DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
Most Tweeted Pic in History
© NaimaLett.com/blog



© @BarackObama

Boy, have times changed.

The headline I woke up to this morning on my news feed was:
“President Barack Obama Defeats Justin Bieber”
No lie.

In terms of full disclosure, that was just one of my news feeds… the entertainment one!

After being re-elected as America’s 44th Commander in Chief last night, President Barack Obama tweeted the above picture of him and First Lady Michelle with tag “Four more years”.

That’s when social media went all Jetsons and catapulted the President into internet history.

With 732,598 retweets (and counting) on Twitter and 3,542,924 LIKES and 462,849 SHARES (and counting) on Facebook, the President trumped Justin Bieber’s record 223,435 retweets of his message to fan Avalanna who succumbed to illness earlier in the year.

Other folks on that Top 10 re-tweet list were TJ Lang (98K), Floyd Mayweather (89K), Kim Kardashian (68K), Lady GaGa (38K), Katy Perry (33K) and Rihanna (29K).

I haven’t quite figured it out yet, but apparently, who “trends” and “tops” the social media list is a BIG deal, which means it’s a BIG deal in culture, which means it’s a BIG deal to me/us.

Whether we voted for President Barack Obama or Governor Mitt Romney, we must begin to embrace that times are changing.

TIMES ARE CHANGING

Entire elections are won and loss based on a candidate’s ability to galvanize his/her base through social media.

The President’s campaign managers figured that out 4 years ago which has resulted in amassing an impressive Twitter following of 22,758,410 people, #5 after Lady GaGa (26 yrs old), Justin Bieber (18), Katy Perry (28) and Rihanna (24). Trailing him is Britney Spears (30) and Taylor Swift (22).

Does it make sense that our 51-year old President is trending and topping the likes of this generation’s pop superstars, all but one under the age of 30?

WAKE UP CALL

This is not just a wake up call to all candidates this morning.
It’s a wake up call to me, and hopefully to you.

I don’t know about you, but I have resisted social media. Many folks of faith have.

I’m candid, by birth, and very open with my life (as you can read daily); but I’m also fiercely protective of those closest to me (especially my family) and very private. I don’t think everyone should know when and where I’m eating dinner, grocery shopping or going on vacation. I’ve been in houses that were broken into, received stalker-type emails and seen a dear friend who is a celebrity live through a horrible stalker situation. I’ve had the hardest time figuring out why I’m supposed to CHECK IN on social media when I arrive places and TWEET play-by-play pics while I’m there.

My husband had to convince me to join Facebook, which quickly maxed out my old page with over 5,400 LIKES and is now at over 4,000 LIKES on my main FACEBOOK page. Most are not the same people. If anybody knows how to get everybody onto one page, please let me know. What I like most is the dialogue and interaction. When we can get to discussing stuff, it’s great.

Kevin also persuaded me to join TWITTER and start tweeting. Why? Because his entrepreneurial gift allows him to see trends long before they’re hot. But I must confess, I haven’t really understood it, so I haven’t really known quite what to do with it…

UNTIL NOW

Whether you agree with President Barack Obama or not, you have to admit that being able to daily reach over 22 million people with a simple tweet is impressive, and it no doubt played into his re-election. It’s called influence.

Want to know what our young people are thinking, saying and wearing? Just look at the top of the Twitter feed. What are Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Rihanna and President Barack Obama thinking, saying and wearing? That’s who is influencing them.

Justin’s mom and Katy’s mom and dad recently attended a prayer event here in Hollywood and asked our family of faith to keep their children lifted up in prayer since they grew up in Christian homes and have been given such influence over an entire generation. We prayed for them and continue to pray for them because, like it or not, what they do impacts MILLIONS of others. MILLIONS.

Should we not want to influence others as well?
Where are our voices in the midst?

I’ve been mulling over John 15 lately and this concept of fruitfulness. Jesus tells His disciples to remain in Him, as branches are connected to a vine, in order to be more fruitful. Get this. In verse 8, He says, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

God’s glory is that we bear much fruit. I don’t have the space to really unpack this here, but I’d argue that the fruit has more to do with people than just deeds, especially since the following passage teaches us greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends. Are we bearing fruit? Are we making disciples? Are we influencing those in our circles?

My friend, Karen Davis, called me this morning to ask me to speak to the group of women that she leads next week about their influence. She had no idea I’ve been wrestling with this for over a week now, but it’s so right on time.

WHO ARE YOU…

So, who are you influencing?
We may not have 22 million Twitter followers, but are we finding ways to encourage whatever number we have?

Something to ponder.
Something to ponder,
Naima

Who are you influencing?
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