Is Twitter meaningless?
You can’t have ventured online at any point during the last year and not read something about Twitter. It’s the latest star in the ongoing evolution of online communication, and as with any such thing, it has its share of champions and detractors. The Christian church, with its long history of using new media to spread its age-old message, is split on the issue: some Christians have embraced Twitter wholeheartedly while others have criticized it.
At Strangely Dim, Rebecca Larson chimes in with a compelling new take on the Twitter discussion: Twitter may restrict our communication to extremely brief bursts, but it’s incorrect to say that meaningful communication can’t take place through Twitter. For proof, she turns to poetry, which has long communicated important messages in short but insightful pieces.
What do you think? Those of you who use Twitter, do you see meaningful or spiritually enriching communication taking place through it? Or is Twitter the narcissistic toy its detractors claim it to be?
I just started using Twitter myself, after being a bit afraid of it actually! I think like everything media centered you need to be purposeful – and I am reminded of Paul, who said you need to be all things to all people. I see it as an opportunity to reach those that are enamored by technology, and show them meaning and relevance to their lives by way of Christian oriented topics. I am always very intentional about my posts on all these types of forums, including facebook, blogs and twitter – and I see it as an amazing opportunity to reach people for Christ… and meet them where they are at!
The folks I follow are almost all intentionally posting links to helpful information and inspiration on the web. They are also largely from key ministries that I’m interested in following. As for my twitter postings … I almost always post to something signficant that others may find useful. As for Facebook, most of the folks I follow are family, friends and friends in ministry … and in contrast to twitter, most of these postings are quite trivial.