Social Networking and The Need to Know

The idea that your friends are my friends and my friends are your friends is sometimes a very interesting concept. How many people (person B) on Twitter or Facebook randomly show up on another friends network (person A) friend list and you KNOW they probably have zero connections? Maybe there are connections through the need to know. Here are my thoughts on some possible possibilities: 1. My friend 'A' came on my network and began seeing who is my influencers and found friend 'B'. Or friend 'B' came on my network and found friend 'A'. Or the 3rd reason, and I think more unlikely would be the randomness of me and friend 'A' stumbling on the same person. Now granted some leaders show up on ALL the networks because of their pull and popularity. Some however are in the shadows and for me a random blog led to an interesting article that linked to a poll that led to a Twitter that linked to a Youtube where a comment talked about a website that had a guest speaker who used an illustration that mentioned friend 'B'.

Now what is the point of this? To bash on people 'A' that they went through someones network and clicked and added all their friends? Clearly not. There are enough friends to go around! It is more the psyche of OUR need to KNOW! Social Networking has put complete strangers in each others own living rooms that may live hundreds or thousands of miles away. Social Networking has made our walls in our minds become a glass house so that random people can see in. Social Networking has made people of different economic classes sit down at the same table in a coffee shop for inspiration. Now of course none of these may have happened literally, but they happen ideologically, I can hear your heart, thoughts, opinions, hates, likes, tastes, etc as if we sat for a Vente (as if that really means anything other than a marketing tool) at a little table in a quaint coffee shop preferably not $tarbux (I don't like drinking muddy water & spend $6)!

When you look at tribal behavior in history, life lessons were taught by taking a young boy out and he had to kill a large threatening big game animal and live on his own in the land for 3 days then he entered manhood and learned what it 'took' to be a man. As time has gone on, writing and language was developed and then written down. Then electronics and video screens and computers. Now here we are where we have computers with social networks with complete profiles that give more information than our own friends know. Just last night I saw a young teen girl who sent out a message for all her friends to text her and gave out her cell phone publicly. I must interject myself and say this, be careful, be safe. Know your audience, there are people that don't deserve to live in society that are preying on people's Social Networks. Back to topic, because of this technology it has allowed the stories and life lessons to be shared with multitudes. Our need to know drives us to the place to know. Networking is the easiest 'place'. So if I want to get deep in a subject I will find friends who are there and see what are they sharing and who do they know who they get their information. This comes down to an internal argument whether we take it personal or take it as a compliment or even indifferent. I have chosen the indifference approach, it works well.

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The Generational Crisis

Check this out, nearly a third of younger employees would consider quitting their job if Facebook was banned in the workplace. The way many boomers respond to this is that they say they are a bunch of immature kids that need to grow up. But not forgetting the Millennials, they say, "Hey listen, if we are so immature then why are we the most educated generation in the history of mankind. The Millennial could be best described as adaptive, collaborative, updative, and integrated. Their ability to work together and dream a creative perspective of life is the driving force of the future!

Why else would Google, the largest most used search engine, be hit with a lawsuit about age discrimination? Google says that their company emphasizes "youth and energy." The strategy has led to a work force with an average age of under 30 and with less than 2 percent of employees over 40, according to the claim. Google employed just more than 1,600 people in 2003. 1600 new highers and only 2 percent are over 40. If you are not "Googling" Google to see what all they are doing then you need to start! As a leader/pastor/specialist this an interesting lesson learned.

So what is the problem? The disconnect! What is the disconnect? We have the most prolific generation we have ever seen. Watch the video below and see where we are headed but first read this:

Titus 2:1-8

1 Your job is to speak out on things that make for solid doctrine. 2 Guide older men into lives of temperance, dignity, and wisdom, into healthy faith, love, and endurance. 3 Guide older women into lives of reverence so they end up as neither gossips nor drunks, but models of goodness. 4 By looking at them, the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children, 5 be virtuous and pure, keep a good house, be good wives. We don’t want anyone looking down on God’s Message because of their behavior. 6 Also, guide the young men to live disciplined lives. 7 But mostly, show them all this by doing it yourself, incorruptible in your teaching, 8 your words solid and sane. Then anyone who is dead set against us, when he finds nothing weird or misguided, might eventually come around.

We have lost the generational bridge. The problem is that the bridge has crumpled from each side. Boomers don't see Millennials as focused, determined, respectful. All the while Millennials see Boomers as disassociated and unable to relate. They see all their issues as if they are the only humans to ever go through this problem.

So what does this all mean? Here is Ryan Adams attempt to address the larger issue:

• To the Boomers: seek to understand before you judge. Second guess your assumptions. Address the core issues, not the peripherals. Yes, some millennials are unproductive punks. Facebook may or may not have anything to do with it. Learn more about the tool first. And listen, really listen to a millennial when he tells you about it. Judge them by the output, not the methods.

• To the millennials: why so cocky? It makes enemies out of potential friends. We've got to learn to address other generations with a more respect and a less swagger. Use gentle persuasion techniques. Seek to inform, but only with humility. We do become punks when we become arrogant. You'll never influence a person by showing them how wrong they are. Be wise enough to recognize how wrong your ideas often turn out to be. That'll help keep you humble. (These are notes to myself...)

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