In a recent speech, Mark Zuckerberg has declared that Facebook is the new Church, and its users should all be like Priests.
“Communities give us that sense that we are part of something bigger than ourselves, that we are not alone, that we have something better ahead to work for,” he noted, before adding that “people who go to church are more likely to volunteer and give to charity — not just because they’re religious, but because they’re part of a community.”
Which is why he wants Facebook to be a place where people focus their belonging, by joining groups. Of course, he couldn’t possibly be suggesting that Facebook wants to pretend it cares, just so that it can bleed you for money and tell you what to think 😉
Joking aside, my thoughts are this:
1) I think Zuckerberg is absolutely right. But not in the way that he thinks.
2) I think church leaders will bristle at the comparison, but should actually take a moment to reflect and take this seriously, because they probably are far more like Facebook than they would like to admit to themselves, and perhaps not in ways that they’d necessarily want.
3) All of this makes me think that Zuckerberg has probably just finished Getting High. Because it’s all in there. So you should definitely do as your Archbishop Zuck++ tells you and go buy a copy now. (Seriously – the book goes very much into this theology and technology interconnection 😉 )
