It’s All About Me!

October 22, 2009

I just finished listening to a very challenging sermon series by Andy Stanley about decision-making. Over the course of several weeks, he shared four principles we can use to make better choices in life. The fourth and most ultimate question was, “Which choice will bring glory to God?”

Andy says that we weren’t created to receive glory, but rather to reflect it to God. In every decision we make, we should make the choice that brings the most glory to God instead of ourselves. That’s easily said, but how do we apply that? My small group had a great insight!

One key area of application is in how we use social media like Twitter and Facebook. These sites have revolutionized the way people communicate today. While much of that revolution is good, many criticize social media for catering to people who love bringing glory to themselves. Narcissists. And as you probably know, narcissists don’t usually anything interesting to say. I’ve found that useless and insipid vanity is the substance of most Twitter traffic. (“Having chicken for dinner tonight.”) In today’s world, it’s not just nerds and geeks like me who get the chance to share the mind-numbing tedium of their day-to-day activities… it’s all of us, just as long as it’s 140 characters or less.

Twitter reveals a lot about the state of our hearts, and for many people, their tweets add up to say, “It’s all about me.” That’s not just my opinion; a new study by Rutgers University found that 80% of social media users primarily post “Me Now” status updates — details about their activities, feelings, thoughts and social lives. The remaining 20% can be classified as “informers.” These few users primarily share informational updates such as helpful links.

Rutgers University Professors Mor Naaman and Jeffrey Boase classified users’ tweets as:

Me Now
Opinions and Complaints
Self Promotion
Random Thoughts
Questions to Followers
Presence Maintenance (“I’m backkkk!”)
Anecdotes
Information Sharing

So what do your tweets say about you? Which category above would primarily summarize your presence online? (And how about your real-life relationships too?)

I’d like to do an objective analysis of my own Twitter history, but that would take forever. Just scanning back over this week’s tweets is helpful, though… and easy enough. It looks like I’m primarily an information sharer (facts and links about music, cameras, audio/video, technology, ministry, etc.). But I also throw in some anecdotes from my life so that my Twitter presence has a personal side as well.

Rutgers found that the “Me Now” user has an average of 43 followers, while the “Informer” has an average of 112 followers. (For reference, I currently have 124.) It appears people like bring around helpful people and not narcissists. What a revelation!

Ultimately, the question every Twitter or Facebook user should be asking is, “How do I point this tribe of people who follow me to God, and how do I reflect His glory to them?” My small group at North Point discussed this question Sunday night, and our consensus was that every post doesn’t have to quote Scripture or exclaim, “Hallelujah! God is so good.” It’s important to be authentic, even if that means admitting discouragement or frustration. Ultimately, though, Christians are in the best position to turn a very narcissistic medium on its head and point people to truths far more interesting than what we had for dinner last night.