Cloud Culture {Book Review and Giveaway}

 

I recently read the book "Cloud Culture" by Chuck Giacinto and Bryce Conlan. I wasn't quite sure what to expect but I really enjoyed it. It was also a very quick, easy and interesting book to read.

 



Chuck Giancinto

"Cloud Culture" addresses and issue that is a new but very major part of our society today and that issue is-  all the time we spend in the Social Media World - more specifically how we as Christians are spending that time. They are not condemning spending time online, they are encouraging us to use that time in a way that honors Christ and brings glory to Him.

 I found this book to be very encouraging. When I started it I was thinking I might find ideas for better sharing God's love on this blog - but it seemed to me that most of the discussion centered around facebook or tweeting (which I don't do and don't really plan to do). The principles certainly apply to blogging as well but that wasn't really their focus. Though it wasn't exactly what I expected I came away feeling very inspired to use my time on facebook (which can really vary in amount) in a way that I can share Christ's love and reach out to those that might be lonely or hurting.

 



Bryce Conlan

   Some of the things that made me think was their talking about the importance of not just filling the airspace but saying/typing things that will edify or help others. This really strikes a chord with me. I don't want to be just a clanging cymbal that doesn't help out in any way - that means that I probably won't tell everybody on facebook where I am shopping at or when I may be eating. That is always something that has bothered me about facebook so instead most of the time I don't say anything at all - but if I just lurk on there then I am not really shining God's light that way either. But after reading the book I have better ideas for things maybe I should say.

 

  Another thing that I found useful was the encouragement to really be a friend to those on there. When we see someone that always seems to be negative or talks about having a hard time then maybe give them a call, send them a private message - try to find a way to be a real live helping friend.

 

 They did discouraged the idea of just always putting a verse or some religious something up all the time as people would quite likely start tuning you out. This makes sense to me.

 

 Another thing that I made sense but I hadn't thought a lot about was being careful of others feelings and not just sharing everything you know and perhaps trying to be the first person to announce everything. They mentioned specifically about Deaths as they had seen people announcing somebody dying on facebook before the family had even had time to call all of the close family to let them know personally. This was especially interesting to me as two people that we are close to died this week and I thought about how I would have felt had we received the announcement of that via facebook instead of by being called. So basically just a reminder to use some common sense and basic politeness even when we are online.

 

I enjoyed this book and would encourage to anyone that spends much time in Cyber Space.

 

I do actually get the privilege of hosting a giveaway of this book - Would you care to win?

 

If you would like to win please leave a comment below sharing your thoughts about social media and how you can shine your light as a Christian while one there.

 

Please be sure to leave an e-mail address so that I can contact you if you win!

 

If you are a follower of my blog (by google friend connect and either new or old follower) you can have a second entry - just leave a 2nd comment telling me that you follow.

 

This giveaway will end on Saturday, Dec. 8th at 7 pm.

 

Disclaimer - I received this book for the purposes of reviewing but the thoughts in this post are my own.

 

You can find Cloud Culture on Amazon.