With the increasing popularity of social media such as Facebook and Twitter, there are lots of advantages for missionaries to use these media for both local ministry, and ministry with supporters in the home country.  I have been using Facebook for about two years now, and Twitter for one year.  There is lots to like but it is a continual challenge to make them work for me as a ministry tool and not turn into an entertaining distraction.  I speak as one who uses both Facebook and Twitter and is continuing to think through how best to use them.  Facebook and Twitter are not used in exactly the same way, and depending upon what you want to accomplish, you might choose one over the other.  In general, Facebook is good for connecting people that you actually know, whereas Twitter is good for connecting with people who share common interests.  Soren Gordhamer’s article, “When Do You Use Facebook vs. Twitter?” gives a more detailed breakdown of why you’d choose to use one over the other.  However, for the purposes of this post, I am going to lump Facebook and Twitter together because there are a lot of commonalities between them.

As red shirt protesters swarm into Bangkok, blocking roads and surrounding military headquarters, I have been fascinated to watch the developments unfold on Twitter.  An assortment of foreign journalists, local expats, and Thai people on the ground are constantly tweeting (i.e. sending updates via Twitter) about the latest movements of the red shirt protesters.  While the up-to-the-minute updates are mostly reports of where the red shirts are now, you also get a fair amount of commentary from foreigners and Thai alike on how they feel about what's going on.  Here's a screen shot of the Twitter feed on the topic of #redshirts: