By now it is clear that social media is not simply a fad or a cool tool for the younger generation. It is a profound shift in how people around the world communicate & collaborate. As wonderful as social media is, it does represent some unique challenges for missions agencies that work in restricted access countries. Brian works for an agency with missionaries in some very sensitive areas. He is aware of the security issues related to social media, but is also aware of the potential benefits of maintaining a social media presence (and the costs of not doing so). What lessons are you learning in all these areas? What, for you, are the most relevant Twitter hash tags related to missions, unreached & unengaged peoples, ministry to Muslims, etc. What social media training that has been developed to help prepare missionaries (and missions agencies) to be more wise in their use of social media. Just click “Comment” below and, as always, feel free to comment anonymously if you work in a sensitive situation. Let’s make this comment trail a fountain of information to help Brian and all others who are interested in these topics.
Check out Facebook: PTAP (Praying Through the Arabian Peninsula) to see how we use it. Twitter @prayap . We use hashtags that identify (name changed) ongoing stories using common Arabic names, country names, #locals, #workers, #believers and Christian virtues. We are still learning.
I work on building lists of people who tweet regularly on unreached peoples, and then uncover new people based on who they re-share. (Some of my lists are public, on http://www.twitter.com/justindlong). I do much the same with Facebook.