OK, before you think I’ve totally lost my mind, hear me out. The more I thought about it, the more I realized what an incredible tool this could be for any group that requires good communication. When was the last time you got a prayer request from the prayer chain, but didn’t hear the results until a week or two later?  Or you found out that a story about your benign trip to the ER had gone around (in love and concern, of course!) and the story turned up as a tragic brush with death? And one simple change in a plan requires a dozen or more calls to let everyone know?

If you’re not familiar with Twitter, it’s like a fast food version of Facebook. It takes about 3 minutes to sign up (if that!) and you are allowed ONLY 140 characters to say what you have to say. That ALONE has been really good for me since I have a tendency to use way too many words to say something. In short, the biggest advantage is it’s simplicity and efficiency. Even those that claim to be “tech challenged” will find it super simple and quick to use.

When I first heard of Twitter, I honestly thought it was ridiculous, and for some, it still is. However, I think there are some possibilities for using Twitter, like what I’m about to try to describe-that could be extremely good!

Let’s start with the process: Each woman would sign up with a separate account on Twitter. This would be an account that would be only for the group in question. For instance, if your church’s name is First Community Christian, you could start the ID’s with, FCC, then your name, like FCC-Debbie. I’m thinking that these accounts would need to be protected, so you didn’t have outsiders randomly adding you. When  you saw the code for your church, you would add that lady. Then, when the conversations are only the group you want, you can twitter significant information, and even not-so-significant information!

Think about it. If you have a lunch/Bible study, and everyone is bringing something, you can Twitter it, and it’s there for everyone to see, so everyone knows what others are bringing. You can check it at any time of day or night, without calling this person, then that person and so on. You could also Twitter things that you would never email or call someone about, but would be nice to know. For instance, in our church we share everything….especially germs. It’s always nice to know if something like Strep is going around, so if your child has a sore throat, you might pay closer attention to it. And vice versa.  You could ask for solutions to little things, or a recipe, (you’d have to then email the recipe, of course) and other mom to mom things. I think this could bring groups together in a new way. The amount of phone time saved could be monumental!

but the best part would be….

The ability to be more sensitive to other’s needs, to encourage each other in the little things, and the precious time that you actually see each other doesn’t need to spent on just catching up on the details. I think women could get to know each other on a new level. Without spending inordinate time away from their homes and responsibilities OR on the phone. Just think of all you could share– Quickly.

I don’t know, what do you think? Any system is dependent on the people using it, of course. It was just an idea I had in response to a new ‘email’ program our church is trying…. and I get the shakes just  thinking about MORE emails….