According to a court decision made last week, clicking "like" on a Facebook post or page is now considered to be free speech protected by the First Amendment. This ruling by Judge Traxler of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, VA overturns the earlier ruling, and has significant implications for employment (the matter at hand in this case) and beyond. So What? The online world has grown and evolved at a rapid rate. Laws developed before the internet expansion often do not Read More …
Social Media
Why People Share (#1179)
Ipsos, the world’s third largest market research company, recently published the results of their global survey on social media sharing. The reasons people share include: 37% - to let others know what I believe in and who I really am, 30% - to recommend a product, service, movie, book, etc., 29% - to add my support to a cause, an organization or a belief, and 26% - to share unique things. So What? Social media managers and others tasked with overseeing the social media presence of Read More …
The Value of a Blog Post (#1177)
Rob Jenkins, a community college professor, recently wrote a blog post for the Chronicle of Higher Education in which he questioned the value of blogging. Most who teach in higher education are involved in a world that requires them to publish in order to retain their livelihood, yet blog posts are often not counted as published material. Since blogs have the power to shape how people think about issues, Jenkins asks important questions: Which ultimately does more good—an article or Read More …
Social Media & Approaching Death (#1164)
Paul Bisceglio, a freelance journalist who edits the literary digital magazine Land that I Live, recently wrote an article in The Atlantic suggesting that social media is changing how people approach death. While the proliferation of social media and increasing use of such to speak about personal experiences with end of life is easily documented, how this shift will impact how people view death and dying is not yet known. So What? As people of faith, we have always viewed death Read More …
Your Social Media Voice (#1161)
Phil Cooke is a nonprofit marketing guru. He has written numerous books on the topic, including Unique: Telling Your Story in the Age of Brands and Social Media (2012) and Branding Faith: Why Some Churches and Non-Profits Make a Difference and Other's Don't (2010). Recently, he suggested that "finding your authentic voice in social media isn’t that different from traditional media." In order to find your voice, Cooke suggests you don’t say things on Read More …
Taking a Break (#1151)
Time for a Break A great deal has changed in the world of blogging since I started writing on a daily basis nearly three years ago, and much has changed in my own life as well. What Next? Over the next few weeks, I plan to gather input from many sources. I encourage you to leave your thoughts as a reply to this post. More specifically: What about this blog do you find most helpful? What type of content would you be most interested in reading in the future? When you think of Read More …
Mormons Go Social (#1143)
Late last month leaders in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced a shift in missionary strategy. More specifically, the church will increasingly encourage missionaries to leverage social media rather than the traditional door-to-door approach. This change is significant for several reasons, including: the recent lowering of the minimum age for missionary work ( from 21 to 19 for women and from 19 to 18 for men), the old rules that limited Read More …
Sermon Prep (#1142)
Thom Rainer, president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources, recently facilitated a Twitter poll asking pastors to share how long they spend preparing a sermon. The results show that most pastors take between 10-18 hours to prepare each message. More specifically: 70% prep between 10 and 18 hours, 15% prep between 7 and 9 hours, 10% prep for 6 hours or less, and 6% devote 19 hours or more to prepare each message. So What? Sermons vary widely in many respects, Read More …
Social Media Day (#1140)
Today is Mashable's fourth annual Social Media Day. Some 335 different communities will feature meetups. Many more people will contribute to the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #smday. So What? Social media has changed the way we communicate more than we often realize. Take some time today to reflect on your own social media journey from the initial days you explored the possibility of participating through your current involvement. In addition to reflection, I have Read More …
Happy Christian Tweeters (#1139)
While multiple research studies have sought to determine if Christians are happier than atheists, only one has considered this by relying solely on data from tweets. The results of this new study conducted by a research team led by University of Illinois psychologist Ryan Ritter are published in the June edition of Social Psychological and Personality Science. Ritter and his colleagues focused on over 877,000 tweets written by over 7,500 individuals following one or more of five well Read More …