Disclaimer: I’m Jewish. Please forgive any theological inaccuracies that may be included here. This post is meant as a respectful discussion.
Pope Benedict XVI is Tweeting!
Whereas some people may dial down social media for Lent, the Pope will be Tweeting every day, according to Vatican Radio.
You can click the link for the details, because, honestly, they aren’t pertinent to this discussion.
Here goes.
Is the Pope Tweeting daily a shark-jumping moment in social media or a validation of it’s power?
Shark-jumping is a reference to the episode of “Happy Days” where the Fonz water-skis over an actual shark. While wearing a leather jacket.
That’s been pointed as the moment that the show “lost it” and was never the same.
And that’s exactly where the popular term came from. You learn something every day, right?
So is the Pope Tweeting for Lent that moment for Twitter?
Or does it demonstrate that one of the more ancient institutions has recognized the reach and influence of the social network?
I’ll take the latter – that this is a muscle-flexing moment in Twitter’s history.
I discussed last year that Tweets were the currency of social discussion. So it appears that the Catholic church is buying-in…and HUGE.
There are religious TV and radio programs – and even international networks. There are religious newspapers and magazines and websites.
So a Papal message on Twitter is just the next step in the messenger finding the target audience.
Are people on an international scale (not local ministers, rabbis, etc) ready to receive religious direction and inspiration from a Twitter account? We’re about to find out.
(Mar…
