Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Google Plus

Linkedin

FourSquare

Tumblr

And now, Snapchat.

Eight should be enough, yes? When does social media stop being social and become drudgery? I don’t spend an equal amount of time on all these venues. I’m usually checking in daily with Facebook, Foursquare, and Twitter. Once every 2-3 days on Instagram and Tumblr. The only time I go to Google Plus is when I do Google Chat (or whatever it’s called that allows me to do a video conference call). Linkedin is about once a week and for those people who are recommending me or endorsing me for Public Speaking or whatever it is that I’m supposedly worthy of endorsement, I’m sorry I haven’t returned the favor. I just signed onto Snapchat because that is the social media outlet de rigueur among tweens and since I have one living in my household, I feel compelled to stay connected. My daughter even helped me sign up for it and we’ll see how long she wants to stay my friend. (For those who don’t know, Snapchat is essentially like texting a photo to a friend, but the key is that the photo only stays up for 10 seconds or so and then poof! disappears.)

Why do I do all this? That’s a good question. The more I do ministry with young adults, the more I realize it’s not that different from doing ministry with youth. One of the key commandments for youth ministry is simply showing up, letting them know you care. The same goes for young folks who are part of the church, too. Who am I kidding? This applies to people of all ages. I think they like knowing that I care and want to stay connected. I’m sure there are times when they’d rather I wasn’t so connected. I’m also realizing that email is passe (“I’m sorry I didn’t respond to your email you sent a couple weeks ago. I so rarely check it…”) and so when I want to communicate, I have to remember if the person I’m communicating with prefers text, Facebook message, or tweet.

And now, with Snapchat, I can give them a real facial expression and not an emoticon. Maybe that’s progress.