Friday, July 29, 2011

Tweeting General Conference: Helpful or Hurtful?


We live in a social era. It's an era where ideas move at the speed of thought. Where good ideas and beauty spread virally based upon their assumed worth and popularity - but also where "the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent." Where anything virtuous, lovely, of good report or praiseworthy can be easily sought after - and found.

Which brings me to my question. The leaders of the LDS Church have supported social media as a means of spreading the gospel to others. Elder Ballard encouraged us all to join the conversation back in 2007 when he said
“Now, may I ask that you join the conversation by participating on the Internet to share the gospel and to explain in simple and clear terms the message of the Restoration.”

The Brethren are very tech savvy, and they have long taught about the power of member missionary work. So when social media finally came about, they were early adopters and very quick to instruct members of the Church to utilize social media to reach out online and share the gospel that they were learning with others.

Many responded, and every year during General Conference there are thousands of members sharing their thoughts and feeling and reactions to the instruction during the Conference, as they have become accustomed to tweeting the events of their life. They tweet and retweet Apostles in real time, using the twitter hashtag #LDSConf. For many, this has become a part of their General Conference experience.

This behavior has been noted. President Uchtdorf even acknowledged the online conversations going on as he commented in a light hearted moment:

With so many social media resources and a multitude of more or less useful gadgets at our disposal, sharing the good news of the gospel is easier and the effects more far-reaching than ever before. In fact, I am almost afraid that some listening have already sent text messages like “He’s been speaking for 10 minutes and still no aviation analogy!”

The #LDSConf twitterstream lit up; the tweeting crowd went crazy, with posts such as "He's talking about us!" And "President Uchtdorf knows Twitter!"

Now, I have heard both arguments. Some say that they get an awful lot out of sharing the quotes and hearing feedback from others. They say that this helps them internalize the content and actually learn the doctrine that the Prophets and Apostles are teaching. Others have pointed out that this may not be the best thing to be doing while trying to learn from an Apostle, where it is so important to be able to be taught by the Spirit. These would likely reference John 14:26, that the Holy Ghost teaches all things and brings all things to our remembrance. They would say that if we are not in a mindset to be taught by the Spirit, we will not profit from the addresses, and our tweeting and retweeting will be in vain.

Now, open your mind for just a minute and ask yourself what you think. There is much the Church could be doing to further encourage these conversations to occur during a worldwide broadcast such as General Conference. The Church could build a page with a live stream right beside a twitter stream. It could offer a heat map of where in the world the #LDSConf streams are originating from. It could even offer a host of twitter tools and ideas for General Conference to-dos right from the pages of LDS.org. But the question is, should it?

I must say that I was 100% gung-ho for all things social at any time and in any place - until last Conference when President Uchdorf said something that opened my mind and got me thinking a bit. He said of social and mobile media:


My dear young friends, perhaps the Lord’s encouragement to “open [your] mouths” might today include “use your hands” to blog and text message the gospel to all the world! But please remember, all at the right time and at the right place.

What do you make of this? Is General Conference a "right time" and a "right place?" Weigh in and let me know your thoughts.

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