From “Younger Evangelicals” by Robert Webber: “This younger generation [x & Y] wants the wisdom of other generations; they don’t want to be separated out as a group with characteristics they “will grow out of and graduate from.” … Xers have ‘the very characteristics that the church ought to grow into,’ one of them being their commitment to the inter-generational church, another their love of intercultural communities.” 18-34-year-olds: Is this true?

A co-worker stopped me in the hall yesterday. “You owe me $7.50,” she said. She was correct, I owed her for a birthday gift we had bought for a colleague.

I fumbled through my wallet looking for some cash. No $7.50 to be found.

Then I pulled out my iPhone, tapped the “PayPal” app, asked my co-worker for her email address, plugged it in and promptly sent her $8 (to cover PayPal’s transaction fee.) Done in 30 seconds. From right there in the palm of my hand.

A group of us sat around in awe at the technological feat that had just taken place. Maybe we’re too easily amused.

You may notice a new link up in the upper-right corner of the blog navigation bar. It says “SPONSORS.” and it’s there for a very good reason. You can now sponsor BeDeviant.com. How’s that for a Tuesday morning? That’s the short story. Now, in memory of the recently departed Paul Harvey, here is “the rest of the story.”

I thought long and hard about opening the site up to sponsorship, mostly because I’ve seen so many blogs and websites do this so poorly. I’m sure you have too. Many a well-intentioned blogger or webmaster have lost credibility and trust with their audience, all for the sake of making a buck. Simply put, they sell out. The sponsors they recruit have little to nothing to do with the theme of their blog or purpose of their website. (Or worse yet, they plaster their page with “ads” that come from faceless companies with names that rhyme with “frugal.”)

I have been writing this blog seriously for a year-and-a-half now and it’s been a slow, steady process of building up a community that trusts me. You, the reader, trust the content I write and link to. You comment and interact in thoughtful, intelligent and faithful ways. (As my friend Paul put it, “I wish I had commenters that were half as cool as yours!”) You come from places near (West Des Moines, baby) and far (Taiwan! Germany! Australia!) and I could not be more happy to share my thoughts with all of you.

It’s for that very reason I hesitated to bring sponsors into BeDeviant.com. I don’t want to violate your trust. But I had a shift in thinking when I saw the power of sponsorships–tastefully done sponsorships–on other blogs that I respect. That made the door a little easier to open.

That being said, there are a few criterium for sponsoring BeDeviant.com:

• Our missions have to connect somehow. In other words, it needs to make sense for you to advertise here. Ads for Christian singles dating sites, $1.99 ringtones and “earn $1,000,000 by clicking HERE” will not be allowed on BeDeviant.com. Not because they’re bad or wrong, but because they don’t fit here. It’s not what we talk about it. It’s a mismatch. We talk about culture, theology, social media, graphic design and life. Where does your organization fit?
• No animation ads. I’m already ADD enough, flashy things on my blog will only distract me further.
• We truly want to partner with you. We want your service, product or organization to excel and succeed and we want to give you access to one of the best audiences known to the blogosphere.

So with that, the doors are now open. Want to get started? Check out the details on our sponsor page or email me to get started. To potential sponsors, I think you’ll be happy with your investment. To current and future readers, thank you and my promise to you is to never “sell out” while only choosing sponsors that enhance this community and bring something of value to it and to you.

…but this is still sad.

HT: Kerry Wise via Post Secret

Okay, so that post title is a little misleading, so let me explain.

I’ve recently changed my Twitter philosophy (“Twitterlosophy”?). Before last Friday, I was fairly selective in who I followed (or followed back.) If I knew you personally, enjoyed a product or service you provided, or liked what you had to say, I would follow you.

Outside of that, most people fell by the wayside.

It wasn’t because you weren’t saying anything interesting, I simply could not keep up reading everyone’s tweets. I peaked at about 130 and finally had to give up my old approach.

Now, if you follow me, I will automatically follow you back. People like Tony Steward, Guy Kawasaki, Tony Morgan and, yes, even traditionally stingy Carlos Whittaker looks like he has adopted the “follow-me-follow-you” approach to Twitter. Something about this approach feels right, as I believe it is more faithful to the mission of social media, that being connection.

Keeping track of people whose updates I don’t want to miss is a little trickier now, but I’ve found a few ways to manage the task:

• Peoplebrowsr.com: This site allows me to place people into groups, so I add the “no-misses” to a group aptly titled, “Don’t Miss.”
• Tweetdeck: This application allows similar capabilities to PeopleBrowsr, but it’s a little cleaner and more dependable. Same thing applies: Create group. Add people. Don’t miss their updates.

With that, I still reserve the right to drop the UNFOLLOW hammer with no mercy. Here are the quickest ways to get dropped:

1. Your “following to follower” ratio is too low. Usually, these Twitterers are the most obnoxious ones, reducing Twitter to a popularity contest. Blech. Oddly enough, Christians are the worst offenders of this one. Follow more people. It will make you more interesting.

2. Endless self-promotion. I posted on this earlier, but suffice to say if the only reason you are on Twitter is to promote your “stuff,” you will get dropped. Letting us know what you’re up to and proud of is cool, “whoring” yourself out is not.

3. Swearing. Really? Use a Thesaurus.

What’s your approach to Twitter? Do you like to keep it small? Follow people if they follow you? Do you follow “celebrities” and if so, which ones? What makes you want to drop the UNFOLLOW hammer?