I don’t consider myself a big-time blogger. There are many Christian bloggers with readerships far larger than mine. Neither do I consider my blog to be the home of the best content on the Internet. I know of many blogs with better content and superior authors. Indeed, I am still a novice in the blogosphere, and I have much to learn. But perhaps my perspective as a novice can offer some encouragement to current and potential bloggers. In the relatively short time I have been blogging (my seven-day-a-week blog schedule is only six months old), annualized page views have passed Read the full article…
16
Jan 2013
Seven Lessons on Blogging from the Last Three Years
January 16, 2013 30 Comments
Filed Under: Social Media
04
Sep 2012
Organizations Lose $1.3 Trillion by Not Engaging in Social Media
September 4, 2012 4 Comments
I was shocked. Two presidents of organizations began using Twitter in the past two months. These are presidents I know well, leaders who for years saw no value in Twitter or other social media. As one told me, he had moved over to the dark side. These leaders are not alone. Only 20 of the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies engage in Twitter. But my guess is that many of them will be moving to “the dark side” as well. The evidence is building rapidly. Your organization is at a distinct disadvantage if it does not embrace social media with Read the full article…
Filed Under: Social Media
21
Aug 2012
The Parental Factor
August 21, 2012 1 Comment
The research we gathered for The Millennials showed that Millennials (those born between 1980 and 2000) are strongly connected to their parents. We cited how important family is to this generation. Indeed there is not a close second in importance. Family was deemed really important in life by 61 percent of the Millennials. The second most important factor was friends, at only 25 percent. Again, once we delve into all the family matters, the relationship between parents and Millennials is nothing less than remarkable. More than one-half (51 percent) of the generation says that their parents have a strongly positive influence Read the full article…
Filed Under: Family, Social Media
08
Aug 2012
Tools can be used for good and evil. That is certainly the case with the social media tool called Twitter. Tens of thousands of reviews and commentary have been written about the simple yet powerful communication device. Allow me to add my voice now that Twitter has been a part of my life for several years. The Early Days Twitter was launched in 2006, but it really gained recognition and momentum a year later in 2007. My son, Sam Rainer, was an early adopter. He convinced me to try to the tool. I was a skeptic. Why should I waste my Read the full article…
Filed Under: Social Media
08
Aug 2012
Tools can be used for good and evil. That is certainly the case with the social media tool called Twitter. Tens of thousands of reviews and commentary have been written about the simple yet powerful communication device. Allow me to add my voice now that Twitter has been a part of my life for several years. The Early Days Twitter was launched in 2006, but it really gained recognition and momentum a year later in 2007. My son, Sam Rainer, was an early adopter. He convinced me to try to the tool. I was a skeptic. Why should I waste my Read the full article…
Filed Under: Social Media
25
Jul 2012
Do I Set the Right Tone on My Blog?
July 25, 2012 5 Comments
The question is not rhetorical. I ask myself the question frequently and I ask others to critique me. I noted in an earlier post that I tend to avoid controversial and divisive blog posts. Maybe I just worry about these matters too much. But I am concerned about how I communicate in the blogosphere. The Background I recently reviewed the issue about tone in blog posts when I was reading another book on blogging. I was not an early adopter in the blogosphere, so I sense the need to educate myself as much as possible. The author wrote several pages Read the full article…
Filed Under: Leadership, Social Media
06
May 2011
HindSight (May 6, 2011)
May 6, 2011 1 Comment
Household size is growing, after 50 year decline. Although the uptick is minimal, this trend is healthy and follows most predictions for population growth. How to avoid conversational narcissism. This piece is intriguing and helpful and challenging. Facebook garners more than 31% of US ad market. An astounding metric for businesses to heed. Missional Manifesto. An excellent resource that seeks to advance, define and clarify what "missional" means. LifeWay’s own Ed Stetzer and Philip Nation are among the framers. 4 ways to measure social media ROI. Good insight on a mix of models to help businesses measure the impact of Read the full article…
Filed Under: HindSight, Social Media Tagged With: advertising, census, Facebook, missional
23
Mar 2011
Leadership Lessons from the Social Media
March 23, 2011 4 Comments
In a recent blog on Harvard Business Review, Jodi Glickman notes that young adults in the workplace are abandoning emails and moving toward social media as one of their primary modes of communication, Because social media is so, well, social, the lines are becoming increasingly blurred between business and personal matters. As an older American of 55 years, I was a later adopter to the blogosphere and Facebook, but I was an earlier adopter to Twitter. I guess there was something appealing to me about communicating in 140 characters or less. Like Glickman notes in her blog, I have learned Read the full article…
Filed Under: Leadership, Social Media
12
Nov 2010
Coming Soon!
November 12, 2010 Leave a Comment
I am pleased to announce a fresh launch for ThomRainer.com, coming in January 2011. I’m excited about offering new content and adding something I didn’t offer before: reader comments. The new format will allow readers to dialogue about the topics under discussion. A little more work is needed to get things up and running again, so I appreciate your patience. Thank you for your interest in my blog and for your readership. Great days are ahead, so stay tuned . . .
Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: Announcement, Blog
01
Jun 2009
Ten Reasons I Use Twitter
June 1, 2009 Leave a Comment
Almost a year ago I joined the microblogging phenomenon called Twitter. As common with many people, I doubted its value at the onset. What could one possibly communicate in 140 characters or less? But I did join the Twitterverse, and its value has far exceeded my expectations. My oldest son, Sam, introduced me to this new world, and uber-tweeter Ed Stetzer (@EdStetzer) has mentored this aging baby boomer in the world of Twitter. It seems a bit strange that I now identify people with “@” in front of their names. But it is even stranger that it seems normal to Read the full article…
Filed Under: Leadership, Social Media Tagged With: Leadership, Social Media, Twitter
