Reading the article “Five Social Media Trends that are Reshaping Religion,” the author Elizabeth Drescher who is a professor at Santa Clara University and is also a regular commentator about technology and religion.
What I thought was the most interesting points of this was trend 2 and 3. Trend 2 was about how ministers are always “checking-in” on apps like Foursquare so that they can see other ministers in the area or for people to keep track of where they go. This is a very unique way of using this app. I thought it was kind of like Yelp where you go to places, check-in and then write a review on it. Apparently I was wrong. Foursquare is an app that allows you to keep track of where you go and where your friends go and see what is going on around you from your friends’ check-ins. In this concept, it is a good resource for ministers to see what other ministers are up to and either meet up or cover more ground.
Trend 3 was about how smartphones are getting all these new religious apps. I think it is awesome that developers are creating things like virtual Bibles, spiritual practices, and prayerbook apps. However, it also says that there is some new confession app. I think that this pushes it a little too far. How can one know if these apps are serious about religion or if they are just poking fun at religious customs.
Read her article here.