Deanna Doss Shrodes

Popping off online with a sarcastic quip when I’m unhappy about something  is one of my biggest temptations. I know I’m not alone in this because I see a lot of people do it, even leaders. The times I engage in this a re extremely rare to non-existent however I am sorely tempted many times . I know it's important to have this under control. If I'm going to be effective , there's no question I have to be extremely careful with what I post. My boss and I were talking about leadership one day and he made the remark that the higher we go in leadership the less freedom we have. I couldn't agree more. Let's say as a pastor, I had a terrible experience in a Sunday morning service where everything went wrong. The sound. The media. Evvvvvverything.  It is tempting for me to go online right afterwards and post,  "Why couldn't the rapture have come at exactly 10:45?"    or, "Some Sunday mornings require Xanax." Yeah, I have totally posted...

Social media is a power tool and quite frankly, some people aren't mature enough for it. Would you allow your two year old to use a chain saw? Surely not. Growth in age and wisdom must come before properly and safely using a power tool.  In the hands of the immature, power tools are dangerous. All maturity does not automatically come with age. It must be cultivated.  Social media is a power tool that some full grown adults are not ready for.  Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, and texting opened a whole new can of worms for those who serve in leadership. The changes have been mostly good. These tools have made my job 100% easier in so many ways, not to mention ripe with unprecedented opportunity. At the same time these wonderful tools have also become platforms for bad behavior and perhaps the worst display of immaturity throughout the annals of history. People say things through e-mail, text, Facebook and Twitter that they would probably never say in person. Sitting beh...

I've been wanting to write about this for a while and there's never a good time. The reason for this is that every single day one of the 1,326 people on my Facebook friends list is guilty of this behavior. And I know when I call it out, at least one of those 1,326 people will take it personally.  I'll probably get an e-mail or a vaguebook slam from somebody who doesn't have the character to face their issues instead of Facebook them.  So I let it go. But today I woke up saying, "I'm going to address this today and let the chips fall where they may."  I'm calling these behaviors out that cause many to think you're a Facebook fiend rather than a Facebook friend.  1) Vaguebooking.  In case you don't know what this is, read my two posts on it here and here . These posts got more feedback on my Facebook, Twitter and private inbox than possibly any other posts I've written. It appears that the majority of people apparently hate this an...

I got a total shockeroo earlier this week. Today I'm going to share something I believe is valuable for some of you who, like me, never knew this existed up to now.   Earlier this week, someone made me aware of "Other Messages" on Facebook. I never knew there were anything other than just plain ol' Messages. Did you? I read mine and was absolutely stunned by what I found. "Other Messages"are ones people who are not your friends on Facebook may send you, in an effort to get in touch with you about something. Or people you have deleted. Or people who have deleted you. And I'm not sure who else, but in any case, there are probably "other messages" out there waiting for you. Now, I know you might not care about people who have deleted you or who you have deleted, but there are some other folks that you really might want to hear from. Once I was made aware of my "Other Messages" I promptly went there and could hardly believe my eyes....

One surefire way to kill your influence in social media and wear out your welcome fast is to become involved in derailing somebody’s comment thread with your own agenda. Networking and hijacking aren’t the same thing. It’s surprising how many people don’t understand that this is a guarantee for tearing down a platform as quickly as you build it. Passion is good, even necessary. I appreciate people's zeal for their personal core values. What is not appreciated is the attempt at a redirection of a comment thread when the comment has little or nothing to do with an original post or is twisted at best. Social media provides ample opportunity for all of us to share what’s important to us on our own platform. Eliciting others’ responses and developing connections largely depends on our ability to communicate and compel. Some people are open to receiving private communication from others although they aren’t always able to answer personally or at length. But hijacking a comment threa...