A good friend of mine, H called me up the other day and yelped excitedly "TD Jakes is considering coming to India and guess what it's all because of a tweet ( Well, he actually said a tweet and God's hand!).
For those who haven't heard of Bishop TD Jakes, well he's one of the better knows evangelists of today. Founder of The Potter's House , a motivational speaker and author. And my friend like so many others is a HUGE fan of his preaching and style , so much so that sometimes when he preaches, the TD Jakes style invariably sneaks in. But this post is not about TD Jakes or my friend or even about TD Jakes coming to India (though I am happy that he is).
This is about the power social media . To understand that we must get back to the TD Jakes story. Well, after H calmed down (which essentially meant started breathing again), he let me on what exactly happened. Shyju, his close friend had apparently posted a tweet on TD Jake’s profile about how his sermons had been a blessing to him. Surprisingly the Bishop replied saying he had no idea people in India knew about him and his sermons and what would be a good place to visit for a first-timer. Well, that got Shyju all excited and he created a post on his blog asking people to tweet on how TD Jakes had been a blessing to them and inviting him to India, which they did with enthusiasm. Well, that set the ball rolling and now things are now moving ahead!
It set me wondering, if it weren’t for the transparency and connectivity social media offers, how would a 25 year old greenhorn evangelist based in India interact with a 63 year old renowned preacher living in Texas. Social media is not only bringing people closer, it is more importantly empowering them. It’s no wonder celebrities, governments and other corporates are leveraging Social Media to function more efficiently. In fact Gartner predicts that by 2014, social networking services will replace e-mail as the primary vehicle for interpersonal communications for 20 percent of business users. I am not too sure how good this prediction stands, but it sure demonstrates the popularity Social Media carries.
So whether a Shyju reaches to a TD Jakes via twitter or a 13 year old amateur singer Rebecca Black reaches more than 15,000,000 listeners via YouTube, it’s a simple demonstration of the power Social Media can harness, a power that changes lives, changes people, changes destiny!
