Social Media Web Sites

Millions of people are connecting on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, and Church members are sharing the gospel there too.

Information tends to spread quickly and easily on social networks, which makes it an appealing way to share the gospel. At LDS.org, all items in the Gospel Library section feature a "Share" tool, which allows users to easily share links to Church magazines articles, general conference talks, and lesson manuals on various social media sites.

Social network users can also become a fan of the Church's official Facebook pages. The Church has more than 280,000 fans, the Book of Mormon has more than 162,000 fans, and thousands more users have joined other Church-affiliated pages. When a Facebook user joins and participates in a group, his or her friends are notified. Thus, the friends of hundreds of thousands of Facebook users have been exposed to the Church through Facebook.

Church members are also using Twitter, a social networking Web site used to send brief messages ("tweets") via the Internet, to share the gospel. Most notably, general conference was Twitter's top trend during conference weekend in April 2009,2 meaning general conference was mentioned in more tweets than any other subject.

The Church has also established a presence on YouTube, a popular video posting Web site, which has generated a positive reaction from members and nonmembers alike. Every Mormon Messages video, like all others posted to YouTube, can be easily posted on a blog or shared via e-mail, Facebook, or Twitter.

The Internet provides a way for Church members to find people in ways unimaginable a generation ago, and as technologies improve, so will Church members' ability to share the gospel.

Members are playing an increasingly vital role online as more and more people investigate the Church via the Web.

Photograph by Welden Andersen

1. M. Russell Ballard, "Sharing the Gospel Using the Internet," Liahona, June 2008, N1.

2. "Top Twitter trend: LDS General Conference," Mary Richards, ksl.com, April 6, 2009. http://www.ksl.com/ ?nid=148&sid=6074101.