{"id":5015,"date":"2018-02-11T17:26:29","date_gmt":"2018-02-12T01:26:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/kateohare\/?p=5015"},"modified":"2018-02-11T18:01:07","modified_gmt":"2018-02-12T02:01:07","slug":"social-media-creativity-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kateohare\/2018\/02\/social-media-creativity-god\/","title":{"rendered":"What Social Media Taught Me About Creativity and God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Truth can be found almost anywhere, if you\u2019re looking. I think I may have found a bit in the wild and woolly world of social media.<\/p>\n

In my former life, I was a full-time entertainment journalist. You live and die by clicks and shares in modern journalism, so it\u2019s an unequivocal demonstration of what people care about, and what they don\u2019t. Now, I\u2019m a part-time journalist, a part-time screenwriter and a full-time social-media manager. The last, while not sounding nearly as interesting on the face of it (trust me, it is), has been startlingly instructive and a bit humbling.<\/p>\n

As my friends might tell you, \u201cI have a theory\u201d often comes out of my mouth. Amid the avalanche of information on how to create content that goes viral (or at least doesn\u2019t sink like a stone) \u2014 some boneheaded and some quite good \u2014 I\u2019ve boiled it down to a simple theory:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You can\u2019t force anyone to like anything. It\u2019s always a persuasion, a negotiation, and, at times, a futile pursuit. You can labor over something, put your heart and soul into it, and have the audience spit it out like cold oatmeal.<\/p>\n

As a creative person, you can opt for following the research and the polls and just deliver people what they say they like \u2014 which, near as I can tell, is cat videos, teen vampires and weird solutions to anything (or, if it\u2019s me, puppy and animal-friends videos, and personality quizzes) \u2014 but while that might please the audience, it\u2019s no fun for you. But if there\u2019s something you love, and that coincides with what the audience loves, well, that\u2019s just heaven.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Heaven, one supposes you could extend this theory to figuring out what we should do:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t fit neatly on the meme, but as for number two, I can also say \u2014 good luck with that. If you can figure out what God wants for you, bravo. But if you can bring what you want in line with what He wants, now there you have something.<\/p>\n

Does having composed these theories mean I always know what content works or what to do with my life? I wish. But the more I think about them, the more useful they are as a measuring stick and an instrument of humility.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s to hoping they\u2019re useful for you as well.<\/p>\n

Images: Creative Commons (license<\/a>)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss a thing: head over to my other home, as Social Media Manager at\u00a0Family Theater Productions<\/a>; and check out FTP\u2019s\u00a0Faith & Family Media Blog<\/a>, and our\u00a0YouTube Channel<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Truth can be found almost anywhere, if you\u2019re looking. I think I may have found a bit in the wild and woolly world of social media. In my former life, I was a full-time entertainment journalist. You live and die by clicks and shares in modern journalism, so it\u2019s an unequivocal demonstration of what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2174,"featured_media":5033,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,22],"tags":[1289,1292,718,1286],"class_list":["post-5015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital-media","category-social-media","tag-content","tag-discernment","tag-god","tag-social-media"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Social Media Taught Me About Creativity and God<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You put it out there, and people either like it, or they don't. 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