Tonight my stake had a Fireside about how members can effectively use the internet and social media to share the gospel. Since this is a topic I care a lot about, I was excited to attend and wanted to share what was said and my thoughts.
The speaker, Jacob Black is the Manager of social media and emerging technology for the Church. He was really well versed in all of the various internet technologies and his presentation was quite effective. He asked us explicitly not to live blog or tweet about a couple of particulars. The most exciting was a comment about the level of excitement with which the leaders of the Church view the online work and especially the potential for Mormon.org in Europe. I am so excited to be a member of the church at this time and to be able to share the gospel using such incredible tools 
____________________________
Notes from the talk
75% of members have negative feelings associated with missionary work. A lot of negative feelings and emotions are associated.
He wants us to feel optimistic about the possibility for to share the Gospel. In our age we have greater power and also a great responsibility to share the gospel.
Elder Ballard- Hawaii commencement talk Dec 2007 – Urging members to engage in conversations about the church. Change perceptions one conversation at the time.Participate using new media. Share in simple, clear terms.
2009 Research study of perceptions of the church..-
Negative – Non Christian, Cultish, Controlling, Secretive, Weird, Pushy, Anti-gay, Racist
Positive- Family oriented and Dedicated
Talking about Mormon.org we watched the videos of Jenna Kim Jones who works for the Daily Show, also the video of Paris who grew up in the south ( I actually met him in the MTC and his mission experience was getting filmed), and of Brandon Flowers of the Killers.
I love these videos because they are so powerful and show the diverse perspectives of members. I love how much joy the individuals portrayed show and how clear it is that their faith helps them.
The videos are all screened by several 70 and even two members of the twelve and members of the presiding bishopric.
Elder Nelson video about creating a profile.
We went through the different features of Mormon.Org and talked about some stories of people who found the Church through Mormon.org. Someone from the Pacific Island who chatted online and within 10 minutes had missionaries at her door. Another one who chatted with an online missionary and she actually came to Provo to be baptized.
352,800 chats
126,780 Profiles (Kind of low)
250,000 Started but not completed.
20, 842, 865 visitors in the last 12 months
48, 870, 506 page views
He went and saw the Book of Mormon musical and while there passed along pass-along cards and invited people to the temple open house in Calgary. He ran into this couple again after the show, and they agreed to go to the temple open house.
Elder Holland endorsed using these cards
They will be doing TV Ads soon including one with Alex Boye
Expandable Banner Ads or Pre-Roll Banner Ads on Hulu or Youtube- “I Believe motherhood is the loudest messiest and best job in the world.”
Controlling the keyword Mormon on google search
Mormontopics.org Answering really important questions ( We watched the ones about Garments)
Using Social Media- Elder Perry quote about utalizing social media from October 2011
- Add your voice to the conversation
- The information we have to share is the most important in the world.
1.42 million likes which gives a reach of 193 million people if everyone shared something on Facebook. (10% of the world population). From 33 different countries.
Youtube over 33.5 million views of the profiles.
Twitter 38,900 Followers
Google +
Sharing such simple statements of faith can start a cascade that can change a life…
NYC Taxi Ads and Banners
Zach Braff tweeted about Mormon.org ads saying that Jews need ads.
Christmas Ad in Times Sqaure/ New Years ad
Colbert Report
Book of Mormon musical playbills-
The London/UK Initative
Tomorrow Mormon.org.uk is Going live!
Going to take over Charing Cross station and have 200 double-decker busses. Videos with British Mormons.
Latin America Easter Initative (Starting today in every latin american country except for Brazil) On Easter week one of the top stories you will see is Mormon.org Easter…
The Church has a lot of backlog on the profiles and they take a little bit of a lower profile at times.
Continue reading at the original source →