Ligon Duncan’s 10 Rules for Social Media

Sorry for the long hiatus, I’ve been convicted about not posting here semi-regularly. There are things I want to write about that are not a good fit other places I write, and this particular topic is one of those items.

Ligon Duncan, the CEO/Chancellor of Reformed Theological Seminary, shared his social media strategy on Twitter earlier this month. I wanted to share the 10 rules he shared:

  1. Relentlessly encourage, edify & inform.
  2. Ignore trolls, mockers & slanderers into oblivion.
  3. Starve dissensionists, narcissists, & errorists of the attention they crave.
  4. Point people to sound people & resources.
  5. Exalt Christ. Bible. Grace. Truth. Gospel.
  6. Stay out of food fights. Don’t lob hand grenades into serious discussions. Bring people together.
  7. Be kind. Persuade (rather than rally).
  8. Treat people on social media like I would treat them in person.
  9. Don’t be different on social media from what I am in my life, family, church and ministry. Be the same person online and offline.
  10. Don’t give inordinate attention to people whose only “platform” is social media & who elsewhere have little accountability, responsibility.

I think this is a pretty good list, a convicting list. Some days I do this better than others. However, I think that social media (Twitter especially) would be a much better place if more of us followed rules #8 and #9 in particular.