Turning on the lights and dusting off the blog
I began blogging in 2006 way before it was cool, and while Facebook was still in diapers. It served as a way for people who did not know about us and Cornerstone to get a look behind the curtain before attending one of our Sunday services. In those days I felt that it knocked down some of the weirdness of attending a church that meets in a school and it allowed people to "check us out" before they checked us out. At that time, we were running an average of 108 in church, and it was a great way to interact and spread announcements.
Enter the Facebook Era. In September of 06, Facebook became available to normal people. Not that college students are abnormal, but let's face it. College students are abnormal. I was an early adopter on Facebook because it did exactly what I wanted the blog to do. It allowed me to communicate with our people in a timely manner and allowed them the ability to get to know me and my family apart from Sunday.
Through the years, I blogged less and less and about less important things and it became more of a nuisance than a real outlet for serious discussion and thought. By 2011, the blog was an after thought and needed some attention.
As the church has quadrupled in size, I found myself with a thousand Facebook "friends" and a more diverse congregation of people from all walks of life. Along with the growth and diversity came a shallower interaction with everyone, and an increased pressure not to be offensive to people who may not agree with my theology, philosophy, humor, politics, you name it. I found myself typing a status, only to delete it before posting, putting up a humorous picture, only to take it down as the sensitive were offended.
So last week I sat down and tried to put on paper a "Philosophy of Facebook" Now this was a personal exercise and I do not believe everyone needs one, but I needed to figure out its purpose and place. I came up with a few types of facebookers to consider....