Now there’s some truth-telling we need to share: more winsome, consensus-building blogging, facebooking, tweeting, instagramming, and pinning will more than likely lead to less clicks, follows, friends, likes, pins, and retweets. Defining ourselves over and against another, parsing points, and making pithy comments will earn a name, clicks, ad revenue, and an inflated ego. More times than not, this form of presentation divides people.

I have some dear friends who are quite adept at the tools of social and “new” media. Many use these tools for good, thought-provoking, creativity inspiring conversations. Folk even use these platforms for evangelism (shock!, right?). Regretfully, there are way too many out there who need to grind an axe, advance a personal agenda, or have an insatiable need to be right (as in correct). I believe in the democratization of information and right of all to an opinion. But as my mother-in-law taught her children, “you don’t have to say everything you know.”

Last year at North Georgia’s Annual Conference, our Bishop encouraged those of us who enjoy extending holy conferencing online to “tweet sweet”. It was cornily funny. But he had a point. We can do better. We can be more respectful. We can leave the snark for something besides matters of faith. I’m not suggesting we need to reduce the content of our conversations online to the least common denominator but I believe we do need to craft a more conciliar tone. The thing is, I’m not exactly sure how to do it. I can commit to being more respectful, but are there other guidelines to adopt and follow?

A “first, do no harm” mindset to our online presence might create less buzz, but seeking to find consensus and create deep conversations might be the thing that actually helps the church.

What do you think?