Methodist Twitter - Fake or just Unoriginal?

Image representing Twitter as depicted in Crun...Image via CrunchBase
My newest web program I'm enjoying is TwitZap, which allows me to follow channels ("topics") that I've chosen.  Naturally, I chose "Methodist" to see what the twitterverse was yacking about my home team.

And then the strange thing happened...three updates came within 45 minutes of each other.  Check them out.
  1. "Just made it home from the Job Seekers group at Alpharetta First United Methodist Church. Very engaged audience and lots of great questions." @taimingraleat
  2. "Just made it home from the Job Seekers group at Alpharetta First United Methodist Church. Very engaged audience and lots of great questions." @nayad94911
  3. "Just made it home from the Job Seekers group at Alpharetta First United Methodist Church. Very engaged audience and lots of great questions." @rickysteele 
OK, so what's going on here?  
  1. This is a canned response that these people got via email or other distribution and they set as their twitter status to advertize.
  2. These are fake updates used in an SEO strategy (they are from Mesa, Indianapolis, and Atlanta...how could they all go to Alpharetta UMC in northern AtlantaAnd why was the one of the above reading about Twitter SEO?)
I just find it weird that a United Methodist Church would use fake (or at least unoriginal) updates in this way to get people to come to their Job Seekers group.  While the ends are probably amazing and helpful to people, are these means really appropriate?

Did these people actually attend or did they not?  That's my question.

Enhanced by Zemanta

2 comments:

Jack April 20, 2009 at 11:11 AM  

tweetbeep works well too, but I've noticed the repetitious methodist tweets.

It doesn't really surprise me, given Christians' willingness to stay within the bubble and be catered to.

Its no more meaningful than a viagra spam message. ;)

Post Your Comment (click here for a pop-up comment form)

Questions? Read the "Four Responsibilities of Commenting"
Jazz hands! ~Jeremy

Comment via FriendConnect

Favorite Sites

Latest from the Methoblog

Search the Methodist World

Want to see more United Methodist responses to a topic? Enter the topic into this search engine and search ONLY methodist blogs and sites!

UMJeremy's shared items

Disclaimer: all original content reflects the personal opinions of Rev. Jeremy Smith, not the doctrinal positions or statements of the United Methodist Church local and global.
all linked or quoted content represent the source's opinions, not Jeremy or the United Methodist Church.

  Blogger Template © Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP