if Google+ takes over from facebook how will the Watchtower react?

by slimboyfat 7 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  slimboyfat

  It seems to me it's only a matter of time before Google+ takes over from facebook as the most popular social network.

  A few JWs I know have invited me to their Google+ circles, or whatever you call it, in the last few weeks. Maybe they are more relaxed about using this network because it has not been condemned at the meetings the same way facebook has.

  It occurs to me that the Watchtower might be less likely to actually name Google+ as forbidden fruit purely because they are confused about the name (I'm a bit confused about the name) and it they start condemning Google they might sound like they mean to stop people using the search engine and just sound a bit daft.

  So is this a social network that JWs can take part in with impunity?
• 

  TOTH

  No doubt in my mind that the wt would intervene to protect the sheep. ANYTHING that a jw uses for enjoyment is verboten. If they don't realize this then they need REMINDERS.
• 

  the truth is mine

  Before there was Facebook they had My Space and Ringo and countless other social network sites and the WTBTS would name the more popular site MySpace in their talks but they would also make sure to emphasize that they were talking about all forms of social networking. If Google + becomes more popular then Facebook even if they were reluctant to speak of it by name they would just resurrect their rhetoric on 'social networking' sites and condemn it as from the Devil and anyone who insists on using it would be showing an independent and possibly brazen sprit.
• 

  Disillusioned Lost-Lamb

  They will attack anything that connects witlesses to the outside world.

  Egad! You might learn something they don't want you to know!

  They try to control all incoming and outgoing information and cannot if you insist on taking matters in your own hands by connecting to others and looking at some of that (gasp) free (gasp) truthful information.
• 

  breakfast of champions

  I think the whole social network thing has become a lost cause for the society. They cat is out of he bag, the horses have left the barn. It's over. They need to learn to live with it.
• 

  dozy

  The WTBTS have generally not named Facebook by name , referring more vaguely to "social networking sites".

  I don't think that they have yet developed a coherent strategy here - as usual they are reactive , not proactive. They seem to be sending out mixed messages - the Awake articles seem to suggest that it is ok for people to have sites as long as they are careful not to allow worldy friends to register & keep their profiles hidden. Talks at assemblies & from the CO warning of the "danger of social networks" are more hard-line - essentially giving the impression that no "mature" JW would be on Facebook. I think part of this is the general demonisation of the internet from the WTBTS that it is full of apostasy & porn.

  The problem for the WTBTS is that many JWs who are in foreign lands and missionaries love Facebook because they can keep in touch. One Gilead graduate in Africa I know is one of the most enthusiastic adult Facebookers I know - I guess it helps him cope with his assignment in a 3rd World country. He has thousands of JW friends all over the world & there is a lot of interaction. Actually from a JW perspective it is really positive & a very good witness as he shares his experiences. I see many JWs who from his page have been encouraged to do more & to "serve where the need is greater".

  As usual I think the WTBTS is making a big mistake in their reaction. Teenagers don't become JWs because they "love Jehovah" or enjoy the (incredibly boring) JW lifestyle. They stay because of their JW friends - essentially as a result of peer pressure & the family & JW friends they have made that makes it very difficult for them to leave. All of their friends & associates , virtually without exception , are on Facebook. The WTBTS should be trying to foster these links & encourage them.

  What the WTBTS fails to realise is that even nuttier religions with even more ludricrous histories (eg Mormons ,Scientologists) realise that the way to go isn't to censure & supress open information - it is to build their own information network , as it were , point their adherents to it and provide the social support that helps their religions grow. The WTBTS should embrace the new technology , exploit it readily and use it to build up existing recruits and make new ones. At present , they are like the little boy sticking his finger in the dyke.
• 

  Morbidzbaby

  dozy, that's an excellent point. With the growing popularity of the internet in the past, the WTBTS responded to possible apostate backlash by creating their own sites and pointing JW's to those for "accurate" information. It was sort-of doing damage control because by that time, I think there were a bunch of former JW's online already "wreaking havoc". I know my very first experience with apostates was in chat (Yahoo) back around 2000 and there were a TON of them in there. Same thing with MSNChat.

  The only thing the bOrg can do is create their own networks and hope to Jehoover that the JW's use them. Trying to control the masses by making certain things forbidden will only blow up in their faces.

  I still can't fathom how people can allow themselves to be told what to do...friggin' full-fledged adults need to have their friggin' hands held. The bOrg says "Stay away from social networking sites...they're tools of Satan"...and the flock nods and says "Yes, stay away from social networking sites...they're tools of Satan".
• 

  thetrueone

  Same way, the WTS. always wants to curtail who their devoted followers are associating with, who they're talking to and so forth.

  If Google+ turns into Facebook, they will put out the warnings in the same way.

  Fear is power, power in control.