5 Reasons to Be Like Jesus in Social Media

Gotcha! As you well know, this is not a religious blog. However, I see a lot of articles that lead me to believe that starting out as a presence on the internet is intimidating, scary, new and confusing.

It is easy enough to start a blog. It is easy to create a Twitter account, even if you don't know exactly why you did it at first.

However, what do you do once you get there? Are there rules?

There is a religious saying, "What Would Jesus Do?", and I think it easily applies here.

Here are five reasons to think about Jesus in Web 2.0:

Jesus had a message - Jesus knew what he set out to say and reinforced that message in many different ways. He told stories (parables) and set examples.

Jesus used Word of Mouth - There was no internet back then! And yet, some how Jesus made his message viral, causing crowds to come see what he had to say. Jesus didn't do it by himself - he used disciples who spread the messages and stories he was telling. You might even say that Jesus was able to harness the power of Word of Mouth by packaging his message in a platable way. Leading to the next reason...

Jesus made the message interesting - I remember thinking at one point, "Why is he telling these adult men bedtime stories?" However, everyone, young and old, loves a good story. So Jesus never went around shouting things like, "God loves you! Listen to me! He really loves you!" He offered positive messages of hope, making his message into something interesting that people would want to hear. Jesus used parables to show instead of tell. Speaking of shouting...

Jesus didn't broadcast - Jesus was successful in spreading his message by not being "that guy" and pushing his message at everyone by running around and shouting. He taught sermons to those who wanted to listen and let them help spread his words.

Finally, one of the more important reasons to consider Jesus on the web:

Jesus was positive - Jesus did not become famous by being snarky. For many using the Web to reach out to people, being rude does not grow your community. (Unless you happen to blog about celebrity weight gain, apparently.)

Now, I'm not a strongly religious person, but keeping these reasons in mind couldn't hurt when forming an image on the web.