I found the following video quite interesting. I am not certain how much I believe some of the more sensational predictions, but the explosive growth and increasing impact of social media is undeniable.
What do you think the institutional Church and/or individual members of the Church should do with social media to help “fill the earth with the knowledge of the Lord?”
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
One thing that I would love to see the institutional Church can do to enable members to “fill the earth with the knowledge of the Lord” is to provide more shareable resources.
Consider:
A member would like to post her testimony on a blog with a picture of the the Salt Lake Temple- where do I go to find that image and how can I use it? I could find one from the Church website, but would also find that it is labeled, “All rights reserved”. She is unsure whether including the image on her post is okay and decides to post without an image.
If the Church is unable to provide media licensed for sharing, then perhaps it could provide some guidelines on what media is available and how it can be used.
I completely second Christopher’s comment. The church has a lot of media published on the internet and wants us to share the gospel, but restricts our use of its published resources. I often forgo including church pictures or other media on my own website because of these restrictions. At times I give in, supposing that my limited use of Church content falls under “fair use.” But then I end up second guessing myself and feel a bit guilty. Missionary work should not illicit guilt!
I’ve thought about writing the church to get official permission to use more of their online resources. Does anyone know how easy it is to obtain that permission?
Crazy statistics. I think the church has done a lot to keep up with technology. It would be great if the ward websites were more social in nature. If members could use it more to communicate weekly mutual activities, gospel discussions, etc.
I concur with Christopher. In the short run, adding digg, Twitter, facebook, etc. buttons to Church media cleared for sharing would go a long way to alleviate confusion and promote use.
Can people download Church magazines via Kindle?
I wrote to the Church asking to use a few simple pictures on my blog, and was told an emphatic NO. Can’t the Church find a few images that they can license us to use?
I am often asked, “How did you get the Church to give you permission to use that?” I respond, “I didn’t. If they want me to take it down, I will, but they can’t give me permission to use anything, so I’m not going to ask.”
I thought the Church wanted us to share the gospel. Rather than trying to block us when we use our own initiative, why aren’t they actively encouraging and facilitating it? I’d love to see a page where members can go with clear guidelines and links to text, images, and even videos that are ok to include in blogs and websites.
I believe that we need education in emedia use. Like, we should have an alternative Sunday curriculm for internet usage, availability of media for talks and lessons. We need this now.
RW
Thank you for your excellent suggestions. I spoke to the head of the Church’s Intellectual Property Division today and shared your feedback with him. He agreed to work with us in the Audiovisual Department to try and make more media materials available for members to use on the Internet (without guilt). This will not happen instantly, but we will begin working on in. Please keep the suggestions coming.
I’m very impressed with how the means of effective communication has expanded. I’m realistic enough to realize that at my age, 77, and with the abilities I’ve been blessed with, I need to find my own special niche and stick with it. My blog, “Have You Really Read the Book of Mormon” was started in response to Elder M. Russell Ballard’s request that members consider setting up a blog to teach the truth about the Restored Gospel. That’s the niche I’ve grown into and I probably won’t expand into Facebook, etc.
I’m grateful for the availability of two sets of Church oriented paintings and photos, but I’ve seen photos and painting in various Church publications that I wish were available to persons such as I.
I have been posting in every blog post for several months now the Mormon Messages. I was selecting certain Mormon Messages for certain of my blog posts and the message emphasized in them, but now I always post Mormon Messages whatever the message may be. They are done so well and are alway such vital messages. I’m glad I can make them a regular part of my blog posts. I guess the Church approves of me doing this? I hope I’m helping by doing so.
Neil, thanks for your online efforts. Members are very much encouraged to post Mormon Messages videos on their blogs, personal websites, and/or social media profiles.
I think we need to focus on following Elder Ballard’s council to engage in conversations and think how we can generate and share ideas and content around which conversations can be initiated or supported. Two suggestions:
1. I think Facebook updates & RSS feeds should feature discrete articles & other content. If I subscribe to the Ensign (RSS, podcast, facebook, etc.), I expect to see entries for each article or media item. What I get instead is a large post for the entire issue, which is difficult to meaningfully share on facebook or in an email. We want to generate conversations about these items.
2. I think whoever’s writing posts for the church magazine’s facebook properties should check out Jacob Nielson’s recommendations featured in the “Twitterative Design” post over on the northtemple.com blog.
3.
1. I think putting the seminary videos/church dvds up would be good. I’d love to share “The Mediator” with my friends — it’s the best explanation of the Atonement I’ve ever watched.
2. Also, if ward/church activities are put up online as events and invitations go out that could be used as a springboard to invite others.
3. Ecards would be nice.. and I don’t mean like 3 or 4 but a large selection of beautiful ecards for important life events — births, deaths, marriages. They shouldn’t be pushy — just a scripture. That would be nice.
4. I’d really love a church wiki where ward members can post activities-that-worked really well. I’ve seen good church activities and really bad ones. It’d be nice to see what others are doing — the better activities we have and the more confidence we have that an activity is going to be stellar the more likely we are to invite someone. I’m not inviting my friends to a read-the-Book-of-Mormon-in-24-hours overnight sleepover. It’s just not happening.