country (social media is great for staying in contact with my friends in Czech).

  7. One that I would add that goes along with a couple of yours is giving and receiving encouragement. We often don’t get enough of it in “real life,” but it can be found quite often through social media.

    1. So true. One MAJOR source of encouragement.

  8. I look at it more of like a learning-tool. I would never have gotten into blogging, reading blogs, sharing quotes, sharing articles, etc. as much if I didn’t start using Twitter about a year and a half ago. In the end, I always want to be considered a “learner” and feel that social media fuels that desire of mine.

  9. Social media has been a big help to me. Whether through blogs or twitter posts, I’ve been connected to ideas and perspectives I never would have encountered on my own. I work at a small to medium sized church (A big church for the small town it’s in), which has limited the people I interact with. Keeping tabs on a number of blogs and seeing what other youth pastors around the nation are chatting about has allowed me to do ministry here with ideas used in bigger contexts. I think the impact it can have on rural churches is tremendous!

    Your post is quite true and timely!

    1. Thanks Sam. That’s a fresh persepective and a great point. I work with The Sticks Network (http://thesticks.tv) and that’s what we do…. connect rural church leaders. It can definitely be difficult.

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