Is Twitter a waste of time or a very useful tool for building online relationships? Would a full push to part-time CREs instead of full-time DRE’s be helpful or detrimental to parish catechetical programs? What are the top priorities for the U.S. Bishops in adopting social media? How do you take care of your volunteer catechists? Have you ever been “Jesus Juked”?
I discussed these issues with The Twitter Gang, aka Jonathan Sullivan, Dorian Speed and Jared Dees on the latest Catechetical Leader Podcast. This is a podcast for catechists, DREs, religion teachers, and other parish leaders. Host Jonathan Sullivan invited us to take part in a roundtable discussion on four recent articles relating to catechesis:
- There Are Different Gifts: The Ministry of the Coordinator of Religious Education
- Social Media: Friend or Foe, Google or Hornswoggle?
- Newborn Babies and Adult Volunteers
- “The Jesus Juke”
Please give it a listen! I think you’ll enjoy the conversation. I know we all did!
The most fascinating thing about this group is that we all met on Twitter, hence the name “The Twitter Gang.” I met Jonathan in person once but the rest of us have never met face to face. Yet, as we talked I felt I already knew them pretty well. It’s funny how much personality can come out on 140 characters at at time. I knew Dorian would say something funny and Jared would have insightful comments. And, I knew their perspectives on things from reading and interacting on their blogs. I really think there’s value in these online relationships for forming bonds between like minded people. I honestly don’t think any of us believe this is a substitute for face to face friendships. Nevertheless, these are friendships and would never would have formed if not for our social media interactions. It’s definitely a new world!
And please, follow us on Twitter @sullijo, @DorianSpeed, @jareddees and I’m @MCardaronella.
As I tweeted to you Marc, I think this podcast had some great discussion on the articles mentioned above.
Thanks William! We all had a great time doing it.
Marc,nnI can’t agree more with your thoughts on the value of online community. I agree with those people who say that online communities aren’t the same as more “local” communities — but at the same time, online communities bring people together in a way that makes those face-to-face (or Skype-to-Skype!) interactions more meaningful when they do occur.nnAnd we definitely need to get a Midwest tweet-up on the calendar!
Yes! We definitely need to do a tweet-up! Thanks for the comments Jonathan and thanks again for inviting me to be on the podcast.
Marc,nnI haven’t yet ventured into the Twitter world. My main hesitation in doing so is that I worry about it eating up my time – there’s yet another thing to keep up with along with Facebook, email (3 accounts), and blogs. Does it really add more to your work day than it takes away? (I’m sure it does or you wouldn’t promote it, but I’d like to hear your thoughts on it.) I also don’t get the impression that high-schoolers are on Twitter right now, so it’s not a high priority for me as a youth minister.
I think Twitter is about building relationships, networking and exchanging ideas with the online community. It’s a fantastic way to find and interact with people who are thinking like you. nnI’ve been very surprised by Twitter. I think it’s a very good thing. I’ve found a community of faithful, on-fire Catholics that really want to serve the Lord and are sharing their ideas, insights, struggles and successes. I’ve been exposed to a ton of ideas that I never would have otherwise. The greatest thing for me was finding people that are thinking like me. I thought I was all alone with a lot of my ideas. It’s hard finding people that really care about some of the stuff we’ve talked about in the past. But I’ve found them online and it’s been freeing. nnDoes Twitter use up a lot of time? Yes! Does it add more to my work day? Well, that depends. In the blogging world, absolutely! If you’re going to blog it’s a must. It adds more to me professionally and it certainly adds to my knowledge base. Does it help me get the to do’s on my list done? Well, not really. But it’s opened up different ways of thinking for me. And, I’ve been exposed to so many resources that I never knew existed before. nnTo me, Twitter is like a huge cocktail party mixer. As you walk through the room, there are little groups of people having conversations and you catch snippets of it. If you decide to join in on a conversation that interests you, all you need to do is insert yourself into the group, listen a bit and then add your thoughts. The groups are the blogs. That’s where the real interaction happens. Twitter is where you find those conversations and where you meet the people for more interaction later. nnI don’t think high schoolers are on Twitter. They’re still on Facebook and some aren’t even doing that, which is probably good. However, youth ministers are on Twitter and they’re exchanging ideas. If you want to meet other youth ministers and share ideas with them, then Twitter would be priority for you as a youth minister. You’re right though, I don’t think it will help to keep in contact with the kids. nnHope that helps.
Also, I said the interaction happens in the blogs. That’s true, but I have to say Twitter is very conversational as well. There are great interactions there too.
As you know, I am neither on Facebook nor Twitter. But I can vouch for the fact that you are one happier hubby now that you have found other like-minded catechists out there. From where I sit, you are just as busy as always but happier.
I think so too! 😉