Codex ContentThe City is Not a Social Network
The City is a Community Network, not a Social Network.
To address a common misunderstanding, I’ll employ a little self-Socratic method…
Why draw a distinction from Social Networking?
I mean after all, everyone understands what a social network is, and if we’re to be engaging culture shouldn’t we be engaging on the same soil?
I don’t think so. The redemption of different aspects of culture means handling them differently in some cases, and I think we must transform the traditional social networking experience if it is going to lead to the life transformation experience of a personal encounter with Christ.
No one is going to see the light of Christ through how big my Mob on Facebook is, or whether I ‘poke’ them enough, or through what ‘cities i have visited’, or any of the other diversions which a typical social network provides. There is a difference between diversion and depth and the medium reinforces the message.
Aren’t you being a bit tough on games/leisure as a part of the online experience?
Let me ask you this question…is our culture suffering from a lack of leisure? Is more leisure going to transform our communities?
What makes the City more Community than Social?
A social network is centered around the individual…my friends, my media, my blog, my connections, my thoughts, my experiences, my pictures, etc…whereas a Community Network is centered around the Community, groupings of people, real relationships forge the bonds, not imaginary ties that have aspirations to reality. My becomes our and I think that’s a significant change…significant enough to warrant a different name in my mind.
This isn’t just a clever branding technique to differentiate The City from other offerings…everything about The City is geared to build up a community of people and not the community of one.
What about…(insert objection here)
Yeah, I know that having a Facebook strategy is a good thing to have for us ministry folks…in fact, I think we’ve got a pretty good presence on Facebook and I think it is excellent for getting the word out. But that’s also a different objective than building a transformative community. Both necessary, but very different from one another.
Coming posts…I just realized that we’ve disclosed precious little about what the City actually looks like and what it does. I plan to change that!
Keep up the good work Zack. I just signed on the city for the first time yesterday and I am very impressed–especially in the way it reflects the other city we Christians are members of. May God continue to bless your work and grant you clear vision.
[...] a great new way for Mars Hill folks to network with each other in a way that reflects real life instead of replacing it like other social networking sites. And now The City has moved into the Beta stage! What’s that mean? Big improvements have been [...]
[...] a great new way for Mars Hill folks to network with each other in a way that reflects real life instead of replacing it like other social networking sites. And now The City has moved into the Beta stage! Though it is not a member’s only site, new [...]
[...] a great new way for Mars Hill folks to network with each other in a way that reflects real life instead of replacing it like other social networking sites. And now The City has moved into the Beta stage! Though it is not a member’s only site, new [...]
[...] and communicate with each other in a manner that reflects real life, reinforcing existing community instead of replacing it like other social networking sites. The majority of the membership process happens on The City, so get plugged in! Though it is not a [...]
[...] and communicate with each other in a manner that reflects real life, reinforcing existing community instead of replacing it like other social networking sites. The majority of the membership process happens on The City, so get plugged in! Though it is not a [...]