<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> In summer 2012, the Archbishop of the Church of Sweden appeared on Twitter. There was only one problem - it was not the Archbishop himself who was tweeting, but an anonymous person. A discussion then ensued on Twitter and in the blogosphere between those in favor of the Archbishop and his department and mainly social media proponents. </p><p>The present article describes and analyzes the social media debate, and how authority and hierarchies are negotiated in and through social media. The analysis is based on Heidi Campbell’s “Religious-Social Shaping of Technology” model, and emphasizes the need to take into account not only the faith and tradition of the religious actor, but also the societal context in which the negotiating process takes place. In this case, the concepts of “mediatization” and “secularization” are used to understand the broader context of the process.</p></abstract>

In summer 2012, the Archbishop of the Church of Sweden appeared on Twitter. There was only one problem - it was not the Archbishop himself who was tweeting, but an anonymous person. A discussion then ensued on Twitter and in the blogosphere between those in favor of the Archbishop and his department and mainly social media proponents. The present article describes and analyzes the social media debate, and how authority and hierarchies are negotiated in and through social media. The analysis is based on Heidi Campbell’s “Religious-Social Shaping of Technology” model, and emphasizes the need to take into account not only the faith and tradition of the religious actor, but also the societal context in which the negotiating process takes place. In this case, the concepts of “mediatization” and “secularization” are used to understand the broader context of the process.

Why Does the Archbishop Not Tweet?

HUMlab / Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, Umeå University

Nordicom Review

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

How Social Media Challenge Church Authorities

In summer 2012, the Archbishop of the Church of Sweden appeared on Twitter. There was only one problem - it was not the Archbishop himself who was tweeting,...

Why Does the Archbishop Not Tweet?

Publié en ligne: 09 juin 2015

Pages: 109 - 123

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/nor-2015-0009

Mots clés
authority, church, mediatization, religion, secularization, social media

© by Stefan Gelfgren

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Why Does the Archbishop Not Tweet?

Publié en ligne: 09 juin 2015

Pages: 109 - 123

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/nor-2015-0009

Mots clésauthority, church, mediatization, religion, secularization, social media

© by Stefan Gelfgren

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Mots clés
authority, church, mediatization, religion, secularization, social media