It’s a small world


The internet makes the world a small place sometimes, especially when it comes to connections. Being a bit sad, I regularly look at the search terms used to find my blog and also keep tabs on who’s linking to me. Well, a new link popped up today from ScottishChristian.com. The page is ‘highlighting’ Scottish Christian bloggers. I’m not sure I’d ever claim to be a highlight, bit I will admit to being a little chuffed to have been listed. You’ll also find a few familiar names on the lists (hence the ‘small world’ reference).

This made me think again of Stewart’s point about the use of social media technology and my recent thoughts on it. This, in my mind, is where the technology we have does become useful. Creating links and sharing resources. Maybe it’s not ‘community’ as I would have it but when I noticed my name in the list of links then there was a sense of ‘belonging’. Maybe that’s at the root of what Stewart’s getting at – a need for inclusiveness, a need to participate. I feel ‘part of’ that group of bloggers because I have been included and I participate. Any community, be it virtual or otherwise, be it secular or Christian, needs inclusiveness and participation before it will really work. That, I suspect, is the real challenge to social media – how to make it genuinely inclusive and participatory. (And, arguably, a challenge within our real communities as well.)

So, it’s a small world indeed, and one that we can be part of, but there are challenges to be faced if our small world is not to have communities which are still a million miles apart.


2 responses to “It’s a small world”

  1. I noticed that I was geeting hits from there too!
    I think one of the most powerful things about social media is the power to link people AND for those people to collect around issues and take action.  Loads of people must grumble about things.  The really ‘motivated’ would in the past write to newspapers and rant but that was often where it ended.  Now they can blog and tag and other people who share the same interests can find them and communicate.

    MeetUp is a great example of this.  Got an interest? Just enter it and where you live and Meet Up will tell you who is nearby that you can physically meet and share your interest with.  Online tools creating community.  Real community…

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