Seth Godin writes with a dash of bravado and his overstatements are both playful and insightful. But on the topic of communication, he delivers what he calls "the essential lesson" and it's not exaggerated.

"The essential lesson is that every day it gets easier to tighten the relationship you have with the people who choose to follow you."

If you have even dipped your toes in the world of social media, you know that this is true. The question is what are you doing about it?

Consider some interesting facts from my last week regarding twitter alone:



  • While at Chilis, my 16-year old son showed me people tweeting close by on Google maps from a new app.

  • Todd Wilson of Exponential, personally invites speakers to tweet about the conference 7 months in advance with 70 pre-written promotional tweets.

  • Last night I watched the pre-recorded service video of Matt Chandler because a friend tweeted it.  I saw this the same day his congregation did as I continue to praying for him.

  • While at my home church yesterday, I tweeted two of my favorite quotes from the service.

  • I talk to dozens of people every week who tweet about the book Church Unique.

  • Twitter "lists" is a new function that is making it easier to meet and organize people to follow.

  • After the Houston co::Lab on friday, two participants initiated follow-up direct messages that I was able to reply at a convenient time.



The list could go on and twitter is only one of many tools to communicate. Last night, I played team SWAT on Halo (a popular online XBoX game by Microsoft)  with 7 people at a time among the other 6,000 global game participants at that time. We could talk with one another while we played.  I also enjoyed 30 Thanksgiving photos of my nephews and nieces sent to me via Shutterfly.

The point is that Godin's "essential lesson" is sitting there with crystal clarity begging leaders to act. So the big question today is:

What are you doing to tighten your connection with people who follow you?