LDS Media Talk

Online social networks are communities of people who share common interests and activities. Social networking sites provide the ability to create a personal profile and various ways to interact with other people, such as  messaging, e-mail, video, text or voice chat, file sharing, blogging, and discussion groups. Social networking has revolutionized the way many people communicate and share information with each another. Social networking Web sites are used by millions of people everyday on a regular basis. For many people, online social networking has become a part of everyday life.

Most social networking services contain directories of categories (such as former classmates) and methods for connecting with people (usually based on some system of referral and trust).

Three very popular social networks:

MySpace has 120 million registered users who create their own profiles (Web pages) for the purpose of linking to friends, posting their interests, photos, music, and videos. MySpace is very popular in the United States and moderately popular worldwide. It is open to people 14 and older; most of the users are under 30. MySpace was purchased by News Corp. in 2005 for $580 million. It is now valued at over $65 billion.

Facebook has more than 80 million users worldwide. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people. People can add friends and send them messages and update their personal profile to notify friends about themselves. Recently, Facebook opened its platform to anyone to develop applications within Facebook. The site was initially limited to Harvard University students as a way to get to know other people on campus, but was later expanded to other colleges, and now is open to anyone aged 13 and over. Facebook was started in 2004 by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg. Today,  at age 24, he is at the helm of this privately-owned company, turning down billion-dollar purchase offers. Facebook is valued at $15 billion.

LinkedIn is an on online social network that connects people with their friends, family, and business associates. It is primarily a business networking site that lets you post resume information and connect with other people in your profession. It currently has about 23 million registered users in 150 countries, with another 1.2 million signing up each month. LinkedIn started just 5 years ago, and is already valued at $1billion.

Sources: Wikipedia, USA Today, New York Post

There are also several social networks targeted at LDS audiences, such as LDS.net, LDS Online, LDS Link Up, and The Hive.

Below is a short video that explains social networks:

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The True to the Faith booklet is an excellent resource for youth and adults. This Church publication takes a topic-by-topic approach with simple explanations of gospel subjects. It was designed to be especially mindful of youth, young single adults, and new converts. The 190-page booklet contains approximately 170 entries on topics listed alphabetically from Aaronic Priesthood to Zion. In addition to teaching gospel principles in a simple yet inspiring way, each entry also contains scriptural references for further study of any topic. In the introduction, the First Presidency states that the underlying purpose of the publication is to help all readers strengthen their efforts “to draw near to the Savior and follow His example.”

In 2004, they were sent to each ward with instructions to provide them to all youth and new converts. As a bishop, I make sure that every new young woman and young man in my ward receives a copy of the booklet.

True to the Faith is available online in text and PDF formats or you can order a printed copy for US$2.00 at LDSCatalog.com. The book is published in 46 languages.

For personel examples of families and youth using True to the Faith, see the news item in the Around the Church section of LDS.org. 

In 2004, True to the Faith became an official part of the missionary library, along with Preach My Gospel.

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A group of members from a Sunday School class in Connecticut have created several video animations of Old Testament stories. The videos include young people telling their versions of Old Testament Stories along with animations. These are very clever, and some are hilarious.  

They invited the public and their friends to a premiere screening of the films at a real movie theater, complete with a modest red carpet. “We ate popcorn and viewed our movies on the big screen. These young people will never forget making these stories. Which was part of our plan. When you produce, direct and star in stories from the scriptures, you never forget the message…even if it is a little bit different from the official version.”

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When you search for “Mormon” on YouTube, the #1 video is now positive–a video clip from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s talk “My Words . . . Never Cease,” a testimony of continuing revelation, taken from his talk at April 2008 General Conference.

This video on YouTube has been viewed nearly 20,000 times and will continue to gain over 1,000 views per day if it continues at #1. As the first thing that people find when searching for the Church on YouTube, this is a great missionary opportunity. Note the following comment that was posted about the video clip:

“I must say, what Holland is saying here makes incredible sense and something about this video really strikes a cord with me in a way that nothing else ever has. I’ve been to many churches and have heard many sermons, and if they all use the Bible I can’t see how they all come out so different. If this Book of Mormon is indeed an addition to his word, then God sure knows what he’s doing to correct where we’ve been going wrong with Christianity.”

Having positive videos at the top of the search results for “Mormon” is a nice change, since in the past many of the top search results were videos critical of the Church.

This video is also at videos.lds.org, along with a clip from Elder Holland’s related talk “The Only True God and Jesus Christ whom He Hath Sent” from the previous conference.

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On the Church’s site on Jesus Christ, read a powerful new article from a modern apostle Elder Jeffrey R. Holland testifying of Jesus Christ. While there, but sure to watch the video by clicking the link in the left column.

Can you think of someone who would benefit from this article? If so, click the Share With a Friend link in the left column of the article.

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With all this new encouragement to blog and participate in the online discussion about the Church, many people ask themselves where they will find the time to do so.

At the Web 2.0 Conference in April this year, I saw a presentation by Clay Shirky about where people find the time to participate in Wikipedia, blogs, and other new media.

He estimates that 100 million hours have collectively gone into Wikipedia. He compares that to 200 billion hours of watching TV each year in the U.S. alone–the equalent of 2,000 Wikipedia projects a year. We spend 100 million hours in the USA every weekend watching just the advertisements–that would permit the creation of an entire Wikipedia in just one weekend if we just skipped the ads!

His point is that people have the time, but they waste it watching TV. How you use your time is a choice: good, better, or best.

Part 1

Part 2

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Check out the Mormon Magz blog to learn more about the magazines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The purpose of Mormon Magzs is to encourage people to read the magazines by helping them see how the Church magazines are fulfilling their mission to “help individuals and families stay closer to the Lord” and “help build…testimony and offer aid in coping with the problems of the world.”

Mormon Magz is not an official blog of the Church. Its founder began the blog to help “counter some of the misperceptions about the magazines among those in the online chattering class who seem to seldom actually read them. As the First Presidency promised in 1971, the magazines ‘can be a great influence for good if you will read [them]‘ (emphasis added).”

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We are pleased to announce that the electronic texts of the Danish, Dutch, and Hungarian triple combination of the scriptures are now available online on the Church’s scriptures Web site at the following addresses:

• Danish: scriptures.lds.org/da
• Dutch: scriptures.lds.org/nl
• Hungarian: scriptures.lds.org/hu

This brings the total number of languages on the Church’s scriptures Web site to nine. To help more members have access to the scriptures, the Church has previously placed English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish versions of the triple online. The LDS scriptures are currently being converted for use online in more than two dozen additional languages.

The online triple combination provides footnotes, study helps, maps, photographs, and the ability to mark scriptures.

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The New Era has posted an online version of the Pearl of Great Price Sudoku puzzle from the July issue. Instead of numbers, this puzzle uses words from Moses 1:39. When you finish the puzzle, you’ll probably know that scripture pretty well if you don’t already.

This is intended to be something fun for kids or teens, but regardless of your age, you may find yourself determined to solve it once you’ve started.

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In the past, LDS.org offered the ability for people to subscribe to receive by e-mail inspirational quotes in the following categories: Church History Gems, Daily Gems, Family Gems, Young Single Adult Gems, and Youth Gems.

An archive of all these inspirational quotes has now been created in the LDS.org Gospel Library at gems.lds.org. You can now subscribe by either e-mail or RSS subscriptions.

Existing LDS Gems subscribers will need to resubscribe to one of the new methods by the end July 2008. To do this, please go to gems.lds.org and click “Subscribe to RSS” or “Subscribe to E-Mail” for each type of Gem you would like to receive. All old subscriptions will be terminated in August 2008. (During this interim period, you may receive two gems per day, one from the old software and one from the new.)

Thank you for subscribing to LDS Gems and please let your friends know about it!

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On the New Era’s Web site you can now find a link to a gallery of Mormonads arranged by topic. These ads use visual and word associations to reinforce gospel teachings, and over the years they have achieved something of an iconic status in the Church experience of many youth. This new gallery gives users a convenient way to browse through the ads in order to find one for a lesson, a desktop wallpaper, the fridge, or simply for fun or nostalgia. We’ve all seen them, and no doubt each of us can remember at least one that stood out for some reason. Sometimes you’ll see one and it will remind you of someone you know who is struggling with a problem or who needs encouragement. Or you might see a message that a friend or family member would find particularly humorous, relevant, or interesting. Browse through the gallery, find an ad, and paste it into an e-mail. By sharing a Mormonad you can send a sincere, heartfelt message that is less intimidating for some people than an entire magazine article might be.  Thanks to David Edwards of the New Era for his work on the gallery of Mormonads and for his help with this posting.

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A wiki is a collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content. Wikis are often used to create collaborative Web sites, such as many community Web sites. The collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia is one of the best-known wikis. Wikis are used in businesses to provide affordable and effective Intranets and for Knowledge Management. There are also specialized wikis about various topics. MormonWiki.com is specialized wiki about Mormonism.

Learn more about wikis on Wikipedia.

This video is a plain-English explanation of wikis, including a simple explanation of how you could use one:

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