Here are 12 gifts we can give others on social media all year round.

1. Highlight someone else’s achievement, milestone, or success.

2. Recommend books, podcasts, or resources that have enriched your life.

3. Respond respectfully and graciously to criticism and when people express views different from yours.

4. Pause before posting something (or commenting on a post), and consider what impact this post or comment will have on others, and whether it’ll contribute something worthwhile.

5. Seek out and listen to voices that offer views and opinions that are different from yours.

6. Choose not to pigeon-hole or caricature people or movements.

7. We all get angry or offended at times on social media; choose not to post or respond out of those emotions.

8. Don’t intentionally antagonise or provoke.

9. Use social media to thank people and express gratitude.

10. Offer ideas and insights that you’re currently exploring – enjoy respectful and even vigorous discussion when it arises, and practice restraint, grace, forgiveness, and humility when people disagree.

11. Get behind a movement or group seeking to bring peace, justice, truth, and reconciliation in the world, and support them through your efforts off social media and your words on social media.

12. Take regular social media breaks, so that you can return to social media refreshed and energised to use the technology to enrich your life and the lives of others.

Graham Hill

Graham Hill (PhD) teaches pastoral studies and applied theology at Morling College in Sydney, Australia. He is the Founding Director of The GlobalChurch Project – www.theglobalchurchproject.com. Graham has written 6 books. His latest three books are “GlobalChurch: Reshaping Our Conversations, Renewing Our Mission, Revitalizing Our Churches” (InterVarsity Press, 2016), “Salt, Light, and a City, Second Edition: Ecclesiology for the Global Missional Community: Volume 1, Western Voices” (Cascade, 2017), and a co-authored book with Grace Ji-Sun Kim called “Healing Our Broken Humanity: Practices for Revitalizing the Church and Renewing the World” (InterVarsity Press, 2018)

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