I have been blogging from January 2006 to now, a little over 5 years. when I began there was a small but vibrant group of bloggers. Some of them still blog. Some of them have been swallowed up by the big sites Spectrum and Atoday, and some of them have just stopped blogging.
Independent Sites Providing News
while some have gone, others have come into the place. as noted above the fiercely independent Spectrum and Adventist Today both speak from a place that is not beholden to the church.
Interestingly enough there are other websites like Educate Truth. Educate Truth brought a story out and would not let it go away. In the past the story might have died, but the internet kept it around.
And then there is Facebook and Twitter. We find out things almost immediately now.
Official Channels Monopoly On News
You see when I was growing up, there was little information except through the official channels. Well, those days are long over. Some may not like it, but whether you like it or not, those days are over.
You are right now reading someone that you probably would not have been able to hear 20 years ago without. the Advent makes my work possible both here and in my other internet work. (Like SoulPreaching.Com)
You probably go on Facebook and read individual’s thoughts on every subject from President Obama to President Ted Wilson. You listen to sermons from various locations, not just your pastor and/or the media preachers. The Sabbath afternoon discussion is now on a global scale as you interact with people from Africa, Australia, Europe, and all over North America.
Local Conference Work Affected
Now the workings of Conferences are even being commented on. I saw another website seeking to be a place where laypeople and concerned workers can come to discuss church work and business The Forgotten Shepherdess. We discuss politics. We discuss sports. We even discuss other churches, well now it is time to discuss this church…
I just found the site not too long ago and what hit me about the site is that it appears to be exposing to the general public that which was usually and often only for privileged ears. The site has caused a stir at the Southwest Region Conference for they are now about to “formulate a policy regarding the proper behavior of an employee relative to Internet conduct via soical media sites and other online activities such as blogs…” You can find that here.
I guess they should have a policy, but if they think that restricting information will continue to work, I think there is a problem.
The answer is not to keep information from the people. That answer will not work. With Social Media sites like Facebook and Twitter turning everyone into publishers and free websites like blogger.com and wordpress.com providing free websites to anyone, the day of the conference controlling the people by controlling information has come to an end.
And I say with Edwin Hawkins “Oh Happy Day.”