Speaking of apps, we’d like to remind those of you who include on Facebook some of your LDS interests and background, that there is an LDS Application of Facebook. It includes space for noting your personal scripture faves, and incorporates a few scripture mastery games. You have the option as to whether or not to include the information on your personal profile.

Additionally, take a look at the Ensign Facebook page–a fairly new development. For friends of other faiths visiting, The Ensign is a monthly magazine that shares messages from Mormon leaders and everyday members, includes a monthly message for Mormon Women to share with their neighbors, and Church news from around the world. If you are interested in purchasing a copy for your family, you can learn more about it and order it here.

Facebook is a great way to join the inter-faith conversation online. You can share links, videos, family photos on Facebook in a not-in-your-face kind of way, so that those visiting your pages can see the influence your faith has on your everyday life, inviting questions and participation in conversation with our friends of diverse backgrounds and faiths.

Facebook is a virtual phenomenon. From the day that Mark Zuckerberg turned his pass-around notebook of faces and contact information to keep track of classmates to its conversion to the Internet with his Harvard buddies, Dustin and Chris, in 2004, Facebook didn’t sleep. Its growth in the fall of 2007 was staggering:

Over 1 million new users signed up every week, 200,000 daily, totaling over 50 million active users. Facebook received 40 billion page views a month. Long gone were the days of Facebook as a social network for college students. 11% of users are over the age of 35, and the fastest growing demographic is users over 30. Facebook has also seen huge growth internationally; 15% of the user base is in Canada. Facebook users’ passion to the site is unparalleled: more than half use the product every single day and users spend an average of 19 minutes a day on Facebook. Facebook is 6th most trafficked site in the US and top photo sharing site with 4.1 billion photos uploaded. (”Facebook”)

If you are interested in our initiative in reaching out to Russia online, opening up a dialog about our faith, feel free to visit LDS Russia on Facebook, or check out our Russian forum at mormonforum dot ru.

If you are interested in checking out more about Mormon women, we also have a Facebook group, so please feel free to visit.  The group is associated with the website by a similar name, MormonWoman dot org. The site is a great venue for viewing authentic glimpses into the lives of faithful and proactive LDS women, present and past, and includes a repository of articles, reflections on women’s issues, and multi-media content with user interface and volunteer contributions welcome.

Questions? Comments? Email us at email@moregoodfoundation dot org.  Thanks for stopping by.

http://imapc.lifewithoutwalls.com/

If there were something like this for Mormons, would people use it? What question or starting point would evoke the most and best responses? (And the definition of “best” is open for discussion.)

In celebration of its 10 year anniversary, Google has released a tool for searching its oldest search index, from 2001. A search for “Mormon beliefs” or “Mormon missionaries” returned a very different set of results 7 years ago.

Due to the efforts of the Church and many Church members, people looking for information about Mormonism can now expect to find a wide variety of stories, testimonies, and experiences from Mormons living their faith.

And there’s still more to do.

If you have a blog, you can participate in a Testimony Tag by
1. Creating a blog post about a Gospel topic
2. Linking to another positive website or resource about the Church
3. Encouraging (”tagging”) your friends to do the same

For more information, read Testimony Tag.

Thanks to David for sending this in. I thought this was a great idea.

By the way, for an example of being a missionary online, see Matt Asay’s post “Five things you don’t know about me”. In the course of explaining five things about himself to a business and technical audience, he mentioned both his high school seminary class and his mission to France. He wasn’t preachy; he simply mentioned elements of his beliefs and practices that were a part of his life. This sort of transparency and openness helps build bridges and dispel myths about the Church.

Speaking of websites launched by Church employees, Brian Hansbrow has recently launched LDSTeacher.com. LDSTeacher.com is a social network with the goal of “improving teaching and learning in the … Church.”

At LDSTeacher.com you can discuss such topics as how to invite the Spirit into lessons, how to increase student participation, and how to prepare to teach. In a Church with no paid ministry, teachers may find these resources helpful.

Participants include the following individuals, as well as occasional guests:

• Larry Richman, LDS.org Product Manager
• Joel Dehlin, Church CIO
• David Nielson, Managing Director, Church Audiovisual Dept
• David Frischknecht, Managing Director, Church Curriculum Dept

A recent MormonTimes.com article quoted Larry Richman relative to the launch of this new site:

Richman said the principal writers for LDSMediaTalk.com will glean technology information useful to families based on each author’s area of expertise. The curriculum director will focus on teaching the gospel. The audiovisual director will focus on Hollywood, movie-watching and music. The CIO will dig into technology issues. “I’m somewhere in the middle of all of those,” Richman said.

The number of people in the U.S. who listed a Church-owned university as their college*:

• 20,660 – Brigham Young University
• 9,300 – Brigham Young University-Idaho
• 1,200 – Brigham Young University-Hawaii

*A small percentage of BYU students are not Mormons, and I think this figure only includes students. The BYU network, which includes alumni and faculty, has 37,395 people.

The number of people, by country, who listed “The Book of Mormon” as an interest:

• 11,880 – United States (1 in every 1,679 Americans on Facebook)
• 700 – Canada (1 in 10,516)
• 140 – United Kingdom (1 in 45,768)
• 40 – Australia (1 in 37,458)

These interests are, of course, self-selected and don’t reflect the actual number of Mormons on Facebook. I personally have several Mormon friends who do not list The Book of Mormon as an interest or did not attend a Church-owned university. Though Facebook users can specify a religion, Facebook does not allow advertisers to see demographics by religion.

Other interests listed by people in the U.S.:

• 696,120 – The Bible
• 281,380 – God
• 46,160 – Spending time with my family
• 38,940 – Religion
• 26,420 – Going to Church
• 18,000 – Jesus Christ

Dr. Holzapfel is a BYU professor of Church History and Doctrine and a prolific author. We are very excited and honored to work with him.

Christ.org will include top articles, music, and videos on the life, death, resurrection, and mission of the Savior Jesus Christ. It will be well documented, well designed, and translated into over a dozen languages. We hope it will bring everyone who visits it closer to Christ.

Question for Commenters: What resources or features should the top website on Jesus Christ include?

1. Be reminded each day to read the scriptures — Visit ReadTheScriptures.com to sign up for a daily scripture study email. You choose what you’re reading and how fast you want to go. There’s also an option for “notes” and “journal”. (This site had a few broken links when I tried it, but it’s a great concept.)
2. Get the scriptures downloaded to your iPod by podcast — Visit ScriptureCast.net, choose the book of scripture you’re reading, and select how fast you want to read (listen) or by what date you want to finish. Each day new audio is downloaded to your iPod so you can listen to your scriptures on the go.
3. Subscribe to the home teaching and visiting teaching messages, Ensign articles, priesthood and Relief Society lessons, and General Conference talks. Visit IfYeArePrepared.org and subscribe with iTunes (podcast) or by email.
4. If you have a shiny new iPhone, there’s an iPhone-friendly version of the standard works at tall.mountainmighty.com and at ReadScriptures.com. Very cool.

Jacob Durrant of AllAboutMormons.com is on a streak. He’s recently created eight videos explaining Gospel teachings in his own words:

A Crash Course in Mormonism

He’s also begun translating the videos into Portuguese, and all his videos are available on YouTube.

Here’s what Jacob is doing right:

1. He has created excellent videos using “consumer” level tools.
2. He shares his videos on YouTube, in addition to his own website, so more people will find them.
3. He uses his ability to speak Portuguese to translate the videos and reach even more people.
4. His explanations use terminology that persons of other faith will understand.
5. He explains Gospel principles in his own words, not claiming to be an official representative of The Church. His disclaimer makes it clear that his words are his own.

I believe these videos are amateur work in the best sense of that word, a word that derives from the Latin word for love.

Did you know you don’t need any video editing software or equipment to create a video on YouTube? Any Church member with a web cam can use YouTube’s Quick Capture option to record video testimonies.

My first tentative step to editing MormonWiki.com was to add Aaron the Jaredite King to the Book of Mormon Characters index. My first edit went very well—success! I then added Helaman, son of King Benjamin to the index. Looking great! I didn’t write articles about King Aaron or Helaman, not even a sentence but I had made my first edit and life was good. However, before the evening was over I wrote my first article. I added Joseph to the Book of Mormon Characters index and then wrote this:

The younger of Lehi’s two sons born after Lehi left Jerusalem.

One sentence, but there it was—my first article, and life was more good. Gaining confidence I later went on to make a number of contributions and have the satisfaction that I am contributing to More Good on the Internet. Choosing a Book of Mormon character and tracing where he first appears and who he interacts with is an interesting way to study the Book of Mormon. For example, when I picked a bad guy, Zerahemnah, to write about I had forgotten that Captain Moroni shows up to do battle. It then became a study in tactics, reasons for fighting, and God giving the ultimate victory to those with the greater cause.

If you are a Foundation member, join in a worthwhile cause on Friday 15 and Saturday 16 June. If you are not a member, register now and ready yourself for MormonWiki Edit Days.

1. WardSocial.com and Came2Pass.com — These two sites allow you to submit and vote on stories related to the Church. Like their predecessor Sustaind.org, these sites operate like Digg.com. In addition to finding interesting LDS stories on these three sites, prudence suggets we should also branch out of our communities to participate on broader, non-Mormon sites like Digg.com, where we can also submit and vote on stories about our religion. (The creator of Came2pass.com is an avid Digg user.)

2. IfYeArePrepared.org — Here you’ll find a variety of options for subscribing to Church content. For example, you can subscribe by email or RSS to the Home Teaching message, which will be delivered each month. You can also subscribe to the Visiting Teaching message, the Priesthood/Relief Society lessons, and current Ensign articles. Their recent redesign looks awesome.

3. SpicyWardWeb — This isn’t a website, but a tool you can install. It’s a bit techie but really cool. After logging into your ward website on LDS.org, this Greasemonkey script will alter your ward membership directory so the addresses link to Google Maps. You can click on the address of anyone in your ward to view their location on the map. To use this you’ll need Firefox and the Greasemonkey add-on. The developer says more interesting scripts for LDS.org are coming.

Whenever we Mormons build something cool — like these sites above — I believe we should constantly ask ourselves how we can include people of others faiths. Even sites intended for Church members can at least include a paragraph or link that gives context and background to non-Mormons. This inclusionary attitude will help us make friends and avoid cliquishness.

Dr. Richard Bushman wrote about being “dedicated to blessing others”:

I wrote to Elder Holland about a rough patch ahead as animosity to religion keeps growing. I am coming to envision a new persona for the Church as humble followers of Jesus Christ. Instead of speaking triumphantly of the Gospel sweeping the earth, could we think of ourselves instead as the leaven in the lump, standing for righteousnesss and serving others? I wish we had a long record of kindness and friendship to fall back on, with less stress on proselyting. Then when the storms break around us, we would have friends to turn to. Our covenant with God is to bless the people of the earth. That should be our motto. Establishing Zion does not mean sweeping vast masses of people on to our membership records but creating a people of God dedicated to blessing others. Joseph and his early followers came forth with lots of triumphalist rhetoric, but I think we need a new voice, one of humility, friendship, and service. (via)

President Hinckley has repeatedly advocated friendship and kindness:

The true gospel of Jesus Christ never led to bigotry. It never led to self-righteousness. It never led to arrogance. The true gospel of Jesus Christ leads to brotherhood, to friendship, to appreciation of others, to respect and kindness and love.

There are other great quotes on Whitney’s website and blog. You can also download a PDF called “The Spirit of Ammon” which explains how Ammon’s service to King Lamoni set the stage for his gospel conversion.

We’ve previously mentioned ways to share the gospel on the Internet. Is it also possible to simply be a good neighbor on the Internet?

• The anonymous nature of the Internet often leads to “cyber-bullying,” extreme rudeness, and visceral attacks. (Blogging can be a lightning rod!) When we see such behavior, we can remain polite and collected, and we can be respectful even when we disagree. We can make encouraging comments to those who are attacked and improve the tone of the dialog.
• We don’t have to mention our “particular brand of faith” when writing about gospel truths. Pick a topic like honesty, chastity, or family and explain why it’s important to you.
• We can blog about our religion without being pushy. For example, mention that you learned Portuguese because you lived in Brazil for two years. Let the text “two years” be a link to something that explains why you were there. Those who are interested can follow the link.

Free LDS music at Liahona.net

I encourage anyone and everyone to go to mormontestimonies.org and post a testimony. What better answer is there to the question “what do Mormons really believe?” than a collection of writings of actual Mormons telling what they actually believe? The wiki is a safe place (no criticism allowed) where members can share their strength and faith.

Clay Gorton is “Gramps”, a former mission president and temple worker who answers questions on a variety of topics at www.askgramps.org. Thanks to Mikel and Clay’s hard work, Ask Gramps content is now available by podcast. Point your pod catcher at the standard feed or subscribe in iTunes. If you don’t have an iPod or other MP3 player, you can listen from your computer. See the list of articles with audio.

Clay is a great example of sharing the Gospel on the Internet. While he doesn’t speak officially for the Church, his deep knowledge and experience provide helpful insight to hundreds of people. Interestingly, he publishes only a portion of the questions he answers, often responding privately on especially sensitive concerns and often suggesting that people speak with their local ecclesiastical leaders.

Clay turns 84 today. Anyone who would excuse himself from getting involved in the Internet, blogging, podcasting, etc. certainly can’t use age as an excuse. Great work, Clay.

• Questions and Answers — Mormons or persons of other faiths may submit questions and Jacob will do his best to respond. This is similar to AskGramps.org.
• Testimonies — Read testimonies from Church members on why they believe. Submit your own testimony. (Look to Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen for a good example of explaining why you believe.) There are already more than a dozen.
• News — Read and submit news stories about the Church, similar to LDSNewsWatch.com
• Site Directory — Find and submit links to good web sites about the Church, similar to MormonCentral.com.

The following are a few videos that are concerned with temples. These are just a few; there are actually a good number of these on the Web.

• Tour of Las Vegas Temple grounds. Someone shot some videos as they walked around the Las Vegas Temple grounds. The natural audio accentuates the peace and quiet of the area. (4:06)
• Spain Madrid Temple. Basic slideshow made from still images, with music. The video has a title and prologue in Spanish. (1:40)
• Los Angeles Temple Travels. A couple visits the Los Angeles Temple. Great slide-show shots and music express the feelings they experienced as they visited. (2:48)

Another good topic for sharing good information about the Church (and one that is often related to temples) is the subject of temple marriages. These two videos were shared by couples who were happy about their temple marriages. (They do a good job of pointing out that temple marriages are not weird, strange, or totally secret. These are normal, average couples getting married in a way that they choose.)

• A Temple Marriage. Video shot after a temple marriage at the Salt Lake Temple. Shows happy family and friends, celebrating the marriage. No voice; just two popular songs played in the background of the video. (6:52)
• Courtship and Marriage at the San Diego Temple. This is a couple’s wedding video, shot at the San Diego Temple. Nice video with incidental music background. (2:59)

Some people are directly trying to share information about missionaries, mission life, and the fruits of missionary work. I thought the following were very good examples of this genre of shared video:

• Temple Square Mission. A documentary clip about missionaries on Temple Square. (1:47)
• Provo MTC. Documentary clip about what goes on in the MTC as missionaries prepare to serve. (2:31)
• BJ’s Conversion Story. A recent convert tells why he decided to join the Church and the happiness he has found in the Church. (3:14)
• Mike’s Conversion Story. Another recent convert tells why he decided to join the Church. (12:15)
• Finding Lost Sheep. Nice video montage (with background song) that shows pictures of LDS converts and missionaries. (4:32)

One thing I was surprised about is that there aren’t more videos online about visiting Church history sites. There are many such sites around the world (and especially in North America), and it would seem a natural for sharing information about the Church. I did find one short (0:36) video clip about the Sacred Grove.

How can you encourage such videos? Link to them from your blog or Web site. You can even embed them, if you desire. (Most of the above videos have embedding code available at the video’s site.) It could be even better if you were to share some of your own videos. Just upload them to places like YouTube or Google Video, and then they can be shared around the world.

Drop us a line (or leave a comment) sharing how you’ve used video to help put good LDS-oriented content on the Web.

-Allen

Link: LDS Tech