Now, I'm nobody to tell the Pope what he should and shouldn't do. But I think these are important questions to consider. Should the Pope have his own blog? Should he be tweeting on Twitter?
Some might say, he's already on Twitter. In fact, according to Mashable.com, the Pope "took to Twitter to save Lent." But did he really?
Even the Vatican's own news site reported that we could "Follow the Pope on Twitter for Lent." Sadly revealing, the same article doesn't even provide a link to find him on Twitter or tell us how to follow him on Twitter. After some searching around and filtering through some false "Pope Benedict XVI" profiles on Twitter, I did manage to find what they were talking about: @Pope2YouVatican
I applaud the effort by the Vatican, and I appreciate the many challenges (many of which we could never understand) that somebody like the pope would have using social media. But here is some, hopefully, constructive feedback.
First, I've never been a big fan of the whole "Pope2You" language. Pope2you.net has done some impressive things, to be sure. But the entire point of social media is the social part. It's the interaction part. Pope2You does not imply social, it implies broadcast. Which, by all means is an important aspect of what the pope does. What he has to say needs to be broadcasted out to the world by every means possible. But this approach falls short of all the best and most powerful parts of what has become the social web. Lots of leaders in the world have an important online (even broadcast) presence. None of them found it necessary to specify that it is "Me2You." It comes off as awkward.
Second, using Pope2You as the Twitter profile name is a bit like the Pope walking up to me when I meet him and starting off the conversation by saying, "Hello Matt, I am going to say something to you, and that's it. Just me to you. Not you to me, got it?" It's just not all that friendly. Granted, the pope has far more important things to say to me than I to him. But it's unnecessary (and could be perceived as rude) to point that out. The Pope's Twitter presence should simply be his name. That's how Twitter is used. @PopeBenedict. That's it. And the profile picture should be of him, too.
Third, the single @Pope2YouVatican account tweets the same message six times a day, each time in a different language. This means, for the majority of people, that 5/6 of what he says on Twitter is meaningless noise (if you don't understand it) or reptitive noise (if you do). If I go to a party and nobody can understand 5/6 of what I say, that's going to be a bit prohibitive to my social life. I realize this is a unique challenge for the Pope (as not many world leaders - if any - have a constituancy that speaks every language on the planet). And while there would be some additional drawbacks to creating separate profiles for each major language, I think that may be a much better way to go. Alternatively, the Pope could just create one profile in one language. He could use German or Italian...or, shoot, even Latin. And I guarantee you, if he were really using it, there would be lots of people out there translating it into every language necessary within minutes of every tweet.
But I digress. The bottom line is that I think it would be absolutely wonderful for the Pope to actually Tweet. If he were actually (at least a little bit) present on Twitter (and not just one of his departments tweeting on his behalf) he would be a huge hit.
A tragic illustration:
@Whitehouse = 2.8 million followers (The White House)
@BarackObama = 13 million followers (People prefer to connect to a person over a building)
@news_va_en (Vatican News) = 84k followers
@Pope2YouVatican = 27k followers
@PopeBenedict (if it were actually him) = ??
I guarantee that he would easily pick up millions of "followers" within a short time...IF he were actually using it and IF he were using it well. Millions. The P.R. potential is massive. The Pope says things worth hearing every day. Not many people actually hear them though. Here is a single, simple platform (Twitter) where he could easily extend his reach and influence orders of magnitude and become a more immediate part of the global conversation.
And Twitter is just one opportunity among many. Blogging is another.
Last week, I saw this headline from Brandon Vogt about the Pope starting his own blog: Pope to Blogosphere: I'll see you in the combox.
I thought, could it be? I dreamed of this day long ago. I mean, we've got cardinals and bishops who blog. Maybe the Pope, too? But alas, it was just a cruel April Fool's Day joke. But it shouldn't have been.
In addition to the Pope having one of the most popular Twitter profiles in the world, he could also easily have one of the most widely read blogs. Oh, the people he would reach. The people who would come to know how wonderful this man is and how great his Church. Of course it wouldn't take the place of encyclicals and the like. It would be a conversation about them. A teaser to them. A little summary or a snippet or prayer or a thought on a current event or a reflection on a trip or maybe a behind the scenes photo of the Pope meeting with the Dalai Lama and chuckling over a cup of a tea.
These kinds of things happen every day. The pope often shares these things in some way within his own circles and platform. And he already takes considerable amounts of time to even speak (and listen) to everyday individuals all the time. What I'm talking about here now is putting all of that into a new format. Forum. Language. The language of modernity. The dialect of a generation - for better or worse.
I can't help but think, if the Pope blogged and tweeted (well), of how many more people would know Christ's Church and what she has to say?
But I also recognize that I am but a small soul, awash in a contemporary phenomena of "tweets" and "likes" that often seem unnatural to my wise, old Church. Maybe she and the Pope know very well that all of this would be a bad idea. Or maybe they are just taking their time. Or maybe the Pope's every word deserves more thought and care than a tweet? Or just maybe, on the other hand, this would be a great way for the world to learn that we don't believe every word out of the Pope's mouth is infallible Church teaching? And that he can have opinions of his own? I don't know.
What do you think?
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I Think he Should Tweet at Least Once a Week and Answer One Question per Week chosen by His Secretaries.
I can’t help but think of our keynote speaker at the Catholic New Media Conference talking about the Ipod. His boss asked him, “Is it useful? Is it good?”
Social media is useful and good when utilized correctly. Pope Benedict should hire someone (or a team) to specifically oversee his social media efforts. However, communication is not a problem just from Pope Benedict - it’s a problem for most dioceses (mine included).
Several months ago, in the beginnings of the HHS mandate, my husband said that our Bishop should do a better job discussing the HHS mandate with the people and providing updates. I told my husband that Bishop had - he just had piece in our diocesan newspaper discussing this. My husband’s response: “Who under the age of 65 reads that, other than you?”
We complain that our younger generation is leaving the faith, but as an institution, typically make no effort to connect, educate, or communicate in a way they understand.
My parish pays our school janitor (with no design, writing, or communication experience) to put together our bulletin weekly. It’s the worst kept secret in the parish that no one reads it because it’s so awful.
Our parishes, dioceses, and Pope Benedict are in the business of communication the Gospel message. Everything we do ought to meet that goal - whether it’s in sitting with the dying, our faith formation classes, or even our bulletins, social media, and building connections in our community.
As a 20-something year old, if it’s on my Facebook newsfeed, I’ll read it. Then why aren’t we utilizing these medias to preach and teach the Gospel message? Only when we are willing to put our money, time, and resources behind these “newfangled” ways of communication will we be able to reach a larger audience.
This is a great article. To answer the question of “should the Pope . . “, yes and no. Yes, the Vatican should use this media that is available to them to better connect with the world. What I personally see with the Pope2You campaign is a test that probably isn’t the most effective.
As for the Pope himself tweeting, no. For anyone who has ever read an Encyclical, it would be a travesty to even ask the Pope to reduce any message into such a compact form. What the better strategy would be to do as they did with YouTube and make the accounts about the Vatican calling attention to new Letters, Encyclicals, events, subjects, etc. and engage in discussion.
The Pope should do neither, as this is just a waste of his time. Tweeting, not so much blogging, is very addictive, and requires constant communicating, usually about irrelevant things. It forces us to be constantly hounded with other people’s activities, opinions etc… And it barrages others with our banal activities. It leaves you no time with your own thought, or that of Gods! Remember when Jesus went away, to get some peace and perspective, in solitude, to His Father in loving prayer..? I’m sure if Jesus physically lived amongst us I don’t think he would be doing either the tweeting or the blogging. So as God ‘Right-hand-man’, the Pope is following our Lord and leading His flock by example. And that is to not be a slave to modern technology and trends, but live out and preach the faith through REAL human interaction - our priests and each other, guided by the Holy See. And to cutout the never ending ‘Noise’ that is social media, when we too need that getting away from it all to achieve that peace and quiet in prayer with our Lord. I’m sure your stats on Obamas followers versus the Popes only serve to show the stupidity of many, that it’s easy to follow someone like Obamas mediocrity if it doesn’t require us to do any hard thinking- and Twitter is the epitome of this brainless trend. Pope Benedict has contributed a massive body of writing and encyclical. If you want to know about them, then use the Internet and seek them yourself. If you have time to twitter, then surely you have time for this. Stop blaming the Pope and the Vatican for not being pro-active enough! We all have free-will and free-will is not only to exercise but right and wrong, but also involves seeking out and developing your faith through spiritual reading and informing yourself about your faith. Twitter won’t do that! As you can probably tell, although I enjoy the odd blog- Christian and other, I refuse to have a twitter account. I don’t care what my friends ate for breakfast, or who they sat next to on the bus on the way to work. And Im sure they don’t care to know that about me either. God Bless
Btw 13million Twitter followers for Obama isn’t that much considering the population of the US and the rest of the world. Maybe people are wiser than given credit- maybe many have caught on…they cant be bothered with Obamas mediocrity…Let’s pray this is it!
NO !
Matthew, good thoughts, yes, I agree, the Pope should tweet, Pope2You is a good start and more could be done here. He has an opportunity to reach many. For those who ate ready for more he can lead them to the longer, beautiful, encyclicals with more significant messages. The more adept among us who can use Social Media can easily spread the word further.
@Sara, great comments! Totally agree, please continue to share your thoughts, you represent an important POV that people need to hear more. Thank you!
I think it would be fantastic if the Pope would actually partake. Yet, I also realize that he is of a different generation, so I think Sara’s post on Wednesday was good. The Pope could appoint someone on his staff to actually help him with this (if he’s not inclined to do it himself). I don’t think that it is a waste of time. I think that Social Media (when properly used) is the gateway of communication to younger generations!
I’m completely with you on Twitter. Completely. As for the blog, I also agree that it would be an awesome thing to follow the pope on a blog. However, and I admit I am projecting, I imagine a blog would be more difficult thing to manage. I consider him to be an introverted soul, careful over what he says and how he says it—especially words meant for public consumption. As a scholar and a lover of souls, he excels at many forms of presentation—books and the one-on-one interaction come to mind. A blog, though, is a different animal. It’s not interaction with individuals, it’s interaction with the world, simultaneously. Or, interaction with individuals on a world stage. Even Twitter is not the same—Can you imagine the combox? I wouldn’t say that he shouldn’t blog, though—I would be thrilled I he did.
I suspect it would be one of his staff instead of the pope himself. I would think he’s WAY too busy.
Should the Pope tweet? Probably not and let’s be clear/real, he’s not doing so now. Should he blog? Probably a better platform for him, but probably not the best use of his time?
Before I ever start teaching “how to” use social media, I focus on “why to” aspects. I also think it’s important to understand:
> the generational cohort of the audience the social media user wants to reach;
> the generational cohort of the person using the social media;
> the demographic diversity of the audience the social media user wants to reach:
> that people have different learning styles (i.e., visual, auditory, kinesthetic) and how each social media tool (e.g., blog, Twitter, FB, YouTube) will appeal to those learning styles; and
> willingness (as well as ability) to engage.
While (far too) many use social media tools to broadcast content, the beauty of social media lies in its ability to generate, build, and sustain community. This takes commitment and, pardon the pun, real presence.
Does the Pope or anyone in the Curia understand these nuances? Have the time, energy, willingness to learn? To commit to connect with the People of God in these ways?
Meanwhile, let those of us who do know how to use these tools, use them to inform, educate, and inspire us to be Christ to one another. Can I get an “amen”?
Here’s an interesting fact…. Pope Benedict XIV (14th) is on Twitter, with BXVI’s picture. And it is verified.
http://twitter.com/#!/popebenedictxiv
Xavier - that’s a hoax. They just wrote “verified account” in the “description” part of the profile. Anyone can do that. And it’s a violation of Twitter’s terms and conditions to do so. Shame on them for deceiving people.
An actual “verified account” on Twitter looks like this with a blue check mark next to the name: https://twitter.com/#!/twitter
I believe in the power of social media, but the Holy Father has way too much to do. I mean…WAY too much. He wouldn’t have the time or energy to devote to maintaining a meaningful social media presence with any kind of consistency.
If any future pope does, it would probably blow my mind.
NO!!!! And if he does they should seriously consider changing his diet.
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