There’s a small but steady ‘movement’ on Twitter to use Mondays as a specific opportunity to encourage others. It’s called #loveMonday and it works like this: You send an encouraging message (public or private) to three other Twitter users, and invite them to encourage three of their friends/contacts/followers. Don’t forget to include #loveMonday in the message. Simple. Of course, it doesn’t have to just be via Twitter. Feel free to do the same but on Facebook, via email, or even offline (send a postcard, leave a message scrawled on a post-it note, etc.).
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On Palm Sunday, at the start of the Easter(LIVE) project, I shared my critical thoughts and fears about approach the 2011 approach was taking, and suggested an alternative project to support. There were some great comments on the post and via Twitter: many in support of my critique, and some from people who wanted to reserve judgement (participants & skeptics alike).
So as both projects have ended, it seems right to reflect on them in light of my original comments & my experience.
Easter(LIVE) 2011
Initially I feared that the Easter(LIVE) updates would swamp my Twitter stream (because at least 10 of the people I follow were participating in the project). This fear was realised. After a particularly frenzied start, the posts in my Twitter stream calmed down a little, to an almost manageable level. My twitter stream wasn’t completely overwhelmed, but was considerably busier than usual, which made catching up a chore and took much longer than usual.
I decided that I would try to follow two users’ Easter(LIVE) updates, and try to ignore the others. It didn’t feel right skipping over the majority of the updates (due to my slight OCD tendencies), but it was necessary, otherwise my productivity would’ve taken a serious dive last week.
Even though I was following just two versions of the story, I found the experience very confusing. One user created a story using a vast array of characters and tweets; the other used one or two characters and far fewer tweets. But I found the two stories following different time lines and the events they were describing not aligning with each other. This detracted from the overall experience. On Good Friday and Easter Sunday the updates (predictably) reached a peak, creating a ridiculous amount of Twitter updates.
During the course of the week I ‘overheard’ discussions on Twitter between two participants who were niggling about their different interpretations of the project (too many characters & updates vs single character and fewer updates).
Of the participants I followed, very few made use of anything other than text updates. The project had encouraged the use of other media too – video, images and sound. I recognise that text updates are easier and require less preparation which probably explains the proportion of text to other media (that’s not to rubbish the amount of time and creativity expended by everyone in creating their stories). I saw a few uses of images, and heard about one user who created a number of videos for the project.
So my fears about the project’s approach in 2011 were entirely founded. But of course that’s based on my own experience – I can’t speak for anyone else. But the team behind the project retweeted a number of messages on Sunday & Monday which expressed how helpful they’d found the project and thanking the team for their work. So it was clearly of value to and appreciated by many.
As I said previously, the number of participants and updates generated is clearly testimony to the fact that the project captured people’s imaginations. I still appreciate the project’s use of Twitter as a vehicle for such an innovative project, and still question the downside it had (for me at least).
I look forward to seeing what they have planned for future projects, but hope they tweak the approach to eliminate the downsides. I also hope they don’t simply keep innovating for the sake of it. If a project works well (as it seemed to last year – one creative telling of the story, great story-tellers, and a more cohesive approach) stick with it, making tweaks along the way.
The Passion Experience
At the end of the original post I suggested that people support the Passion Experience project as an alternative. It was following a similar approach to the EasterLive 2010 project, but encouraging users to sign-up to text updates on their phones (at no charge), or to receive them via email.
I signed up to receive the updates via text, and followed the instructions they sent back. Unfortunately, despite the process reporting that everything was OK, I didn’t receive any updates via text. I received them in my Twitter & Facebook streams, and by email. But not via text message. I had been relying on the text messages to break into my busyness during Holy Week and Easter preparations, providing a constructive disturbance and a chance to remember & reflect. The lack of updates detracted for the overall experience for me personally. However, I had encouraged others to sign-up (and 23 did via our Church affiliate link) and they successfully received text updates and found it really valuable.
So I received the updates via other means, and loved the content and found it really helpful (if not timely). It provided a manageable number of updates from one source, resulting in a more cohesive way that the Easter(LIVE) project.
On reflection, I think more people would’ve signed up if they realised they could follow in the Facebook stream (this didn’t appear to be made clear), rather than the slightly more complex text/Twitter sign-up process.
Conclusion
Both were innovative projects, attempting to use a new method for retelling and old story, and are to be commended. Both had weaknesses, but in spite of these, they were hugely valued by those who followed them. Each to their own ;o)
Questions…
- Did you participate in Easter(LIVE)? What has the feedback been like from your followers?
- Did you follow any Easter(LIVE) stories or the Passion Experience? What was the experience like for you?
- If you could make one suggestion for an improvement to future projects, what would it be?
Just seen this version of the 10 Commandments, rewritten for kids:
- Put God First: God is number one, everything else comes second.
- Nothing else is more important than God
- Don’t say ‘God’ when you don’t mean it
- Have a restful day – chillaxing every week
- Respect. Treat adults how you would like to be treated.
- Don’t hurt anybody
- Stick together/look after your friends
- Don’t take from anyone without permission
- Always tell the truth. Don’t lie
- Don’t want something others have got.
There’s another version posted there too.
These are the links I’ve bookmarked recently on Delicious [November 18th to November 19th]:
- Milton Keynes Schools Website -
- Facts and Figures on… 2005 English Church Census and Evangelicalism – General findings on church attendance in England from the 2005 English Church Census, including denominational figures, and statistics on evangelical growth and attendance.
- Adobe Kuler – application for generating color themes that can inspire any project. No matter what you’re creating, with Kuler you can experiment quickly with color variations and browse thousands of themes from the Kuler community.
Introducing the Natwivity (Twitter Nativity)
This Christmas, parents and grandparents will attend their childrens’ schools to watch their miniature shepherds, angels and inn keepers perform the Nativity story. This traditional retelling remains a huge part of Christmas in the UK and, for many, will be the only time they hear the Christmas message.
But many others – particularly those in their teens, 20s and 30s who are yet to have children – won’t have this opportunity. This is the internet generation, and although they are unlikely to cross the threshold of a school, they do spend a considerable amount of their time online.
The Natwivity (the Twitter Nativity) takes advantage of social media’s unparalleled capacity to engage people as they go about their everyday life to re-tell the Christmas story in a fresh, personal way. Available on Twitter and Facebook, people will be able to pick up the ‘tweets’ online in their homes, in the high street using their phones and at work.
The Natwivity will give this famous story an immediate, real-life feel, transforming them from people 2,000 years ago to friends of the user, who are going through the drama now. Followers will be able to read Mary’s angst as she tries to come to terms with the birth of her child, and hear from the stunned shepherds after their encounter with an angel.
Each 140-character entry will be a thought or comment from Mary, Joseph, collective wisemen and shepherds, with further entries from Herod, an Inn Keeper (and his wife) and friends of Mary and Joseph.
The project aims to…
- Reinforce the story of Christmas
- Allow the 21st century audience to engage with the story in a new way
- Create a space for Christians during a cluttered time of the year to remember the story
- Create a way for Christians to engage their friends with the story in a thought-provoking, yet fun way
What Now?
- Join in:
- Follow along on your preferred site: Twitter or Facebook
- Tell others to do the same!
The following is a letter I’ve written to the Editor of the MK Citizen in response to a recent article regarding concerns at Oakhill Secure Training Centre:
I read with interest your article last week regarding ‘possible abuse’ at Oakhill STC. I am an occasional visitor to Oakhill and have always found it to be an incredibly positive and supportive environment with excellent relationships between trainees and officers.
Your article seems to suggest that an ‘outstanding’ rating from Ofsted and an increase in physical restraint incidents must be mutually exclusive. I’d like to suggest that perhaps they are complementary.
We must remember that the staff at Oakhill are acutely aware of the reason the trainees are there and what they are capable of. I’m sure that physical restraint is absolutely the last resort. I wonder how many cases of physical harm (to staff & inmates) have been avoided by these physical restraint incidents.
I do not condone physical abuse of trainees and as an allegation has been made it should of course be investigated, but we must not allow the allegation to detract from the outstanding work being done by the Centre as a whole.
Rev. Ricky Rew
Bletchley
These are the links I’ve bookmarked recently on Delicious [November 17th to November 18th]:
- Online Bible Study Tools – Search Gateway to Resources – BibleStudyTools.com is the largest free online Bible website for verse search and in-depth studies.
- 500 Internal Server Error – 500 Internal Server Error
- Reel Life Wisdom – About Reel Life | Reel Life Wisdom – for inspiration-seeking movie quote lovers. It features the popular Movie Quote Directory, a collection of over 2,300 hand-picked quotes from films across the ages. Site users can search for great quotes by movie title, actor, and/or year.
These are the links I’ve bookmarked recently on Delicious [October 26th to November 4th]:
- Milton Keynes Safeguarding Childrens Board – Milton Keynes Safeguarding Children Board (MKSCB) is a statutory multi-agency group of senior managers which has been set up as part of the Every Child Matters reforms, and requires all organisations that work with children to co-operate to keep children safe from harm.
The MKSCB agrees how local services and professionals should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
At the heart of establishing the MKSCB is the desire to provide useful information and a user-friendly tool that will aid professionals, volunteers, children, young people, and their families to ensure safeguarding is everyone's business.
- 500 Internal Server Error – 500 Internal Server Error
- ‘Crash’ Director Paul Haggis Ditches Scientology – New York News – "I am only ashamed that I waited this many months to act. I hereby resign my membership in the Church of Scientology."
