Taking It Offline is a series about what happens when we get unsocial.
We’ve discussed how getting older can kill community and how it might be beneficial to take it offline. What practical steps can you take to interact with others? Let’s take it down to bite-sized chunks.
Taking It Offline is a series about what happens when we get unsocial.
What happens when you stop using social media? What happens when you stop looking at your phone and computer every minute or two? What happens when you notice that your life is filled to capacity with online-only surface-level relationships, and you want more?
Developing an atmosphere of rich community is tough. Meeting new people. Branching out of your comfort zone. Silence. Awkwardness.
Flickr: SuziJane
There are a few simple things that help people bond:
• Eat together
• Laugh together.
• Pray together.
• Serve together.
Communities that do these things can grow unbelievably strong. They don’t easily break. Continue Reading…
As we get older, it gets easier to shut people, passions, and big ideas out of our lives. If we’re not careful we can become shells of our former selves. Here’s how to keep that from happening.
Flickr: sludgegulper
As I get older I realize how community oriented I’d used to be. When I was a kid, I played with the other neighborhood kids until well after dark. I had adventures with friends on bus rides home from school. I played on a tight knit baseball team. In high school, my summer job and church youth group effortlessly became my community. In college, dorm life kept me living in close proximity to others. In each season of life, I consistently stumbled into friendships by doing everyday things like walking down hallways, eating breakfast, and working out. As awkward as I felt ten years ago, I find that the community in my life happened so much more naturally than it does now.
Google+ is quickly gaining traction. 10 million users so far. Users are realizing its capabilities and uniqueness. Circles are the most unique part of this social network.
From Flickr: hmomoy
I believe this promotional video is quite an understatement for the uses of circles. Circles are not just about keeping some information from some or hiding silly party photos from others. I think the potential is far greater.
Here are five of the reasons that Circles make Google+ worth it:
A quick look at the new Google+ network. It has a cleaner, slicker look than Facebook. Is more complex than Twitter. The current downside is only the number of people on the network, which will most likely change within weeks. Will be writing more about Google+ in the coming weeks. It has some important shifts from past social networks that are worth examining further. So far, even with a limited look, I believe it may have the most Campfire potential of any social network.
Another very valuable resource worth noting is A Visual Tour of Google+. This will get you started in a great way. 10 Google+ Tips For Beginners by Kristin Burnham (via @kylereed)
Guest poster Josh Stegenga is the founder of His Scars To Our Scars (HSTOS), an organization that deals with the issues of suicide, depression, and self-harm head on. The vision of HSTOS is to build relationships, create a community, and meet the needs of others with love, in order to bind up the broken hearted.
March 28th, 2008 I launched an organization called His Scars To Our Scars and decided to publicize it on the ever popular Myspace. There was nothing fancy about it cosmetically, but there was something unique; stories. The unique thing about the stories is that they were owned by individuals, and were not there to promote anything, or educate people, or to entertain, and they were certainly not there to create business.
They were there because I wanted people to see something real, something they could relate to. The stories were of people who had gone through something hard in their life and about how they still struggled, or how they overcame it. They were about loneliness, pain, triumph and strength. These are things that everyone experiences.
To understand how to better proceed with cultivating communities through social media, or starting a campfire, we must understand how the tools work. You might benefit from re-understanding the basics of Twitter. This is an older, but wonderfully simple explanation of why it exists. It may help with dispelling some still common misconceptions about Twitter as a tool.
(YouTube: leelefever)
