About ten years ago, I began a Myspace page for my youth group.  At the time, it was the best way for me to get information to my students.  I had previously been using a product called Xanga, but my students thought that was a bit too old for them.  Then there irrupted a phenomenally more powerful social media site which brought Myspace to it’s knees and my students to it’s feet.  Facebook was born, and all the world groveled at it’s feet.  I struggled to get acclimated to the new format, but found that all my friends were already on the new site, and my students shortly followed. 

That model of social media sustained our group for almost six years, until I began to dabble in Twitter.  Not really knowing the purpose of twitter, I just started posting and finding interesting people to follow.  Then, day by day, the share of my students on Facebook began to dwindle.  It’s not that they canceled their profiles they just stopped using it.  I began to notice their activity ramp up on Twitter and this new addition called Instagram. 

Instagram, I thought at first, was a redundant format that added no practical value to the social media experience.  So when Pinterest popped up, I had no desire to get involved. 

But this morning, my idea of practical value got a major overhaul.  The recipient, not the sender, determines the value of the platform, and the information that we put on it. 

Just as important as the Bulk Mailer of the pre-internet era, the value is only measured by those who find the information useful.  Also, the necessity of the platform is determined by the degree of interest maintained by the.  If the information presented is also only valuable if people see it. 

Information that is worth sharing is worth presenting on whatever format your audience prefers. 

www.facebook.com/jeremyawalker

www.twitter.com/jeremyawalker

www.pinterest.com/jeremyawalker

www.instagram.com/jeremyawalker

Granted, there are more social media sites than these, but I’ve only got ten fingers…