If I can’t find my keys, I’ll go from room to room looking under the bed, on the ironing board, inside the fridge, etc. But chances are, they were sitting in plain sight within five feet of the door. I’m sure there’s a psychological phenomena that explains this, but we tend to over look common things in common places, even if they are the most important thing.

Sometimes we forget that social networking should be social.

Duh, right?

Like my keys, the social interaction of social networking manages to elude many people’s sight. Facebook and Twitter can quickly dissolve from a social network to a digital megaphone where shouting individuals have not decibel receptacles for what anyone else is saying. People have always had problems talking past each other. The internet only makes it worse.

On the flip side, Facebook and Myspace are also home to a number of social voyeurs. These folks only get an account to see into others’ lives. When our neighbors do this in real life, we call them stalkers and get restraining orders. And just like in real life, they don’t actually add anything to the community.

Being a good neighbor online means being social. Share your life. Talk about what’s going on. Don’t share things that should stay private, but give something of yourself. Let someone else enjoy your updates the way you enjoy theirs.

And like real life, listen more than you talk. A lot more. You’re following or friends with these people. Read their updates. Look at their pictures. Hit the Like button liberally. Retweet. Respond kindly, even if not always agreeably. Don’t comment on everything, but respond at least twice as much as you update your status. Let your friends know you’re reading.

Put the social in your social networks.

One of those answers was the parable of the good Samaritan. It wasn’t a random story Jesus told Peter at bedtime.  Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbor?” after affirming that the second greatest commandment was “love your neighbor as yourself.”

I would have answered it with something smarmy about historical context and authorial intent. I would have wanted my answer to sound good on NPR, the kind of answer that would make Terry Gross thank me very much for talking with her.

Jesus responds with this story about a half-dead guy, a couple of people who refused to help him and a guy who did help him.

I would want to sound smart.

Jesus wants to change us.

In this story Jesus casts the widest possible net for treating someone else as we’d like to be treated ourselves. And he uses the most unlikely character to do so. I think the question Jesus is answering, and the one he wants us to ask, is “Who can I be a neighbor to?”

We all overlook someone we should be a neighbor to: Coworkers, customers, baristas, employees, family, grocery baggers, bosses, politicians, other drivers. Sometimes we over-spiritualize this teaching and forget that we should be neighbors to our neighbors. Everybody misses somebody.

How about your Twitter followers? Your Facebook friends? Your LinkedIn connections?

In the virtual world of social networking, it’s easy to get caught up in self. It’s your profile with your pictures and your words and your farmville (ugh). But social networks are about being connected. It’s the relational aspect of these sites that make them unique and popular.

If social networks are about relationships, then Jesus is calling us to be neighbors in these circles as well.

What does it look like to be a good neighbor on social networks? I have a few ideas, and I’ll share them here through at least the end of the year. I’m hoping that you have some ideas too because I’m sure I don’t have it all figured out.