World Youth Day 2011 and Social Media
World Youth Day 2011 takes places in Madrid, Spain from August 16-21. An anticipated one million plus people will be there to celebrate our universal Catholic faith with exuberance and joy. Pope Benedict XVI will be with them from the 18th to the 21st. According to the official WYD Madrid website, this is the first WYD completely connected to social networks.
More than two years ago a social network of hundreds of thousands of people was established on the topic of World Youth Day 2011. Since then, a team of professionals has been managing multiple social networks in more than 20 languages to get the word out. Eighty volunteers from five continents are committed to get young people around the world connected to WYD 2011. They are on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.
On Friday, August 19, there will an opportunity for the young people at WYD interested in new media to gather at “iCat” to hear presenters on faith and new media and to discuss their own insights. It will be live streamed over Madrid11TV in English and Spanish.
This is a great time in the Church for all generations and it is a wonderful opportunity for young people to openly celebrate their faith and evangelize through their own personal witness and their social networks.
More than 26,000 people from the U.S. will be at WYD. For those who can’t go in person, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has created a virtual pilgrimage on Facebook where they can create their own avatar and follow the events online through posts, blogs, and live streaming from Madrid.
There will be other social media coverage as well. Fr. Robert Barron’s Word on Fire team will be blogging from Madrid. The Catholic Standard from Archdiocese of Washington has its own WYD blogger, 21 year-old Amanda Hamilton. The USCCB has a team of eight bloggers who will be posting from WYD. BustedHalo.com has two WYD bloggers, Annie Reuter and Joe Williams. Do you know of any other social networks covering WYD 2011? Tell us in the comments below.
Let us join together with the faith-filled young people at WYD 2011 and all over the world to bring about God’s kingdom on earth.
Finally, I think that you will enjoy this brief video about the 26 year history of World Youth Day.
Comments (9)
Kirste Moline
August 15, 2011 at 6:03 am
Our World Youth Day pilgrims are also blogging their journey. You can follow them at http://abecketcanton.blogspot.com/ We are also posting regular updates on their journey on our Facebook page.
Sr. Susan Wolf, SND
August 15, 2011 at 6:30 am
@Bostoncatholic reports that @CardinalSean is now tweeting from his account while at #madrid11. If you are on Twitter you may wish to follow the Cardinal or search on the hashtag #madrid11 to find other related tweets.
Sr.Marilyn Marie
August 15, 2011 at 7:05 am
Sr. Julie Viera, IHM is also blogging through http://www.aNunsLife.org. She brings the distinctive perspective of Catholic Women Religious.
Louis_marie_c
August 15, 2011 at 7:29 am
In France you can follow the WYD on Twitter with @gdecoutard & @2CV_Huguette and for website it’s here http://reporters.blog.pelerin.info/ & http://www.lejourduseigneur.com/Web-TV/Blog/Coulisses/JMJ-nous-sommes-sur-place
Lisa Hendey
August 15, 2011 at 11:45 am
Fr. Roderick is also reporting live from WYD via social media and even had a 3 D video today from the streets of Madrid. Check it out at http://youtu.be/Rry2bqt0Po0
So happy that we can share in the WYD events via social media.
Jean Ponder Soto
August 15, 2011 at 12:09 pm
Marvelous use of social media by the Roman Catholic Church! Sets a new standard for the experience of being “universal.”
Jane Comeau
August 15, 2011 at 1:52 pm
Sister Julia Walsh will update her blog and Twitter account while in Madrid.
http://www.twitter.com/juliafspa
http://messyjesusbusiness.wordpress.com/
Her community, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, will also keep people posted through:
http://www.facebook.com/franciscansisters
http://www.twitter.com/FSPAtweets
Sr. Dion Horrigan
August 16, 2011 at 8:00 am
I am so thrilled to read about using social media “that all may be one as you Father in me and I in you.” How absolutely thrilling for ALL of us. I loved the WYD video…watched other ones too. I feel like I’m there. Thanks much.
andremartin
August 20, 2011 at 3:08 am
web solutions Wall Photos… Hangad is looking forward to sing with the participants of the 2011 World Youth Day Overnight Vigil to be held at the Ateneo de Manila Grounds. We hope to see you there!..
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