Engaging the world, 140 characters at a time

Chad D. Brooks, current student, chapel intern

Regularly mentioned in television news outlets, among many other media formats, social networking has emerged from its infancy as an adolescent and college fascination to the main way in which the Internet is used. Facebook.com is the second most visited website on the Internet. Twitter.com is often used to receive comments through major news networks. At one time, these resources could be ignored and viewed simply as stuff for kids, but our Western culture is steadily growing into social media trends as primary means of online communication.

For some, social media is still a confusing topic. To put it briefly, these are web-based tools that allow communication in multiple directions, primarily through a connected network (such as followers, friends, etc.). They allow users to group themselves by a variety of interests and express themselves in multiple ways. They are able to customize profiles and homepages to create their own personal, interactive space on the Web.

Asbury Seminary primarily uses two forms of social media: Facebook and Twitter. We have been involved with each service for several years. Facebook is a user-based site that is profile-based and lets each user communicate in a variety of ways. Twitter is a micro-blogging site where users answer the question “What’s happening?” Users have 140 characters (letters and spaces) to use to interact with others in many different ways.

At Asbury, we have jumped into the deep end of the pool. We have an active fan site on Facebook in which the school can interact with students, alumni and friends. We also take advantage of the “groups” feature to organize events around campus, such as prayer meetings, special worship services and even New Student Orientation. Many of our students are coming either directly out of or are shortly removed from their bachelors work, and for them Facebook is an extremely familiar method of communication.

We use Twitter officially and unofficially in a variety of ways. We have official accounts for several departments, such as Alumni and Chapel as well as an official Asbury Seminary account. These are sometimes used to disperse information or to simply engage our community. Many of our students and staff use Twitter, and the school often has students tweet through classes and keep discussion going outside of the classroom through hashtags.

Both of these resources can be used by alumni to keep a finger on the pulse of the community of Asbury.

It is exciting being apart of the dreaming and designing of how Asbury uses these new forms of media to continue our mission of preparing a called community of men and women. As students, we are being prepared in the classical sense through the study of theory, language, exegesis and vital piety; but we are also being trained in communication to continue to engage our world at the edges of technology.

Asbury on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AsburySeminary

Asbury on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/asburyseminary

The Chapel Office Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/atschapel

Alumni Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/atsalumni