Monday, July 7, 2008

Missing the Social Networking Boat

After looking around the internet, I have noticed a major problem with the reach that Freemasonry has on the Web. On many of the social networking sites, there are no mentions of Freemasonry. The major news article that appeared in the LA Times about Masonic Resurgence has only been dugg 2 times on the Social News site Digg.com. (Digg is a site that allows users to vote up on the importance of a story.) I checked Del.icio.us and have noticed that very few Masonic websites are being bookmarked. In fact, the Freemasonry Watch website that attacks Freemasonry has more people bookmarking it than most other blog. This is a problem. I believe one of the best methods of bringing our organization is for our members to begin actually participating in these social websites making people aware of our existence. It is easy to sign up and when we put a positive spin with respect to the great things our organization does, we can really connect to those not only in the "blogosphere" (terrible term) but throughout the entire swath of Web 2.0 sites.

I believe that we have made some great strides especially with all my fellow Masonic bloggers but this is not enough. Increasingly, the web is being used to share and collaborate and we are missing good men who are unaware of our existence. M.W. Bro. Neddermeyer listed on his research that only 25% of men even know what freemasonry is.

We are losing the battle to increase our profile on these social networks. I am calling on all our brothers to mention what networks they take a part in and how they use communication to get in contact with their fellow brothers. This is the space that the next generation of Freemasons and we have to do all that we can to understand the new order. Hopefully, through the connections that we can make on the web, we will be able to introduce people to the great activities and hopefully, introduce those men that seek the same social belonging to the Fraternity.


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2 comments:

Jeff said...

You, my friend, just inspired a MAJOR update to KingSolomonsLodge.org - Actually, I had been contemplating doing this for quite a while, but be it known that this post motivated me to make it become a reality. Thank you!

historypak said...
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