A few months ago, I gave you a very helpful Twitter tip that a lot of social media experts won’t tell you:
“Never offend someone who has a Rottweiler in their profile photo and is in charge of the unofficial Eazy-E fan club.”
Sounds obvious, but oddly enough, this was a tip I had to learn through experience. Another free social media observation is that given one glance at the trending topics of Twitter proves we don’t need a Christian version of Twitter. We just need to be Christians on it.
At the time of this writing, which makes me sound like a journalist wearing a “press hat,” here are a two things that were trending:
“Luke 8:48.”
“theBibleSays”
Now if you’re not familiar with Luke 8:48, it says, “A wise man never responds to a hater on Twitter.” Luke is a pretty progressive book. He even predicted that Friendster would become the next MySpace which would become the next Facebook which would become the next … you’ll have to read the Bible for the answer. I don’t have time all day to be transcribing the entire Bible for you. There’s an app. (And even a Christian iPad.)
Someone mentioned that Twitter is starting to skew trends to your personal tastes so I might be seeing more holy sounding trends than you because, well, I’m holier.
But if that’s the case, why was “Fleetwood Mac” and “Euthanasia” trending for me? I can’t even spell that last word correctly and certainly haven’t be tweeting about “euthanizing Fleetwood Mac.” That’s just mean.
I will say this though, in the midst of the awesomeness of seeing truth trend, let’s sidestep one thing:
The temptation to be judgmental.
Let’s all promise each other, pinky promise if your area of the world respects that, that we won’t use Christian trending topics as an opportunity to be a jerk or Jesus Juke folks.
Case in point, here’s what one person tweeted in response to “He is Lord” trending:
You may not participate in the “He Is Lord” trend on Twitter today, but you will participate on the day of judgement.
The first problem is the typo in the word “judgement.” That “e” is the devil, constantly trying to sneak into that word.
The second problem is that they somehow found a way to compare participating in a twitter trend with participating in judgment day. I’d say the gap between those two activities is fairly wide. My great fear is that soon, if you don’t participate in trending topics on Twitter people will start judging you. It’s not really a “great fear” but more a “mild fear.” My great fear is when people have ferocious dogs and invisible electric fences they don’t tell you about.
The dog sprints with murder in it’s mouth right to the edge of the yard and then pulls back right at the last second once you’ve peed yourself a little. That’s my great fear. Judgment on Twitter is only my mild fear.
In summary. Christian topics trending? Yay!
Finding new ways to Jesus Juke people? Boo.
Question:
Have you ever seen a Christian idea trending?
