Social media, we all know what it is, I mean let’s be honest, who doesn’t have a Facebook or Twitter account. Being on social media has just become another part of our lives, we can’t go a day without checking our status or commenting on a picture we like. Social media and the internet have become so appealing that we spend more time on it than we do watching TV, approximately five hours a day to be precise.
Just to give you the full picture of how powerful social media is, here are some stats that you might find interesting. There are over 9.6 million people on Facebook in South Africa alone, followed by 5.5 million on Twitter and 4.7 million subscribed to YouTube. Just for a second imagine all these people being in one place at one time; there would be people further than the eye could see. To take it a step further, imagine being asked to stand up and address all those people; I’m pretty sure the veterans of public speaking would even find it quite overwhelming.
But that in itself is the beauty of social media; you have the opportunity to address millions of people from all around the world, from the comfort of your bedroom. Now don’t get me wrong, a lot of people abuse this power and we are often confronted with negativity and people’s opinions on how the world should be run.
But what if it could be used for something greater!
What if having access to all these people meant we had the opportunity to share life with them?
As Christians, our life goal is to share our faith. The problem we often face though is that we either struggle with confidence and the fear of rejection or we don’t come into contact with people who need to hear the Good News. That’s where social media can be so powerful and effective, not only can we share our faith to countless amounts of people online, we can also do it while not having to put ourselves in an uncomfortable position.
So let’s choose to fill our statuses with love and life, instead of negativity and hatred. Once we realise how broken and lonely the world is, the more we will feel the need to share the Good News that we have. Don’t think that you can’t make a difference in someone’s life, never take for granted the person God has called you to be.
Let’s allow social media to become our friend and make a choice to spread the love that we have so richly been given. You may not be the next Barack Obama and have the opportunity to address millions in person, but what you do have can be just as powerful.