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INSTALLATION OF MOBI NETWORK @ SMMS
Over the last decade information has become social again. Up until the early 19th century, most information was passed along person to person via places of worship, taverns, marketplaces and so on - the social networks of the day. The invention of the printing press meant the natural shortcomings of this process were overcome as information could now reach more people in a shorter space of time. However, it also meant that access to information was depersonalised and could be tightly controlled by small groups of people - governments, mass media and corporations.
The rise of electronic social media has seen information become social again. But this time it is backed by technology that allows news to spread even more rapidly than traditional industrial media. The Arab Spring revolutions are an example of how oppressive governments find it almost impossible to control all news, and how information can be quickly passed along social networks. It is for this reason, and because of the sheer numbers behind some of these networks, that experts believe the social media revolution is the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution. The statistics are quite mind-blowing:
• 96% of 18-35 year olds are on a social network.
• Facebook has over 550 million members.
• Facebook members spend over 700 billion minutes a month on the network and share over 30 billion pieces of content.
• There are 1 billion tweets posted on Twitter every week, that’s 1 650 every second.
John Wesley once said, “I look upon all the world as my parish.” Wesley’s words take on entirely new and exciting possibilities when these statistics are looked at through a missional lens. The technology and networks themselves are value neutral, they can be used for good or evil, but if used with creative imagination and proper theological reflection, they can certainly be used for tremendous life-giving activity.
What is fascinating is not just social media, but the platform on which it is used. Here we see the shift from computers to cell phones.
• Around 3.5 billion people in the world have cell phones. That is half the global population.
• In developing countries like South Africa, most people do not have computers, but they do have access to mobile phones.
• 14 million people surf the net on their phones in South Africa, compared to 5 million on computer.
• The penetration level of the mobile market now exceeds all other medium, even the radio.
• This means that mobile phones are the most inclusive form of social networking, because they are cheap and accessible from almost all areas.
SMMS (and indeed the church at large) stands at the precipice of a wonderful opportunity to creatively use the social networks (most particularly mobile phones because of this medium’s greater reach) to proclaim the Gospel, deepen spirituality and promote social justice – and declare its vision to church and nation.
In our increasingly dislocated societies, social mobile networks are a valuable means of keeping people connected to the community of God. They can be used to call them to worship, to keep them in touch with the latest news and for communicating vision, purpose and spirituality as a way of life. Creating theologically founded digital communities also ensures that the Gospel message is kept contextual and relevant. While social networking will never replace face-to-face contact, it can certainly enhance community when people are separated by distance or busyness and cannot connect during the week.
Mobile social networks can also be used as powerful agents for social justice, especially in the fields of education and health. Inadequate educational systems can be supplemented through vibrant and creative teaching methods via mobile phones, much like personal computers are used in Europe and America. Health concerns and important information can also be promoted widely via mobile, even into far-flung rural areas.
SMMS has therefore partnered with Jomba Social Mobile, a non-profit organisation that seeks to serve the church in making the most of the social media revolution. We have built a mobile site for the seminary (smms.mobi) as a means of enhancing community life, but also in the hope that by using the site for their daily communal and spiritual needs, seminarians will be exposed to the possibilities of using social mobile networks in the areas to which they will one day minister. It is our deeply held belief that ministers will be able to take the tools we offer and creatively apply them to all sorts of different contexts with tremendous effect.
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