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Nathan Bierma’s a social media guy.  He’s the communications and web manager for the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.  That’s why I was a little surprised to see he was going to talk about the dangers of using social media as part of his presentation at this year’s Calvin Symposium on Worship.

I’m always weary when the terms social media and dangers are used in the same sentence.  It almost always ends with some sort of excuse not to engage in Facebook or Twitter.  That’s why I was so glad to hear how Nathan talked about it.  He didn’t say not to be a part of social media because of these issues, but instead said it’s important to be aware of these potential traps before diving in.  Here are a few notes I took from his workshop listing the concerns that come with social media.

Ambiguity of privacy

• Is what we’re posting public, private, mass distribution, etc.
• Facebook owns what you post.
• You shouldn’t use last names when dealing with prayer requests or label a child by name in pictures.
• People write very personal things they’re sharing in a public way.

Superficiality vs authenticity

• Is what you’re posting contrived and artificial or authentic?
• Slate recently reported a survey that found Facebook makes you feel bad because everyone looks happy from what they’re posting.

Spontaneity vs reflection

• We miss out the greater wisdom that comes from contemplation and reflection.
• We’re more worried about frequent updates.

Self-expression vs listening

• Special media tools can help you listen to people, but there’s a tendency to instead lean only to having your say.

Technology gap

• Social media users can become a clique in the church setting if some people aren’t using it.
• There’s also a reverse technology gap when churches don’t use social media because tech savvy people want and expect the church to use it.

Nathan’s right: There are things that aren’t perfect about using social media.  But in his words, social media has moved beyond a fad into the mainstream because of its acceptance across age generations.  So for me, that’s the prime reason churches need to engage in social media.