So here's a dilemma that didn't exist before I became a Christian and before my good friend Twitter came into my life:I'm on Twitter as @MJThelander. I joined to follow my friends from church, primarily, and to follow people I care about in Christian music and contemporary Christian thought. I follow Emergent Village. As a closet Christian songwriter I follow bands like Kutless, Mercy Me, David Crowder Band, Jon Lloyd Band and Fee, and artists like Kathryn Scott, Jeremy Camp, Vicky Beeching, Lincoln Brewster and Kristian Stanfill. I follow Christian thinkers and writers like William Paul Young, Rob Bell, Aaron Gardner, and my friend and Pastor Reed.
Twitter is one of the places I go to discover and express the things that really matter to me: I post links to my God-focused, faith-centric original songs; I post quotes and thoughts that resonate with my image (my memory?) of who and what God is and what he's after in our lives; I follow discussions of faith and redemption.
That's cool, huh? So... what's the big deal?
Well, my very nice employer is rapidly coming up to speed in all aspects of social media, with our own online user community, a commitment to blogging by senior staff members like me, and an authentic embrace of the transparency offered by social media.
You say, "Great Michael. I still don't see the problem."
Maybe there isn't one.
But I see it this way: I can post my current Twitter name on all my work-related thoughts and ideas, and fold these new Twitterers in amongst the emphatically passionate, vocal Christians I follow and speak to. That would reveal me in short order as the emphatically passionate, vocal, songwriting (of all things!) Christian I am, to anyone who cares to look. My last post was a sorrowful plea to God to heal the strife that lead to the death of the beautiful young Iranian girl named Neda on Sunday.
These are not the thoughts of a technology business marketing professional. It may even dilute my credibility. We have to be honest: we're faced daily by professional people who think Christianity is a weakness. Followers of Christ are not often the best choices for leadership roles in the rough-and-tumble world of technology marketing. If I were still in educational technology it would be severely career-limiting to align myself with overtly Christian thought leaders. It's a bit easier in mainstream technology... but I've noticed that the other Christians I work with play their faith very low key.
Or… I can create a new identity that neatly sidesteps all this mess. (I already have another ID called TheOtherMichael but no one's seen it yet.) It would be easy to use @MJThelander for the one side of my life, the part that matters the most and feels the most real to me, and use @TheOtherMichael for comments on cyber security, multi-platform technologies, and trends in infrastructure management for data centers. But what would that make me?
A liar, at worst. Another Christian caught between their faith and the real world at best.
So, what should I do? Have you experienced this particular Twitter dilemma? Have you solved it? I'm eager to hear your story.
1 comment:
Two thoughts:
First, do what would honor your employer. We're called to do that so long as what we're asked to do isn't contrary to our call.
Second, the separation of "Michael's" into separate accounts isn't so problematic for me. This is because it's a thin separation at best, easily discovered for anyone who would care to look. You're not purposefully dissimulating. All you're really doing (beyond honoring your employer by being a great employee) is filtering for people who desire channeled and focused information streams.
I for one will follow both accounts because I want to get to know more of your professional life. On the other hand, I imagine some others who are more acquainted with your professional life will want to follow your personal life account.
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