Nuff said: Social media help, smart phones and dumb people, ministry to youth on social media

We all (but especially teens and collegians) need social media skills and etiquette instruction.

Consider the following from a blog entry on Hootsuite:

In theirannual social recruiting survey,Jobvitediscovered that:

• 94% of employers are likely to look at your social media profiles
• 94% look at a candidate’s LinkedIn profile
• 55-65% look at candidate’s Twitter and Facebook
• 78% recruited through a social network in 2013

The numbers are showing us that employers are not only vetting candidates on social media, but allowing public profiles to negatively influence their decisions. Specifically:

• 83% said references to illegal drugs
• 71% said posts of a sexual natural and
• Over 65% said bad grammar and profanity

This should sober teens and young adults. Your social media is not an outlet for your rage, gossip and opinion. It’s a shaper of the opinions of others.. about you.

You mayhave seen this video by Gary Turk. It’s another powerful reminder of where social media should fall in the grand scheme of things.

“We’re a generation of idiots – smart phones and dumb people.”

After posting it, it soared to over 34 million hits on YouTube. It’s called “Look Up.”

Finally, there’s a great entry called Living for Likes: 9Social Media Principles For Youth Workers here. A brief summary:

1. Let them know you care and notice.”Students are seeking input. It’san opportunity to encourage students — on the good things.”
2. Don’t interact too much. Affirm and engage.. but don’t obsess.
3. Direct them toward community outside of your gathered community. Let them know genuine relationships thrive through communication.
4. Reminders – whether of events or scriptural points – reinforce.
5. “Celebrate the good things.” Encourage and cheer when they post a scripture or share their faith on social media.
6. Comments = care.Interacting goes a long way. Two caveats: watch the sarcasm and don’t play favorites.
7. Context. Connect your youth to the church by mentioning church media accounts and posts.
8. “Only simple,pure andgood uses.” Make Philippians 4:8 your mantra.
9. Teach that life is more than social media, and it’s to be used to show what real life is about.

And just when you were feeling a little smarter about your social media use:

25 Things That Make You Look Dumb on Twitter

Ryan Pinkham on the Constant Contact blog shares 25really practical tips for those of you who are new-ish to Twitter. I’ve been using it since March 2007 (7 years?! Whoa.), and I still need to be reminded of effective ways to use it. Here are three that I abuse the most often:

• Not leaving enough space to retweet.
• Tweeting too often
• Not responding to tweets

What do you see on the list that will help you improve? Share it in the comments. Your identification of an area of improvement may help those who don’t “click through” on these links to improve their own social media skills.