There is much more substance to social media these days than simply being able to keep in touch with friends and family, who live near or far. Maturation is taking hold and its influence in our world is blooming like a spring flower in May.
Social media is helping to change our world
In recent weeks, the entire world has watched the people of Egypt mobilize and overthrow their dictator through mobilizing tweets and instructive mobile text messages. In just a few days, forty years of dictatorial rule were ended by a united and determined people who demanded freedom.
Full credit must be given to new media for providing Egyptians with communication platforms and tools they never had before. For the first time in decades, the Egyptian people had real-time intra and extra communications to plan for. Through their connection to the free world they were united, inspired and supported. Five or ten years ago they may have found themselves fragmented, isolated, abandoned and crushed like their political soul mates did in China’s Tiananmen Square.
Since Moses brought the word of God to his fellow Jews in captivity in ancient Egypt, no other phenomenon has been so instrumental in freeing so many oppressed people. If these recent events are not the makings of a 21st century biblical story, there is no question that millions of Egyptians consider their new found freedom part of a modern miracle.
Every day, the man-made innovation we call Social Media helps improve the lives of many people, in a variety of ways, by connecting people with other people. It’s beautiful to watch when selfless people come together seeking a common bond in the best interest of many.
Social Media Is Helping Us Discover What We’ve Missed
Twitter recently helped a New York homeless man track down a daughter he hadn’t seen in 11 years. Twenty-seven-year-old Sarah Rivera was finally located by her father, Daniel Morales, after one of her tweets reached her through her network of 3,000 followers. At the time of their meeting, Morales had only been using Twitter for about three weeks. The day they met at a local park, Morales had the chance to hug two young grandchildren he never knew she had. Isn’t this a miracle?
This is just one of many similar happy endings we can credit social media for delivering. Think of all of our troops, abroad, who have corresponded with loved ones through email and YouTube videos, as well as on Facebook and even face-to-face via Skype. In our previous wars, families often knew nothing for weeks and months until letters arrived from the battlefield, many too late.
Today, mothers and children; wives and husbands; and kids and parents can say good night in real time. How good is that?
Social media is helping us help others in difficult times
And is there better news to share? In 2010, the Red Cross raised more than $800,000 for relief efforts in Haiti through its $10 text donation initiative, which was supported by the US Department of State. This is just one example of the growing use of social media as a fundraising tool. Billions of dollars in donations have been raised for various causes using a variety of social media platforms and tools. Saving the life of a starving child is a priceless miracle.
The Good Out – Weigh the not so good on social media
Each splinter lining resides within a dark cloud. We often hear about the many threats that social networks present to us. Sure, terrorist organizations use online sites to recruit their assassins and teach others how to build bombs that kill and maim innocent people. Yes, there are sexual predators who use the Web to lure young children into having sexual encounters with them outside the home.
It is also true that not a few people have been scammed out of their life savings over the Internet. And we have all been victimized or harassed by those who have stolen our identities; it has sent us tons of spam or infected our computers with viruses and malware. Human nature always seems to find a way to deliver BOTH good and bad results to us. That is sure. But, criminals and weirdos also exist online and offline.
Despite what’s wrong with social media, there seems to be a lot more “good” than “bad.” Like anything else that affects our daily lives to a great extent, we must always be careful and cautious whenever and wherever we open our lives to the outside world. This advice comes from life experience and is often given to help protect us from real and online threats.
Go ahead and call social media an over-the-top, embellished phenomenon. The sources of many “miracles” have been thought of that way for eons. The difference with social media is that we can easily document and validate most of their miracle claims. Perhaps God has had a hand in this whole social media miracle? The point here is not to debate religious claims or claim modern miracles, just to appreciate the value of social media in today’s world. He’s obviously making a difference and that in itself is a welcome miracle.