What the Catholic Church Can Learn From Social Media

In a simple cartoon circulated online, Jesus looks at Peter and says, "No, I'm not talking about Twitter. I literally want you to follow me." This is an apt depiction of the competitive relationship that has existed between media and religion, summed up as: "I'm God. Turn off the media and listen to me." If modern technologies were used to further the faith -- be it an advertising campaign or a televised sermon -- religious institutions possessed a stranglehold on the content using a top-down, paternalistic approach to communication.