What would you like to be called?

Lauren Hunter at Church Tech Today published a new post this week about 5 Pinterest marketing strategies for churches.  

There’s been a lot of buzz around Pinterest (leave your email in a comment below if you want an invite) because its use, especially by women, is soaring. Recently, when Pinterest policies came under scrutiny for potential copyright issues I began thinking about how we share and promote our interests without infringing on others’ rights, and exploring what kinds of pins people are sharing. (For more on the copyright concerns, here is the February blog post from lawyer and photographer Kirsten Kowalski and a blog post from today’s Wall Street Journal. I follow a lot of people and boards on Pinterest because they pin images that reflect beauty and inspiration in ways that I understand. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Sacred paths by @ChSocm
Places by Yoichi S
Sacred Spaces By Stratton McCrady

As much fun as it is to drink in all the breathtaking images on Pinterest, I wonder how many folks dismiss it as the latest fad and at its worst, vanity and indulgence.

It isn’t.

I am not a social media savant. I still only know a sliver of how people are communicating today. In his newest book Viral, Len Sweet would call me a Gutenberger because I am about three years older than the oldest digital natives who he names Googlers; I grew up with a different language and vocabulary and my default is still paper and pen.

However, I think Pinterest is giving us new ways to answer an ancient question:

“What do you like to be called?”

When someone asks you,“What is your name?” they are asking what you were called at your birth. But "What do you like to be called?" offers something else. A friend reminded me of how differently those two questions can be heard by people who cannot or will not claim their pasts. Others want to stake their futures with their answers; creatives - graphic designers, artists, photographers - are using Pinterest to visually represent themselves by pinning their resumes. Our answers can reveal how we see ourselves and what parts of ourselves we want to share with others. 

That’s where the opportunity exists for churches on Pinterest. People are asking, “What do you like to be called?” and instead of delivering an answer people may expect, let’s answer by showing people who we are and to whom we belong. Happy pinning!