Of the many things that we covered at our Three Worlds Staff Meeting this past week was the use of media. Unfortunately and fortunately, new media platforms are available to all of us in this new age of the internet. Communications via the internet has become a very important part of missionary work. It's a great way to keep supporters updated, to post prayer requests, to get rapid responses regarding things on the field, to keep in touch with missionaries and for missionaries to keep in touch with their families. It's a blessing. It's also a curse in that it is very time consuming. I spent a couple of hours today just making a dent in all the business emails that accumulated while I was attending the German conference this weekend. The diary needs an entry, and then photos need to be taken and posted.
This diary is going on its ninth year now. The average for a blog is 5 years and they disappear. Nine years is A LOT! Especially as i try to write on average every 3 days. If you were to go back to the beginning you would probably find that, yes indeed, this diary averages one entry per 3 days over 9 years. Hundreds of thousands of words have been posted here over this past decade. That's a good thing, but it takes time. A lot of time, yet it is how people communicate and pay attention these days. That's just fact.
But now "BookFace" has entered the picture. And everyone BookFaces each other. Many people don't read blogs anymore. They prefer the short entries on BookFace. Worse yet, now there is a whole generation of people who prefer Twittle. They twit each other to death--little sentences telling people that they are getting their haircut or cut their toenails while watching the Jets game.
All kidding aside---it seems like the older generations really do tend to swing toward websites and blogs. While younger people go for BookFace and then the super young love their Twittle. In other words, you have to communicate in different ways for the different generations. That's a good metaphor for how it works in the church as well.
We briefly toyed with the idea of closing down the Diary. But I know that quite a few of you (we only have 3 readers) really prefer the diary and have followed it since the very beginning. You might not appreciate having to switch over to Bookface or Twittle. So we have decided to keep the diary alive. Let us know your thoughts on this.
So what does this mean for 3W? That was one of our questions at our Staff Meeting. 3W is already on BookFace and Twittle. But it looks like it's time for me (Patrick) to start contributing a lot at both places. Furthermore, there will be more super exciting episodes of GBR (Gateway Berlin Radio) in the future. And there is our e-newsletter which I hope you all subscribe to.
So that's it....I'm gearing up. In the second half of October I am going to start BookFacing on 3W and Twittling at 3W's twittle account. So there will be 3 places to find us. Personally I much prefer the diary where all thoughts can be elaborated on. BookFace will drive me nuts. And Twittle even nutser, if that's possible.
I'll have to re-calibrate my mind and writing for these very different formats.
Oh, Marco has just informed me that it's actually "Facebook" and "Twitter." Thanks, Marco. For those that are interested, you will be able to follow me shortly at Facebook and Twitter. We'll see you there the 3rd week of October. The Three Worlds media presence will grow...as I watch my time disappear into a giant black hole of media involvement.
Three Worlds can be found at:
Facebook: Three Worlds
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/3WCHOG
We'll go full-power in late October!!!