While a number of conclusions could be made, what I find most interesting is that now more then ever, we United Methodist are redefining what it means to be a part of a connectional system. Live webcasts, tweets, posts, and blogs all pertaining to GC2012 have flooded our feeds. Conversations have flourished amongst people who have never met in person. It seems that even for those of us who are not in Tampa, Florida we can still have a voice and be in dialogue.
It’s evident the United Methodist Church on the conference and global level is aware of this buzz too. A Facebook post from the Nebraska Annual Conference said, “Twitter just might be the most interesting place to follow General Conference.” The hashtag #GC2012 has been trending on Twitter. Finally, the United Methodist Reporter wrote an article just yesterday titled, “UMC Twitter Sub-Culture Grows at General Conference.”
Amongst all this buzz comes humor and entertainment too. The Communications Office at Garrett-Evangelical launched General Conference Bingo this morning a little after 10 a.m. (CST) as a means of entertainment while watching the live webcasts. Within in hour, we had over 600 visits to the webpage, over 40 re-tweets and tweets, and numerous Facebook comments and shares. One response that literally made me LOL came from @TheFakeUMCAC on Twitter, “@GarrettSeminary We prefer #gc2012 battleship, but still - great job on the game! Oh no! You sank my petition!”
One side effect of all this online chatter means that growing concerns on legislation that could have great impact on the UMC are escalated even more. The online conversations are twenty-four hours and filters we might apply when speaking to someone face to face are often muted. In the worse case scenarios, one might actually be engaging in online bullying under the disguise of dialogue. In particular, as the divisive legislation on inclusivity for our LGBT brothers and sisters once again comes to the forefront at General Conference.
As we head into the plenary sessions next week I anticipate the online chatter will only increase. And lets be honest, it’s going to get intense. Truly becoming a global Church does not come without growing pains in the process. That said, it is exciting to see our connectional system in action in Tampa, Florida and on the internet. Now, back to reading #GC2012 tweets.
Shane Nichols is the Manager of Communications & Events at Garrett-Evangelical. You'll often find him on Twitter @shane0206.
What's fascinating to me is how all of those tweets and posts created an image that apparently is far different from what is happening. I asked three Christian friends who had nothing to do with #GC2012 to read three pages of tweets and give me their impression. Then I asked three folks who are on the floor to tell me the "real" story regarding that content. While what happened was the same, the interpretation of events on the net was VERY different from the interpretation via a phone call. Thanks for your post, Shane. :)
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