During my 13 year stint in New York City I walked through Grand Central Station nearly every day. And on many of those trips as I descended the escalator I saw an elderly gentleman dressed in a suit and tie standing at the bottom holding an open Bible in the air. And each time he would be singing “Give Me That King James Bible” to the tune of “Give Me That Old Time Religion.”
Now I’m all about free speech, but sometimes I think we hurt our own cause by the messages we send, the tone of those messages, and the platforms we choose for sending them. If all we are doing is preaching to the choir, or causing divisiveness, then we have a problem.
We don’t like sales pitches, so why do we insist on selling? Using Facebook or Twitter to “broadcast” random statements of faith or partisan politics might send the wrong signal and seem like a sales pitch. More often than not, those tactics breed divisiveness and inhibit reasoned debate.
Sure I have distinct opinions on matters of politics and faith, but I find that a platform like Twitter is generally not conducive to informed discussion. I’ll take those discussions to other channels, often offline or perhaps to more private online modes of communication. 140 characters can be very limiting, and even the most well intentioned of messages can come across as harsh, trite, or even downright silly.
As you navigate through the waters of Social Media, remember these steps:
1) Choose your words carefully
2) Choose your platform carefully
3) Make sure your words match the platform
4) Stop and think: If someone who disagrees with me were to make a similar type of statement from their point of view, how would I feeL? How would that message be received? How is my message likely to be received?
What are you contributing to the conversation? Are you building walls or tearing them down? Are you promoting reasoned discussion or merely preaching to the choir on one hand and breeding divisiveness on the other?
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