Ever see those shows on HGTV where they take an unkept house overcome with weeds and flip it into something more beautiful and useful?
That's what I just did with my Facebook. I flipped it.
Don't get me wrong, Facebook is awesome. It's a tremendous tool for connecting and communicating. Heck, a large part of our church start-up's success has been on the back of Facebook.
My problem hasn't been with Facebook; my problem has been with me. I've had a flimsy Facebook Friend policy of accepting every Friend Request.This resulted in:
- Tons of Extra Noise: I am not interested in seeing pictures of what everyone is about to eat and a "Selfie" sounds like a rejected name for a deformed Smurf.
- Game Requests: I don't play games on Facebook because they all have titles featuring "Diamonds" or "Jewels" and let's face it, I'm a dude, not Liberace. Jewelry-themed video games don't interest me.
- Message Interruptions: I'm a pastor and leader, therefore I have the spiritual gift of people-pleasing, so frantically trying to reply to the constant onslaught of messages was wearing me out.
And so I flipped my flippin' Facebook.
I transformed my personal profile into a Page that still allows me to connect and communicate with everyone interested in Life Church and Cannonball, but that also protects my sanity.
The only part that weirds me out is that Facebook requires you to "Like" me and become my "Fan." Those terms don't jive with me, but it's the price of admission to use Facebook Pages, I suppose. So push pass those terms and embrace the fun we'll have along the way.
I also set up a new, private profile for Friends. If we share flesh-and-blood (family) or we closely do life together (a small, small handful of real-life friends), we'll connect there and I'll check in once a week or so. But the real party is now at Facebook.com/FollowJon.
So there you go. I flipped my Facebook.
And for what it's worth, you can find more ways for us to connect here.
