SOCIAL MEDIA SITES& Interreligious Understanding

2006 TIME MAGAZINE Person of the Year

PublicSource

The Social Media “Revolution”

Media as Gatekeeper

PublicSource

The Social Media “Revolution”

PublicSource

The Social Media “Revolution”

No more Gatekeepers

“Everyone has a voice now”

“Everyone has a voice now”

A VOICE FOR EVERYONEThe drawbacks

A VOICE FOR EVERYONEThe drawbacks

"Why do they not respect us?" asked Jamal. "We do not burn their Christian books, so they need to understand that the Qur'an is our most holy book." - The Guardian

One extremist with 50 followers & a voice shapes their view of Christianity. We see these pics & they in turn shape our view of Islam.

More drawbacks:

More drawbacks: Birds of a feather flock together

More drawbacks:“narrowcasting”, “echo chamber”

Birds of a feather tweet togethertweet tweet

3SITES FOR Interreligious Dialogue

Purpose-Specific Sites:

News Sites:General Sites:

Purpose-Specific Sites:

News Sites:General Sites:

Echo-chamber?

Purpose-Specific Sites:

News Sites:General Sites:

Echo-chamber?

Echo-chamber?

Purpose-Specific Sites:

News Sites:General Sites:

Echo-chamber?

Echo-chamber?

Personal branding pressures

Purpose-Specific Sites:

News Sites:General Sites:

Echo-chamber?

Echo-chamber?

Personal branding pressures

Greater intolerance in comments section

1,950Responses

1,950Responses

Kudos to France.....keep up the

good work. If they don't like it,

they can move back to whatever

hole they came from.

Comments disabled each time

Comments disabled each time

WHY DOES INTOLERANCEseem to thrive on news site forums

When people can be territorially separated, the question of hatred becomes lessened.

“

“- Clay Shirky

Greater levels of religious and cultural intolerance because we are forced to share the same virtual space?

Generally speaking, the tribalism we see in the physical church, and even in Christian events and festivals, is less pronounced in the twitterverse.

“

“ - Martin Saunders

Generally speaking, the tribalism we see in the physical church, and even in Christian events and festivals, is less pronounced in the twitterverse.

“

“ - Martin Saunders

Physical borders: Tribalism

Shared Virtual Space:Greater Unity

Generally speaking, the tribalism we see in the physical church, and even in Christian events and festivals, is less pronounced in the twitterverse.

“

“ - Martin Saunders

Physical borders: Tribalism

Shared Virtual Space:Greater Unity

Only in intrareligious discourse?

TIPS FOR ORGANIZATIONS Encouraging Civil Dialogue

TIPS FOR ORGANIZATIONS Encouraging Civil Dialogue

• Set tone with a code-of-conduct• Moderate comments• Direct the conversation• Use questions/prompts• Add commentary to links

Example Code-of-Conduct

Example Code-of-Conduct

IN YOUR INTERACTIONSUsing Civil Dialogue

IN YOUR INTERACTIONSUsing Civil Dialogue

• Use the social web to educate yourself• Listen before you speak• Check accuracy of perceptions

• Recognize differences• Confront stereotypes• We rely on them more online

CREDITSDr. Corinne WeisgerberSt. Edward’s University

Blog: http://socialmediaprclass.blogspot.comEmail: corinnew@stedwards.edu

Twitter: @corinnew