Gaga and Beiber out-tweeted by Religious Leaders

So God beats glitter!  I've blogged about my ambivalence about twitter but maybe I should take it more seriously.  The New York Times has published a story this summer about the popularity of twitter among evangelical leaders. It seems though Lady Gaga has many more followers (29 million and counting) "religious leaders show much higher levels of engagement."  It is simple math; they may have fewer followers but their tweets get much more mileage with responses and retweets.  In a head-to-head response/retweet comparison between evangelical Joyce Meyer and Lady Gaga for instance; Meyers followers engaged with her tweets 27x more often.  The Times survey was admittedly a small sampling of religious leaders and celebs but it is a intriguing way to measure impact.

A story was posted in the Facebook group "New Media, Religion and Digital Culture" (thanks Chris) that noted the explosive growth of the Dalai Lama's followers in cyberspace with an impressive 5 million Twitter followers and 4.3 million Facebook friends.  The article noted that 3 million Twitter followers were added in one year. His speeches are regularly posted on YouTube.  

So how do you measure online influence?

This week I attended the Influence12 Symposium and Workshop on Measuring Influence on Social Media.  It was a fascinating interdisciplinary gathering of information scientists, sociologists, computer scientists, business and government.  Great to see familiar faces and meet some new people.  I might not have paid much attention to twitter but others certainly have.  It was both fascinating and sober to consider how social media is mined and managed by celebs yes, but by big business and government.  Predicting the unpredictable and managing it has become big business.  I couldn't help but think of Asimov's Psychohistory: individuals' behaviours cannot be predicted but statistics applied to the behaviours of large groups of people can be predicted.  If we could track trends in social media, could we have predicted The Facebook Revolutions of the Arab spring?

Measuring online influence.  Influencers and authorities online.  Lots to think about. Yet somehow it seems far removed from the Galilean carpenter sitting on a hillside before a crowd of the curious saying "Blessed in the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

If you're on twitter you can follow the play by play tweets #Influence12 . 

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Only Milk from Christian Cows?

The Internet is world transforming/The Internet is soul destroying/The Internet is simply a tool.

Yes unarguably, yes possibly, yes qualified.

However you conceptualize the Internet, it has changed our culture in a myriad of ways both good and bad. I don't buy that it is a neutral tool. It is an idea imbued with values that need to be critically examined. Having said that, I live connected to the online, hopefully reflectively. Not everybody is comfortable with the possibilities. ChurchMag recently posted an ad for a new Evangelical Christian tablet called Edifi. Essentially this is an android tablet preloaded with a variety of Christian book and music apps, Christian radio app, Bible app (YouVersion), and a SafeSearch Browser.

The rationale for a Christian Tablet is suggested by a Bible verse in their promotional video: Romans 15:2 "We should help others do right and build them up in the Lord." So by providing approved Christian resources, and limiting access to inappropriate Internet content, this tool will edify (build up) Christians. The text quoted is part of the Apostle Paul's direction to Christians who were quarreling over religious rules (what foods were religiously acceptable to eat). He concludes that sometimes it is better for the person with stronger faith to limit their freedom, rather than to lead a person of weaker faith to do something that they believe (even wrongfully) is inappropriate such as eating certain foods. So the implication here is that it is better to limit our access to the Internet than risk shipwrecking another's faith.

My concern with that argument: when do the weak of faith grow up? How long can we stay secure inside the Christian bubble? Will we only ever use Christian tablets, laptops, and PCs?

When do I learn good judgement?

I understand the intent of the developers, and commend their desire to build up the Church. But I admit when I first saw the ad my mind went back to a song from the 1980s by Steve Taylor entitled "Guilty by Association".  Taylor was a very outspoken critic of what he saw as inconsistencies between Evangelical Christian culture and Biblical teaching. He used satire and the medium of pop music to make his point, back when Christian contemporary music was in its infancy. In "Guilty" he responds to his music critics:

"I have found a new utensil  
In the devil's toolbox  
And the heads are gonna roll 
If Jesus rocks
 
It's a worldly design  
God's music should be divine  
Try buying records like mine  
Avoid temptation, guilty by association"

The idea Taylor is resisting is that you can't use the Devil's tools (i.e. pop music) to do the Lord's work. The metaphor he uses to describe this attitude is that good Christians "only drink milk from a Christian cow" or might I add "only surf the web on a Christian browser." 

Is this the same thing? Am I being fair? Would you buy Edifi?

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Salesmen, Tribes, and an Overdue Crisis

Some days it is hard to keep doing what I am doing.  Librarianship is a difficult go right now; it can be a time of great opportunity for visionaries.  Alternatively many a library in this country will die, and librarians wearing sensible shoes will dutifully carry the caskets.  I checked my email this evening to find an ad for a textbook salesman.  It was tempting.  Do a Google search for the phrase "leaving librarianship" and you'll see I'm not the only one who has those days.

http://www.amazon.ca

I have been reading Tribes by Seth Godin.  I mentioned him a few months ago in a post about making leaders.  He argues that we are past the age of mass media and re-entering the age of tribes; specialized communities, linked through the the internet and new media.  New tribes need new leaders who can connect like minded people.  I like the quote: "The Beatles didn't create teenagers, they merely decided to lead them." Intriguing stuff.

I've been wrestling a lot with my own career path.  Presently I have feet in two work worlds: academia, where my worldview about people and information is being transformed, and librarianship, where I am engaged with people seeking answers.  There is a tension here; the two worlds don't talk to each other like they ought.  A wise friend has challenged me to "choose my tribe."  Professor or Librarian. Academic or Practitioner.  Then I think of Seth Godin's comments, and I wonder if there is another tribe to choose.  Perhaps a tribe of misfits like me.  Maybe a completely different tribe.

The tribe I want to belong to is terribly dissatisfied with the status quo in information-work, and desperately wants to change it.  I like Micheal Ridley's presentation blurb from the CLA conference "Is there a Crisis in Academic Librarianship?...Yes, and frankly it's about time."  Wish I could have heard that one. 

So where then do I find my local tribe?  I guess I need to ask around.  "Excuse me: Are you my tribe?" (On a unrelated note... for those Doctor Who fans out there: "Are you my mummy?")

Don't want to read the book? Here is Seth's TED presentation.

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Tweet the Good Word. #Amen

I'll admit I haven't really caught on to Twitter.  I have an account and I follow a number of others, much in the same way I follow blogs.  I do like the as-it-happens bulletins from the local news.

My hashtag would be #unconvinced.

Tweeting live events has become quite fashionable; most conferences I have attended in the past two years have encouraged tweeting.  Religious tweeting is certainly popular from the Pope, the Dalai Lama, or even TD Jakes.  Now the debate about sermon tweeting continues: Thou shall/shalt not tweet.

ChurchMag recently blogged a "sermon tweeting how-to" based on their experiences that I thought was worth sharing.  Check out the links at the bottom of the post to other viewpoints. 

Their post argued the need to think through your reasons for tweeting the sermon, and being intentional about what you are doing.  This makes sense but it also seems to fly in the face of the culture of tweeting as "stream of consciousness" and "point-in-time."  Also is it my experience of the sermon I'm sharing? I think this question is important as frankly most religious tweeting seems somewhat impersonal; scripture or sound-bites tossed into cyberspace.  Who is the listener behind the tweet?  What did the sermon do to you?

I was thinking about the sermon I heard today on Jonah chapter 2.  So which sermon tweet would catch your attention?

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