religious evangelist use social media

Quote: 'Recently, Cardinal Sean Brady of Ireland called on Irish Catholics to spread positive prayers via Twitter, texting or email.
It's nothing new to see religious leaders using new media to try to energize their congregations or for religious adherents to use Internet technology to connect with others of similar faith. (Mark Glaser has written previously about Church 2.0 -- the use of web 2.0 concepts to reorganize the traditionally hierarchical way that worship is conducted.) In a world where technology can connect you to friends and relatives on the other side of the planet, it's not much of a stretch to imagine it's also good for connecting communities of faith.
But for many religions, outreach and evangelism are an equally important part of the puzzle -- and it's here that web technology would seem to have less to offer. Social media is built on networks of friends with common interests. It's easier than ever to communicate with more people online, but I wondered how effectively new media could be used to proselytize to people outside the faith.

Online outreach
There are many websites that try to harness Internet connections for missionary work, explaining how churches could use online video and Twitter feeds to catch web surfers' attention. Andrea Useem's Congregational Resources explains and demystifies social networking for religious leaders, while Carlos Whittaker blogs about his faith and social media at Ragamuffinsoul. Sites like these emphasize that one big obstacle to Internet evangelism is that the Internet is, at heart, a pull medium -- meaning it's often more difficult to reach a reluctant audience using the web than it is using older media such as television or radio. So while static webpages might be good for drawing in people already curious about a religion's tenants, actually getting the attention of someone who wasn't... that was a little more tricky without coming across as spam. That is, until the advent of social media, and its accompanying ability to build relationships online.'

source: http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2009/06/religious-evangelists-spread-faith-through-social-media155.html

url: www.digitalevangelism.com