This is from an acquaintance of mine in Chicago. I think he does a great job explaining the value of the latest social networking technology.

caffeine, please.: Forming relational capillaries, one tweet at a time: “Forming relational capillaries, one tweet at a time

After our evening worship gathering at Lincoln Park last night I had a great chat with a bunch of guys about Twitter, Facebook, blogs, emails and the role of technology in fostering community life.  These men were all 20 something and had been somewhat shaped by technology in their formative years.  All of them were open to and appreciative of technology as a tool to connect.

Here’s my conviction–the faster technology moves, the more important it is for spiritual leaders to harness it as a tool to slow down and feed relationships for interconnectedness.  Mark Batterson calls this ‘digital discipleship’ and that’s how I view my participation in tweeting, blogging, Facebooking and texting.

Some naysayers say, ‘status updates, instant messaging, tweets and blogs are indulgent–nobody cares about the minutae of your life.’  I disagree.  In fact, the minutae of life forms the mortar of close relationships.  Some of my most treasured pieces of knowledge about my wife are the little bits about her that are mundane but precious to me. 

Connecting with the minutae of other peoples’ lives makes me feel like I’m in a small town in the midst of a big city.  Urban life takes away many of our capillary-level relationship connections but technology gives them back.  Good tissue–living tissue–needs capillaries to feed it and make it fully healthy.  When I Tweet, I form a capillary between me and others.”