General Conference Weekend - Digital Culture Style

I just wanted to note some observations that I made this weekend while watching conference and paying attention to its digital aspects.

• Social media is mobilizing missionary work. At one time, hashtags related to conference took up 7 of the 10 trends on Twitter! It was incredible to see so much feedback and response to general conference. One of my previous bishops listed key points from each talk on his Facebook status. It was cool because he is from South Africa, and I know that he is friends with a lot of nonmembers. Seeing those statuses hopefully piqued some interest. I am seeing how valuable social media is in expanding the church's scope of influence. [I now realize that I should have referred my bishop to the conference notes googledoc that Dr. Burton showed us. He would have made an excellent contributor.]
• If you miss some talks, you won't really get left behind. My friends and I caught the frontrunner at the end of the Saturday morning session in order to attend the Saturday afternoon session. Consequently, we missed President Uchtdorf's talk. As we checked our phones on the train ride, we found that a lot of our feeds were taken up by quotes from this memorable talk. Even though we didn't listen to it, we definitely caught the gist from all the quotes, explanations, and even responding blog posts people had done in such a short time. 
• Twitter and Facebook and other social media allow you to see what the general public reaction is to each talk. This is without a doubt changing the way people approach questions they have with the church. As I read the live Twitter feed at #ldsconf, it was interesting to see how bold people were in disagreeing with and even criticizing church leaders. Since there is an outlet for people to find followers and others who might have the same questions as them, it is easy to find a niche and take questions to the next level, which we saw with the ordain women movement. I do not think that mobilizing groups like this would be as easy without social media. I am still trying to figure out how I feel about this, but I think, as with everything, there are pros and cons.

I had a completely different conference experience as I entered myself into the discussion and engaged in conversations online about conference. I have to say, this past conference has been my favorite, and I think it has to do both with my approach to it and the inspired, wonderful talks that were given. 

Also, some fun facts I learned by engaging with digital universe during conference: On Twitter at one point, L. Tom Perry was quoted by P. Diddy and Gordon B. Hinkley was quoted by LL Cool J. Found that information on a blog here. I am still continually astounded by the church's growing influence and I am very excited and proud that the church has such an online presence. I am considering applying for the social media internship at the church magazines next semester.