How Much is Too Much?

I’ve dropped the UNFOLLOW hammer on Twitter a lot recently. Why? I posted a tweet the other day that read:

I have found that “regular” people are a whole lot more fun to follow on Twitter than the “big names.” Am I the only one?

I think I have found my answer, and the answer is a resounding, “Yes!” Turns out, I’m not the only one. I’ve un-followed three of the bigger names in the Christian community in the past few weeks because, frankly, they’ve been obnoxious:

Buy my book. Buy my CD. Read my blog. Come to my tour. Watch me do this. Watch me do that. Look at what so-and-so said about me. They are mean. Aren’t I great? Whoops, I mean, “Isn’t God great?”.com

I read their blogs and it’s more of the same. To be fair, I participate in the above at some level (although the only book I’ve written was for a third grade English assignment), but hopefully I am contributing something more to the social media communities Im involved in than just, “LOOK. AT. ME. Please!“

So my question is “How much self-exposure/promotion is too much?” I understand that part of the joy of social media is letting people know what’s going on in your life. I also understand that people are excited about what they are doing and what they’re producing. I do, I get that. But does there come a point where it crosses over from being self-disclosure and into self-exposure?

When do we cross the line from transparency over to voyeurism? Most of the un-following I’ve done is because these people have shared too much with me and the venue in which they have shared it is inappropriate. In the words of Michael Scott: TMI, Pam. TMI.

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Contributor: Justin Wise

A religious deviant who enjoys coffee, collared shirts, spending time with his wife and son, learning about quantum physics and creatively exploring the riches of the Spirit of Christ. Culture + Faith + Technology. Contact the author
  • I fully agree with you. Even though I am new to Twitter, it seems just like tele-evangelist. They have that same mentality of "Look at me". Why is it the larger you get in the Christian community, the more that seems apparent? Why can't it be the exact opposite, the more well-known you get, the more transparent, open, and real you become. I think that is what draws me to your blog daily, is that sense of transparency.
  • Marc
    Absolutely. It's what I like about twitter as opposed to facebook or myspace, there's only so much room for something, so you'd better make it good, but then you don't have to tell everything about yourself either. The "less is more" approach is something I try to strive for in a lot of things.
  • Amen! That's why I gave up Twitter after 2 months with it. Too much noise. I'm thinking about starting again and just following close friends. Twitter's getting a lot of hype by big-name folks because (I think) they think it's a great way to share 'important' information with a big audience, but I think they overestimate how much tolerance/interest people have for self-promotion.
  • Jim
    btw,when you're done reading this,come over to my blog and hang out.i'm a no-name, no-nonesense pastor/geek. JK!LOL
    i know what you mean, oftentimes the ones with the loudest words are the ones with the smallest brains. i'm not going to kid you, i seriously will not blog unless i get inspired. right now i'm sitting on 2-3 weeks of stuff to blog about. But I'm taking my time. It's got to be natural.
    I also don't always want to know about your online church services. It gets to be like spam.
    nuff said
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