Some thoughts: YouVersion

I realize I've been talking about YouVersion being all Web 2.0 and stuff, and that I haven't really expanded on what makes it the most Web 2.0-y. I've mentioned that users can be "connected" with other users. But I haven't really talked about it, huh. Well, that's probably because I'm not interested in that aspect of YouVersion. ...But I still think I should address it.

YouVersion allows you to "follow" others and to "be followed" by others. Great! Well, I have one follower. He's been following for a day now, and I don't know why he's following me, since I haven't really done anything with YouVersion except highlight and tag random verses while testing it out. I've highlighted Genesis 1:1 and wrote a note entitled "testing" about it. That's about it. Oh, and a few other tags to test out its technical abilities that I mentioned in my previous post.

Do I want other people to "follow" me on YouVersion? Not really. Strangers reading about my intimate (for lack of better word) thoughts and feelings about the Bible, Christianity, God, etc.... Eurgh--kinda weird. So I like that my contributions on YouVersion can be made private.

Do I want to "follow" others on YouVersion? Not really. I don't know them. They don't know me. Some may argue that I can just make friends! But I can make friends without the internet... I can make friends by meeting them face to face at real social gatherings.. So even if I can get alerts about contributions that the people I'm following have made, the whole following business on YouVersion doesn't seem so marvelous to me. Of course, it's always encouraging to see what others feel about a particular part of the Bible, and I'm sure I'll come across helpful and useful links by looking at other people's contributions*--but would I necessarily follow someone because of that? I don't think so...

Of course, that's unless a whole bunch of my friends use YouVersion, too. Then it's a different story, cuz that means that we can keep in touch about these Bible things using YouVersion when Daily Life would otherwise keep us from spending time and sharing about these things in person.

I guess, all in all, what I'm trying to say, is that Bible study is good. Bible study is great--when you study it with other people. But Bible study is greatest when you study it with other people face to face. That is where REAL community is experienced. That is where REAL love, encouragement, rebuke, truth, and grace is experienced. Face to face-people. There are internet-people--screen names--and there are face to face-people. There's no hiding from face to face-people, and that's what we need--face to face-people to tell us how it is and to show us how it is. That's why YouVersion is kind of blah to me. That's actually why the community aspect of Web 2.0 is kind of blah to me. I don't really prefer it because I don't really need it...

--kowai-kawaii

*LONG side note --feel free to skip this because it may not make sense, and I cannot bring myself to delete it because I had taken the time to type it out and TRY to explain it-- Even stumbling across helpful links through other people's contributions that are uploaded through a particular passage of the Bible seem kind of unlikely to me. What are the odds that I would find Article related to Topic A through Verse A, when Verse B and C and D and E and F and G and XYZ relate to Topic A, too? Even so, Verse A could be related to Topic A as well as Topic B and C and D and E and F and G and XYZ, too. If someone uploaded some content related to Topic A through Verse A, though I felt that Verse B better reflected Topic A and therefore did not go to Verse A to find any other such content about Topic A, I may never find Article! .....nevermind. If anyone is following my train of thought and the way I'm presenting it--congratulations! ...welcome to my mind. I guess what I'm trying to say is that finding applicable, "inspiring" content from a random stranger through a fairly arbitrarily chosen verse about any topic seems kind of farfetched to me.