My Social Media Mess Up

October 5, 2011 by

OopsI messed up. (Yes, ministers do, too.) No, it wasn’t a “sin” or anything like that.

Did you know there’s a difference between “sinning” and messing up? Sometimes we mess up just due to our humanness. We make a mistake. We disappoint others ~ even make them angry. That’s what I did with my mess up.

It was a social media mistake (my mess up was). And it drew the ire of ~ I need to leave the name of the person(s) out or it will be another (and bigger) mess up.

I know, I know. You’re wanting to know what the mess up was. Isn’t that just like us (me included)? We want the inside scoop. We want to be filled in on the details. But to do that, too, would be another (and bigger) mess up for me because it would point to the folks whose feathers I ruffled, also.

The bottom line is we’re gonna make mistakes with social media. And if you’re gonna reach for any height of influence online (or off) the fact is you’re gonna do something wrong from time to time. You’re gonna tweet, post a status update, ask a question, publish a blog post, etc., that, in hindsight, you probably should have thought longer before doing so.

But did you do it out of malice (if so, it is a sin ~ repent) or did you do it out of ignorance (the good kind) where, in your naivety you had no clue it was inappropriate (for lack of a softer term) in the eyes of those more on the inside than you?

I hope you were able to follow that last statement. (Read it again if you have time.) It says it all about my social media mistake. I didn’t do it to hurt others. If I knew it would, I wouldn’t have done it. I can say that in all sincerity.

The moral of the story? Think twice about what you’re posting online (and bounce it off somebody if you’re not sure). And if you are offended by what someone else does on Twitter or Facebook or Google+, etc., don’t forget Jesus’ words to forgive, forgive, forgive. You just might be the one that messes up next. (Matthew 18:21-22)

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Filed Under: facebook, sin
About Pastor Mike

Pastor Mike is making the most of web technologies to encourage disciples. A self-proclaimed “twitterholic,” one twitter follower describes him as the “jogging, blogging, tweeting Pastor.” Visits to Pastor Mike’s blog (A Heart For God) number in the hundreds of thousands. His video blogs have been viewed over a half a million times.

Comments

  1. Dwann says
    October 5, 2011 at 4:54 am

    Pastor Mike,
    I really appreciate your transparency and your willingness to take responsibility for the mistake.
    Social Media is a cool relationship building, information sharing tool, however you are right; mistakes happen many times with pure ignorance. That’s why it’s so important to STOP and THINK before a post.
    I do lots of work with Christian Leaders and find that many times our posts and updates come off a bit more judgemental and offensive than they are ever meant to be, in a time where Christianity is definitely in the FISH BOWL of skepticism.
    I applaud you and thank you for all your great insightful posts!

  2. Rod says
    October 5, 2011 at 5:00 am

    yep, Good, Good and Great. Well said.

  3. Conrad says
    October 7, 2011 at 11:31 am

    Man, i do it quite a bit. I have no idea sometimes that what i am saying can (and will) be taken out of context. I just assume everyone is a mind reader.

    With twitter, you are only working with 140.

    What would happen if Paul had to tweet his points?

    LOLz…

    God bless you!