It's no secret to anyone here, that I'm on Twitter as @LDSNana. In fact, following the last General Conference, Trent Toone over on Deseret News, tracked me down for an interview, to find out about my use of the Twitter hashtag, #LDSConf. And here's why...
"During the Sunday morning session, the hashtag #LDSconf was trending on Twitter. (A hashtag is a tag or keyword prefixed by a has (#) symbol that accompanies a Twitter post or tweet. The posts containing a relevant hashtag can be searched and indexed efficiently.) At one point, #ldsconf accounted for .14 percent of the total tweets on Twitter (70 million per day), according to trendistics.com.
"I haven't see the statistics yet… but most conferences, it does trend pretty heavily," said Larry Richman, director of product awareness for the church. "A lot of members like to talk about what they heard, quotes, impressions. They tend to make quite a few comments about it."
At home in Murrieta, Calif., Kathryn Skaggs, a.k.a. "LDSNana," sat with her laptop and watched conference with her family. Skaggs, who serves on a church public affairs council, began tweeting three years ago and now has more than 5,100 followers. She came up with the term "TwitterStake," a humorous title for a virtual LDS congregation online. She use the name "LDSNana" so people know what she is all about, and her purpose "is to be a positive conveyor of LDS information, thoughts, teachings and principles." She signs her blog off withe letters 'tDMg'. It stands for "to DO MORE good". For her, it's like taking notes and sharing them.
"For me, tweeting #ldsconf is an opportunity to share my testimony with those who follow me, she wrote in her blog at wellbehavedmormonwoman.blogspot.com.
I say quite a bit more, so if you'd like to read the entire interview, Social Media Trends and LDS General Conference, go HERE!
Here's what Shawn Cannon, at Deseret News, had to say today…
"Meet the self-proclaimed "Twitter Stake" -- a large group of online Mormons who do just that. During October 2010 general conference the group tweeted 24,600 times during the five weekend sessions. They group their comments and quotes together by inserting the hashtag #ldsconf somewhere in the tweet. A hash allows anyone to search Twitter for all tweets relating to a specific topic and group them together on the screen.
Many who participate rave about social networking and their conference experience."
Cannon goes on to report:
"The trend for social media and its unique style of sharing the gospel is on the rise. During the April 2011 conference, the #ldsconf hash tag rose to the number four spot for most tweets worldwide. This is the first time the number of LDS tweets ranked in any of the Top 10 spots on a worldwide basis."
Not bad, eh? You can read the entire article, Tweeting about General Conference, HERE!
Now, If you'd like to hear what I had to say about MY beloved #TwitterStake, following our last General Conference, check that out HERE!
I have come to love so many of my online LDS friends, that I've gotten to know over the last few years. These Mormon brothers and sisters consistently join me on Twitter, every six months, to help share the gospel, online! These are some really amazing Latter-day Saints who love the gospel, and don't mind letting others know about it. I wish I had the ability to post each one of their names right here, and introduce them to all of you. But really, if you want to get to know who these amazing people are, join the #TwitterStake, once again, as we gather next weekend for General Conference, on Twitter!
If you're not on Twitter yet, head on over and sign-up, then check out these two list that I've put together, of Mormons on Twitter. Follow these people and be part of the best doggonegroup on online missionaries to be found in one place! And I can promise you this, you will have a blast! Tweeting General Conference is both uplifting and fun! So come on, what are you waiting for?
(If you'd like to be on one of my list, tweet me, or leave a comment here and I'll find and add you.)
Learn more about how the #TwitterStake gathers to tweet #LDSConf:
This General Conference will no doubt be the best one yet. Not only will we be tweeting on Twitter, but many of us will now branch out to see what we can accomplish over on the new social networking site, Google Plus -- (I'll tell you more about that later this week...) and yes, using the hashtag #LDSConf. But I will let you in on a little something, currently the G+ Stake is being organized. So, watch out!
tDMg
Kathryn Skaggs
I met you thru twitter, and several other of my good online friends that way. I love twitter, and wish more of my friends IRL were on there, then I could ditch facebook forever. I'll probably be tweeting one or two sessions of Confrennce, that seems to be the best way for me to pay attention these days. I'm @theatomicmom if anyone wants to follow me. :)
ReplyDelete@AtomicMom -
ReplyDeleteIt's really amazing how many members, like you, that I've met on Twitter, and have now become even better friends over on Facebook! Heck, I'd love to come for Christmas! LOL I love that!
To those with the impression that people we meet online are only superficial, are just plain wrong. And this is exactly why sharing the gospel , online, can so effective. People that follow us and what we share online, know that we are real people that are willing to discuss our beliefs. I've had more opportunities to discuss Mormon beliefs than I can count now. It's really enjoyable.
I look forward to tweeting with you next weekend! tDMg : )
This is the first time visiting your blog and I am really impressed by it all. I have a missionary blog that I would love to have you add. I do have a Twitter; but haven't spent a lot of time developing it.
ReplyDeleteYour twitter sound like a good one to follow.
Let me know what I need to do to get included.
Living Waters by LeAnn @ http://lgwilliams.blogspot.com/
Tweeting during General Conference has been the highlight of my online missionary experiences for the last 3 General Conferences. It is the most fun sharing the gospel you'll ever have.
ReplyDeleteI have had the chance to answer many questions because of this (I have relatively few LDS people on my timeline)and one friend actually listened to April 2010 General Conference. I sent her a Book of Mormon via 2 very lovely young delivery men and she was baptized shortly after and has now gone through the temple.
In addition I tweeted a summary of a chapter of the Book of Mormon a day - The Tweet of Mormon. I am now doing that again on another account (@normmormwomen) associated with my Book Group's website normalmormonwomen.com.
My experiences sharing the gospel via the internet are unique and amazing and have led me places I thought I would never go. The opportunities are endless and exciting. Thanks for being part of the pioneering process!