Fastest growing church launches blog

America’s fastest growing religious movement, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS)—whose followers are more commonly known as Mormons—has joined the world of web 2.0 and launched a brand new blog. Based in Salt Lake City, Mormonism now counts over 13 million members worldwide. The church may be a new addition to the blogosphere, but is seems to understand very well how to maximize its blogging presence.

While only a few years ago, bloggers would have had to rely almost exclusively on Google and other search engines to drive traffic to their site, the savviest blogs now make use of the world’s most popular social networking tools. As such, the new LDS blog will use the microblogging site Twitter, as well as Facebook, to encourage surfers to read the entries. Both Twitter and Facebook allow bloggers to link their entries to status updates and profile pages, which means that having more friends or followers on these social networking sites translates into the a higher readership for one’s blog.

LDS is very clearly media and internet savvy, and the organization has even appointed a ‘manager of social media.’ Lyman Kirkland heads this department and he noted that the church’s blog should be seen as a more informal and relaxed source of information, rather than a place to find press releases or statements on official positions or doctrines. The church contends that the main purpose behind this blogging effort is put a more human and personal face on Mormonism’s public relations efforts.