“It’s the economy, stupid.”  James Carville (1992) ; “It’s a people driven economy, stupid.”  Erik Qualman (2009)

How is the social media revolution impacting you personally and business-wise?

You are good at reading the weather signs in the sky, but you can’t read the obvious signs of the times!  (Matt. 16:3b; NLT)

From time to time I have written a little about blogging, Twitter, Facebook and other forms of social media.  In those DGs I mentioned that we are seeing the world change right before our eyes and that no one is going to be left untouched by this “revolution.”  Everything from marketing, to communications, to politics, to entertainment, to church, to … ad infinitum.  All this is to suggest that if you’re ignoring what’s happening, you’re going to be left far, far behind and sooner rather than later.

Is “revolution” too strong a word?  Well, the Link of the Day today suggests that social media is the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution.”  That’s big!!!  I suppose one could liken the impact of the social media revolution on our everyday lives as similar in scope to the impact of the Protestant Revolution on the Catholic Church and Christendom in general.  At the risk of repeating myself — that’s big!!!

I received a tweet (Twitter message) yesterday about a YouTube video that really rocked my boat.  Now, in spite of my age, I consider myself pretty savvy about what’s happening on the Internet.  After all, Sharon and I blog virtually daily, we’re both quite active on Facebook and Twitter.  I make extensive use of social bookmarking sites such as Digg, Stumble Upon, Delicious, and the like.  I have written multiple articles that are on Squidoo, Hub Pages, EzineArticles, et al.  I thought I had a feel for what is going on — until I watched this video.  I suddenly felt old.  I even found the video to be providing information so fast that my pre-Baby Boomer, linear thinker couldn’t keep up.  I had to stop the video multiple times just to process the info that was coming at me.

Even then, I never heard of China’s QZone (bigger than Facebook), Orkut, Bebo, and a few others.  As much as we’ve heard over the past decades about the Baby Boomers, it never occurred to me that by 2010 (that’s next year) there will be more Gen Y folks than Baby Boomers.  It blows me away to learn that Gen Y and Gen Z already consider e-mail to be passé.  As active as I am on Twitter, I learned that 80% of Twitter usage is on mobile devices (and I don’t think they’re talking about my lap top).  Studies now show that the more than 13 million articles on Wikipedia are more accurate than encyclopedia Britannica (try convincing your college prof when you cite Wikipedia in a research paper of that little fact).  Speaking of which, studies also show that on average, on-line students out perform those receiving face-to-face instruction.  What’s the world coming to???

If you are involved in business or any form of commerce, I encourage you to watch this video and consider how social media is already impacting your business.  If you are an educator, you need to watch this.  If you are a church or ministry leader, you need to consider how to adjust to this incredible revolution in communication or your church/ministry will quickly become irrelevant.  (And “quickly” happens a lot quicker these days than it ever did before.)

No, the sky is not falling…but the landscape sure is changing.  I contend that you can’t just ignore it and hope it will go away.  It won’t!  Watch the video and consider what part you will play in the revolution that is very much underway.

Prayer Power
Father, when we see the world changing as it is, we begin to recognize that stability is becoming an anachronism.  We are indeed blessed to have You as our only remaining secure anchor.

Link of the Day
Social Media Revolution

Blessings on you as you choose your role in the social media revolution.

Graphic from www.blackglass.com.au

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“Never give in. Never, never, never, never–in nothing, great or small, large or petty–never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense.”  Winston Churchill

On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you score your overall level of persistence?  Examples?  Are you satisfied with that score?

Preach the word of God. Be persistent, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.  (2 Tim. 4:2; NLT)

Yesterday, I saw a Tweet from Max Lucado (many of you will be very familiar with that name).  Yes, Max is a very active tweeter.  If you’re so inclined, you can follow him at http://twitter.com/MaxLucado.

Anyway, Max tweeted “This is an inspirational clip. Best viewed with tissue at hand:).”  So, I followed the link and am glad that I did.  The clip that Lucado was recommending is today’s Link of the Day.

It’s been a while since I’ve written a Daily Gram about an overcomer.  It seems that there was a real string of them for a while last year.  While this one is not quite as amazing as some that I’ve featured in the past, this is still a magnificent story of overcoming incredible odds to achieve a goal.  Persistence is such an important character trait.  Giving up is so easy any more.  It’s almost expected these days.  Here’s a video you might want to keep and watch again during those hard times when you’re fighting the temptation to toss in the towel.

In any event, grab a tissue as Max Lucado suggests and enjoy the story of D. J. Gregory — Walk On!!!

BTW, there’s more on D.J.’s blog at http://www.pgatour.com/2008/r/dj.blog/index.html.

Prayer Power
Father, we are so blessed and grateful that You never give up on us.  Thank You, thank You, thank You!

Link of the Day
Walk On

Blessings on you as you resolve not to quit.

“Social media can be used to frame your message. Ford may not have been able to change the facts about the Pinto, but social media could have given it more influence over the direction the discussion took.”  Michael Hickins

How open would you say you are to the changes which are swirling around us spawned by the use of the Internet?  Why do you feel the way you feel?

Good news from far away is like cold water to the thirsty.  (Prov. 25:25; NLT)

It was just a week ago today that I posted a DG about Twitter specifically and social media in general.  I ran across another blog post yesterday about that same topic that I feel compelled to share.  My purpose in all this Twitter chatter is not necessarily to promote Twitter, but rather to encourage you to “wake up and smell the coffee.”

It’s the old frog in the kettle story being played out in real life and we all have front row seats.  You know, there’s nothing wrong with being the frog in the kettle as long as you recognize that the temperature of the water is changing.  With that knowledge you can take whatever action is necessary to continue to survive.  It’s when you aren’t aware of the environmental shifts that you get caught by surprise and sometimes wake up only when it’s too late to do anything about it.

Folks, I’ve said it before and I’ll keep on saying it.  Social media is changing everything around us at an exponentially increasing rate.  The Link of the Day that precipitated my revisiting this issue so soon suggests that future presidential campaigns are going to be fought (and won) via social media rather than by traditional media.  The integrity of the traditional media has eroded to a level where hardly anybody trusts them any more.

Most of us can remember the days of three-network TV. In the same way, I feel we’re on the threshold of seeing commercial news media relegated to the background in favor of Internet-based social sites like Facebook and Twitter.  It’s possible that neither of them will be there a year from now, let alone in 2010, but something akin to them will likely provide much of what most will consider the “real” and relevant news of the day.

So as we see politics being reshaped by social media, we’re also seeing marketing and advertising being changed.  One only can wonder how other institutions that we grew up with will be changed.  We’ve already seen the Internet making major changes to the way higher education is being delivered.  What about high school and elementary education?  How will social media impact the learning and formation of our future leaders?  What about church?  What changes are in store for churches that will be brought about by the social media revolution?

I don’t have any of the answers to these questions — just questions.  But one thing I’m sure of…we won’t have to wait very long to see the answers come.  These are exciting times to be alive.

Prayer Power
Father, we rejoice that You are the unchanging Rock upon which we can cast our anchors so as to maintain our bearings.

Link of the Day
What Sarah Palin Teaches Us About Social Media

Blessings on you as you begin to make a list of  the positive outcomes from the changes that are occurring.

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“The qualities that make Twitter seem inane and half-baked are what make it so powerful.”  Jonathan Zittrain

Riddle: How can 140 characters change the world?  Answer…read on.

Intelligent people are always open to new ideas. In fact, they look for them.  (Prov. 18:15; NLT)

Are you using Twitter?  I can hear some of you asking, “What’s Twitter?”  In a sentence, Twitter is a micro-blog.  In other words, it’s like a blog in many ways but each blog post is limited to 140 characters.  That’s not very many.  But that’s apparently enough to change the world.

Catch the title of today’s link, “Could the Use of Social Media Crush ‘Big Brother’?”  Note the author…Dr. Joseph Mercola.  Most of you recognize that Dr. Mercola has one of the most widely read web sites in the world on issues that pertain to health.  Yet Twitter even has Dr. Mercola all “a twitter.”  He points to the recent unrest in Iran that was (and is) largely kept alive via Twitter as described in an important article that appeared in The New York Times on June 15 that describes how Twitter has become a major factor in bringing power to the people.

Social media such as Twitter and Facebook is changing the world in ways that we don’t begin to understand.  This is no longer just a toy.  This is at the forefront of a major revolution in politics, medicine, news reporting, marketing, et al.  It is widely speculated that a great deal of President Obama’s election success was due to his campaign’s use of social media.  It is reported that there were 300 tweets per second during his inauguration.  (A tweet is a message sent or a blog posted on Twitter.)

Dr. Mercola’s blog (today’s link) asserts that social media was the vehicle used by several well-respected leaders in the alternative health field as they “outed” or exposed the fear-mongering tactics used to create a panic over swine flu.

Everywhere you look, Twitter is changing things.  Don’t get left behind.  Join the Twitter revolution.

Prayer Power
Father, we live in amazing times.  So many new things happening around us at mind-boggling speed.  Guide us as we have so many ways to spend our time.  Show us which of these new ideas can be used in ways to further Your kingdom.

Link of the Day
Could Use of Social Media Crush ‘Big Brother’?

Blessings on you as you take some time this holiday weekend and take a second look at Twitter.

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