Friday, January 31, 2014

Social Media Frenzy 2

So after last week's story (see previous post) we reached the state where we thought it would spread no more. Bath and Wells Diocesan Communication Team had seen their tweet about Social Media Guidelines picked up by local radio, national radio and national newspapers. All went quiet.

Then, out of the blue, came a request from Russian State TV (claimed reach 130m) to interview someone in the Diocese about this, especially a priest who used social media. Thrust forward I was. Apparently Orthodox priests are being encouraged to embrace social media and the media wanted to talk to a priest who did it.

Aleksander, the station's UK correspondent was a delightful guy and well-briefed. He expressed interest in our church life (and was a fan of Pope Francis) and engagement with the local community. He said that church life and community life could tend to be separate. He appreciated the variety of the Church of England, liberal to conservative, informal to structured, modern to traditional.

The interview, which was a bit wider than simply about social media, will probably be broadcast today so I am at the mercy of Aleks' translation skills I guess.





No comments: