With Christmas less than a week away, I have been furiously finishing preparations: buying and wrapping gifts, planning menus, and sending packages and cards to family far away.

I love seeing my daughters’ excitement in givingĀ  to others.

This season, more than others, reminds us about the value and joy we can find in giving to others.

In this season, a gift for you: I want to let you in on what I think is the secret power of social media.

Are you ready?

GIVING.

Through social media, we have the opportunity to give to others.

We can give knowledge, information, and wisdom.

We can give encouragement, inspiration, and motivation.

We can give support. We can promote others and their work.

We can give attention, admiration, and respect.

We can value others with our words.

We can bring a smile in 140 characters or less.

We can retweet and share , plus one and like.

We can give love, hope, and laughter.

We can give thanks, appreciation, and gratitude.

We can give whatever we have, to whoever we can, as generously as we dare.

The power is in the gift.

I want to encourage you to take some time during this holiday season to give to others through social media. Do it in a focused way. Set your timer for 12 minutes, as many times as you can over this season, and spend all of that time giving to others in the ways I describe above. Choose your favorite social media platform and look for ways to give. See what happens. Do it without expecting anything in return.

I’d love to hear how you enjoy your 12 minutes of giving experiment. I realize that for many of you, giving through social media is what you do anyway. Part of this experiment is the focus, dedicated time to giving. I don’t want to encourage a hash tag for this project because I want us all to give quietly. But I’d love to know what you discover through this process. So email me or return to the comments here to share your experiences.