(Today's title comes from the question that is asked on Facebook before one posts a status update.)
My first experience with blogging was on the Social Networking site, Xanga. When I was in Middle School and even into early High School, Xanga was one of the popular sites that we used to connect with friends, find people with similar interests, and share what was on our hearts. One of the most popular features was the ability to write each day what was going on in your life, things you were interested in, as well as anything else that you wanted to. Myspace also had a "Blog" portion, where you could go and read whatever topic someone decided to write about.
My first experience with blogging was on the Social Networking site, Xanga. When I was in Middle School and even into early High School, Xanga was one of the popular sites that we used to connect with friends, find people with similar interests, and share what was on our hearts. One of the most popular features was the ability to write each day what was going on in your life, things you were interested in, as well as anything else that you wanted to. Myspace also had a "Blog" portion, where you could go and read whatever topic someone decided to write about.
As time has progressed, Myspace and Xanga have declined in popularity and Twitter and Facebook have not only taken their place, but also have far more people involved than those other alternatives ever had. It's interesting though, because as much as Twitter and Facebook give people the opportunity to share, post, comment, and like, it seems like one thing that has been lost is the blogging side of things. It seems like less and less it's amount large amounts of content and more and more about limited updates of information.
I've thought about this a lot lately and it stemmed from my preference of using Twitter to Facebook. I use Facebook and I use it quite regularly, but if I had to choose I would use only Twitter (I use Facebook more because of friends, family, and the group/pages options). For me, Twitter is easier; it's faster; it's more efficient. I can post an update in thirty seconds and it's done. If there's something that I really like, a video or a photo, I can post it quickly and those who follow me can see what I found interesting.
Even so, I've found that there are so many times that I can't put what I want to share into 140 brief characters. I like to talk. A lot. I like to share. There's so much going on and I just can't find a way to narrow it down to put into a brief summary. I've asked myself about this time and time again:
"How do I narrow something down that's incredibly meaningful to me, so that it's just as meaningful to someone else?"
How do you narrow it down when you have a conversation with someone who encourages you after a really rough day? How do you narrow it down when you want to share all about an incredible experience such as a new birth, a wedding, or another milestone? The synopsis is just the snippets, but how do you get to a meaningful synopsis. Looking at the inside of a book, if one doesn't have the right outline summarized, it could mean the difference between people checking out a new author or just putting the book to the side and picking something else instead.
It's a thought provoking question and it's one that's answered by many of my friends in a response that goes one of two things:
1. "Post it on Facebook." Interesting point. There's much more freedom to post longer updates there; updates that are not limited in characters like Twitter is.
2. "What do people NEED to know about what I WANT to share?" I think that is a great question. I know just how much of a talker I am and I recognize that maybe I do have a tendency to share too much that may be significant to me, but not to someone else.
Whatever your response to the question, I've found this to be a very interesting question and then even when you do decide to narrow it down, how do you do so? I don't think there's a right or wrong answer and I'm sure that there are many other answers that one could be given when asked a question like this. I don't think that this is an exact science but as I've thought about this, I'm brought to three major, overarching ideas that have helped me narrow down just what it is I want to share:
1. The information: What am I sharing?
2. The presentation: How is my information being brought out?
3. The audience: Who am I sharing to?
When we look at those three things, it helps us to narrow down the conversation a bit and prepare adequately for the place we will find ourselves. As a youth pastor, I share every week and many weeks I will share to different audiences. The information will be the same, but in my preparation, I prepare for an audience who may not respond to the presentation the same way that another audience would. When I speak to the youth group, I prepare differently than I do for when I will share with the Children's Ministry. There are many other variables that do go into sharing and I think that this is an ongoing conversation about how we as people share what's important to us.
Where does that leave me now? I still like Twitter and the concept of being able to share brief snippets. I also like to blog and use Facebook, with the ability to share more information at one point in time. In using these tools though, I have to keep in main focus just what it is I want to share and why I do. Do I over-share and say too much? Sometimes for sure. Do I at times share too little? Definitely. We all do. But if we don't make mistakes, how can we learn from them and improve? To quote Dale Carnegie, "The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way."
Thanks for reading and please feel free to comment with your ideas and thoughts on the whole idea of blogs, sharing, and content! Have a great day!!
Comments
Post a Comment