MEDIA BYTES
By Rev. Marty Levesque
THE FALL of the Bro-man empire has been quick, but Blue Skies are ahead. Over a million people sign up for Bluesky every day, and an equal number or more are fleeing X, formerly known as Twitter.
The downfall of Twitter has been predicted since the first day Elon Musk walked in with a sink after purchasing the company. The lack of privacy controls or discourse moderation has turned Twitter into an ugly, almost usable place. And as reality finally sinks in, individuals have had enough.
This does not mean that Bluesky is the new social media platform that we all should flock to. In fact, the downfall of Twitter ought to be properly lamented. Twitter was the last Public Square where ideas could be shared and discussed.
There will be societal repercussions to the loss of Twitter as the siloing of individuals will continue. Echo chamber platforms allow like-minded individuals to connect, but dialogue and civil discourse are nonexistent among those who disagree.
For the church and evangelism, this presents a new and distinct problem. How do we find seekers now? Are we to split time between Twitter, Facebook, Bluesky, Mastodon, Instagram, Threads, TikTok and YouTube? To name just a few platforms.
The answer, I believe, is missional. There will not be one right answer, but rather an answer for your specific community. Even with the fracturing of the social media landscape communities and neighbourhoods tend to find one another and form. And while the Public Square may be no more, pockets of community will form and continue to exist.
These will be different for each neighbourhood and city. Some neighbourhoods will have large Facebook Groups, while others connect via Bluesky or Twitter, and others have migrated to Threads. The key takeaway though, is really getting to know your neighbourhood, micro-targeting your church’s offerings to the mission field and letting go of the larger meta-narratives that Twitter filled as the Public Square.
We are in a time of transition with social media yet again. This time, we are returning to smaller, niche neighbourhood groups. And while the loss of the Public Square is worth lamenting, there is also an opportunity for the church to focus aggressively on its particular and individual mission field.
By doing so, and being intentional about being local, we can and will reach people in our neighbourhoods with the love of Christ.
Rev. Marty Levesque is the rector of All Saints’ in Waterloo. He served as diocesan social media officer.