To Post or Not to Post?

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Research Fundamentals

Authors
Amy Perez

Kelsie Smith

James Bullough

McCain Kennedy
Devin Pincock

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Social media is a part of most peoples lives these days. It has become
a way for people to connect with others on a more personal level. It is a great
place for people to share their thoughts and feelings with those closest to
them. Because each site has some form of profile, members of each social
media site are able to share their beliefs with others online. The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has stated that it supports its members using
different forms of social media. They believe that members will be able to
share the gospel through different postings and videos that are made available
to them through The Church.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a lot of content
available on their websites for members to share on social media. The Church
hopes that its members utilize the tools provided on its website. There are
many church members that share this content with their friends and family
members on social media. However, at the same time there are also many that
do not. What is keeping church members from posting more church related
topics on social media websites? A focus group containing nine BYU-Idaho
students was held in order to answer that exact question. The research team
asked many general questions as well as some more personal questions in
order to find a reasonable answer for not posting more church related posts.
The participants answers were very valuable in finding why certain members
of the church do not post church related topics on their own personal social
media page.

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Social media has played a significant role in the way people selfdisclose themselves online. Through social media individuals are able
to express themselves in a manner that is creative and constructive. The
University of North Carolina at Pembroke UNCP defines social media as
a place where people interact freely, sharing and discussing information
about their lives. Individuals have the capability to exchange content through
person-to-person interaction.
According to the UNCP, The Dawning of social media takes place in
1994. The Dawning began with Geocities, created by Beverly Hills Internet.
Geocities allowed users to create their own websites, modeled after urban
areas. Geocities crossed the one million user mark in 1997, contributing to
the beginning of the rise of social media. 1
In 1997, The Dawning expanded to one million sites. Within that
same year The Dawning developed multiple templates of social media sites
that are used today. A site that was created around this time was SixDegrees.
com, which allowed users to create profiles and list their friends. This site was
the template for social media sites like Friendster, MySpace and Facebook.
Another development during this year was an Instant Messenger allowing its
users to chat. American Online AOL designed it.
The first online social network to achieve prominence was Friends
Reunited, a similar site to SixDegrees.com that was developed in Great
Britain in 1999. The site made it possible for users to relocate people they had
previously attended school with.
At the turn of the millennia the internet became more of a common
place in peoples lives. AOL grew to 34 million members. In 2002 Friendster,
a new social networking website that was open to the U.S. public grew to
three million users within its first three months.

1. Curtis, Anthony. The Brief History of Social Media.

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The following year a clone of Friendster was developed called

MySpace. That same year another social networking site geared towards
business professionals began, called LinkedIn. By 2004 there was another
new social networking site that was started for students at Harvard College.
It was referred to as the college version of Friendster and is now known as
Facebook, the largest social networking site. At the end of The Dawning,
in 2005, there were eight billion webpages. In 2006 a new social networking
site emerged. Twitter is both a social networking and micro-blogging site.
Members use 140-characters to express themselves throughout the day, these
messages are referred to as tweets.
Facebook surpassed 200 million users and became the most used social
network worldwide in 2009. By the next year, Facebook continued to grow
and had over 400 million users, whereas MySpace declined from its peak of
75 million users to 57 million by 2010. Also in 2010 an estimated population
of internet users was 1.97 billion. This was almost 30 percent of the global
population.
The internets rapid growth continued into 2011. Social media became
easily accessible anywhere due to the development of the Smartphone, tablet,
and Applications. It became an integral part of societys life. Facebook grew to
over 550 million users. Each day 65 million tweets were sent through Twitter.
LinkedIn also achieved over 90 million professional users that same year.
Due to this rapid growth it was projected that by 2015 internet users would
double.
By 2012 two billion people had access to the internet and social
media around the world. 213 million Americans had access to the internet
via computers, whereas 52 million people had access to the Web via
smartphones, and 55 million users accessed it via tablets. At this time the top
ten social networks were Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, WordPress, LinkedIn,
Pinterest, Google+, Tumblr, MySpace, and Wikia. In 2012 Facebook hit one
billion users.

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2013 was another expansion year for social networking.

Facebook climbed to 1.11 billion while Twitter grew to 500 million registered
users. Within the 500 million users on Twitter, there are 200 million that are
active. LinkedIn expanded to 225 million. Google+ also had an increase with
a growth to 343 million users. In this year MySpace dropped to 25 million
users.
In an Australian survey it was found that 34 percent of social network users
logged on at work, 13 percent logged on at school, and 18percent logged
on in the car, while 44 percent used social networks in bed, 7 percent in the
bathroom, and 6 percent on the toilet.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) believes that
social media can be used to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and have a
powerful influence on those who follow its postings. The Church encourages
the use of social media as long as it is in accordance with gospel teachings.
Opportunities and guidelines have been set apart so members can be aware of
the Churchs indulgence of different forms of social media.2
According to LDS.org, the official webpage of the LDS church, says,
Strive to have your online presence reflect your values and standards.
Connect to official Church sites, and share content from these sites that
touches your heart, and reflects your values. The Church ensures its
members that by following this guideline, missionary moments will become
more prominent in their lives.Be civil in your online interactions with
others. Latter-day Saint teachings require members to treat others with
respect, regardless of the situation, The Church believes that every person
deserves respect. The internet is not an exception. Forms of hostility are not
tolerable on the internet and are not in accordance with Church teachings.

2. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Social Media Helps for Members.

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The Church emphasizing the importance of exercising good judgment
when posting on to social media websites. According to LDS.org, There is no
delete button on the Internet. Images and posts can remain for many years
and can be detrimental when you are seeking employment or admission to
college, as well as other occasions in which your public Internet record may
be reviewed. Ensure that your communications align with your commitment
to take upon yourself the name of the Savior. These guidelines are to keep
Church members from suffering consequences that could occur from using
social media in a manner that hinders the growth of those following a
members posts.

Posting on the internet gives individuals the ability to see into another
persons life as well as an equal opportunity to affect anothers life. Your
positive example can influence those with whom you associate. according to
the LDS.org,Its wise to cease associating with those who consistently seek
to drag others down and particularly those who post inappropriate material.
The Church expresses the importance of being selective of the people and
material members choose to associate with via social media because of the
impact such material can have.

According to a study featured in the Journal for the Scientific Study of
Religion, The studys ndings show that many online users choose to selfdisclose a religious afliation in their proles. Most, however, do not divulge
much more than that about their religious and spiritual lives. This suggests
that when a person posts their religion to their profile, it is the only piece of
information about their religion that they make available.3
This study came to the conclusion that most online profile owners do not
engage in lengthy or in-depth religious self-disclosures. According to the
results fewer than one-in-three profile owners say something about religion
on their own, outside the single-word Religion field.

3. Bobkowski, P. S., & Pearce, L. D. (2011). Baring their souls in online

profiles or not?

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After further examination research showed that the most individuals
shared about their religion outside of the Religion field was brief and
superficial.

The study showed that relationships and religious affiliations play a
significant role in the content that is posted concerning religion. If a group of
people is all interested in similar spiritual matters, that group is more likely to
create a dialogue about religious content. The same could be said about those
who are not interested in speaking out about religion. The research proved
that the process of religious self-disclosure has the potential to highlight the
shortcomings of how religious beliefs are expressed. After analyzing, it could
be said that communications concerning religion could be studied more by
looking at the ideas that are posted through the forms of social media.
At the conclusion of the study the data suggested that once individuals
decided to share their religious identities, they would not shift their identity
to fit different disclosure contexts.

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To find the answer to the Meta question the decision was made it
would be most affective to do a focus group. It was needed to be able to
hear peoples personal opinions on the subject rather than have them simply
answer yes or no questions on a survey.

After received a list of 100 random names of students that attend
BYU-Idaho that could be contacted for the focus group. The team of 5
members split the list up and began to contact the people on the list. The
majority of the phone numbers that were on the list that had been received
were for their house numbers. This led to many talks to a lot of students
parents rather than talking to the actual students. Then decided it would
be wiser to contact them via email and hope to get a response. The emails
explained that students where needed, who wouldnt mind sparing an hour
to come eat pizza and talk about social media. In the end, each team member
was able to get at least one person committed to come to the focus group.

For the focus group, reserving the conference room of the Spori
building on BYU-Idahos campus was the first step. The room has a very long
oval shaped table with many seats around placed around for people to come
and talk. It was necessary to schedule the focus group for the evening so all
of the participants would be done with classes. Also trying to work around
any work schedules that any of the participants or group members might have
had. The group showed up a half an hour in advance to set up and to be there
for when any of the participants arrived. Setting up a video camera in one of
the corners of the room aimed towards the table so that everything could be
record. Providing pizza and water for the participants as was promised in the
email.

When the participants arrived first they signed consent from. The
consent form informed them that whatever they said was going to be
recorded and could be used in the research paper, however their name or any
personal information would not be disclosed. Letting them know that this
was going to be completely private and that they could open up to us in the
focus group. After signing the consent form, the participants were allowed to
eat and relax until everyone had arrived and we could get started.

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There were nine participants in total. Six of the nine participants were
young men and the other three were young women. After learning more
about each participant and discovering that each of them is a member of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They all had been baptized at
the age of 8. They all have at least two sources of social media. All six of the
young men that were present have served full-time missions for The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

As the focus group was carried out, one member of the team lead the
focus group as the proctor. Another member recorded the focus group with
the video camera. There was a list of questions for the focus group, but as it
was carrying on the proctor would ask any supporting questions that would
benefit our research. All of the questions were based around the idea of
social media use and posting religious material. Some of the basic questions
that involved learning a simple raise of hand answered more about the
participants. Other more in depth questions were answered by going around
the table and allowing each participant express themselves. The participants
seemed very open to talking and sharing their thoughts and feelings. Some
even shared very personal insight on the matter.

Overall the focus group lasted about 45 minutes and was very
informative. Being able to learn a lot about social media and posting religious
material thanks to the participants that came and participated.

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Finding #1 - Participants who have returned from serving a church mission

are more willing to post about their religious beliefs.

After holding the focus group it was unmistakable that returned
missionaries from the church are more willing to post. In the focus group all
six males had served missions. One of the men said about a post that he put
on Facebook, It was around my mission and the reason I was going on my
mission and a lot of my friends had been kind of debating that. And I was
just kind of mission mode just getting back from the mission.4 It was also
found that none of the men in the focus group expressed not posting due to
fear. Everyone who had served a mission was more confident about speaking
about religion. Everyone was also asked if they would post if they had a friend
with questions, especially with big controversies such as that of gay marriage.
Another man in the focus group spoke about his experience posting, [My
posting] was more along the lines of anything spiritual in general. Ive posted
things of just myself mentioning what I believe in. Once was about temples
actually, but mainly its anything that touches me that I think others need to
hear about.5 Serving a mission helps people feel more comfortable speaking
about religious beliefs on social media and simply in general. This finding
is important because if the church is looking to have more aggressive social
media posters, they would want to know of the correlation between those that
serve missions and those that post.

4. appendix A
5. appendix A

10

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Finding #2 - The participants were less likely to use the word fear as to
describe their reasoning for not sharing their religious beliefs via social
media.

Fear of what others think is a common fear that many people have, in
the focus group however; nobody avoids posting because of fear. When asked
if any one didnt post due to fear, no one raised his or her hand. The word fear
was never used to describe why they wouldnt post; they would describe not
posting in other ways. When asked what kind of roadblocks might prevent
them from posting, one participant said, Well earlier I said conflict. I really
dont want to start conflict over Facebook.6 With controversial issues such
as gay marriage, the legalization of marijuana, or just politics in general
Facebook arguments are fairly common. When the proctor asked participants
if they havent posted because of the friends that they have and if they were
afraid it would cause way more problems than good, four people agreed.7
Though it was evident that participants feared certain reaction to their
postings, none would describe it as fear. This is an important finding. Nobody
wants to be known as someone who was too afraid to post. People can be
motivated to post if there courage is challenged. If they felt that they were
being viewed as people who were scared than they would be encouraged to
post more about their religious beliefs.

6. appendix A
7. appendix A

11

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Finding #3- Many participants, five out of the nine, do not post because of
the friends that they have.

After one participant explaining that she does not post about religion
because of the friend she has. She did not feel that her friends would
deliberately cause problems or start a fight, but she felt many would play
devils advocate. It became clear that she was not alone. After asking how
many others felt the same five of the nine participants felt the same. Later
expanding on this idea more, many participants said that they did not want to
get into an augment online, or negatively affect their Facebook friends.8
To quote a participant, he did not feel people would un-follow him but
would they feel negative about it. Yeah, I feel like there would be a lot of
those. Another participant shared her opinion by saying that she would
not want to post too much religious material because more then half of her
Facebook friends are not members and may cause problems.

8. appendix A

12

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Finding #4 - Participants are hesitant to share religious messages due to the

lack of support from their fellow Church member friends online.

The focus group showed that participants are hesitant to share
religious messages due to the lack of support from their fellow church
member friends online. Four people agreed that they do not post due to
the friends that they have. One participant explained that he doesnt like
getting in arguments, I dont know, Im kind of cautious about those things
because a lot of my friends on Facebook and Twitter are very opinionated and
sometimes it can start an argument and Id rather not start an argument so I
just am careful about posting stuff like that.9 Another participant said, I feel
like all of my friends are pretty laid back so if they really dont want to see it
theyll just un-follow me.10 Even having friends is still a lack of support that
many people need. I dont think my friends would necessarily be negatively
affected by [me posting] but a lot of them like to play Devils advocate and
just like start an argument for the sake of starting an argument. So, I mean its
not necessarily that even if they do appreciate the post, or if they dont, its just
because they would like to argue because they like to argue.11 It is important
to know this because understanding that unity brings confidence people will
post more if they knew someone was willing to help them.

9. appendix A
10. appendix A
11. appendix A

13

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Finding #5 - The church does provide enough information

One finding that was evident after holding the focus group was that
the church provides adequate information for people to learn more about the
gospel. When asked, Do you feel that the church has adequate information
for you to post to make a knowledgeable post? every member of the focus
group responded yes. One member of the focus group clarified his thoughts
on the resources that the church offers. A lot of those resources are aimed
at reaching people who arent members of the church, yet on my mission I
knew a lot of people who werent so solid in the church and a lot of those
things applied to them. The Mormon messages are good because they apply
to everyone, but there could maybe be some more information for people
who are already members.12 The church does offer plenty of researches for
those seeking to understand more about the church, but there arent many
that are directed to those that are already members of the church. The church
posts plenty, but does not require us to. One participant said, I would post
more if the church made a bigger stance saying that they wanted us to post
stuff. At least from what Ive heard, the church hasnt at least reached me and
communicated to me that I should be posting a lot of stuff. I think that they
have kind of suggested that we need to do missionary work and reach out in
a general sense. Then they kind of leave it up to our own discretion according
to the personality of every person and what they want to do with social media
and these videos.13

12. appendix A
13. appendix A

14

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Findings #6 - At the conclusion of the focus group the research showed that
the participants deliberately choose to self-disclose their religious affiliation
but were not willing to post more about their religious or spiritual lives.

At the conclusion of the focus group the research showed that the
participants deliberately chose to self-disclose their religious affiliation, but
were not willing to post more about their religious or spiritual lives. No one
felt embarrassed or like they had to hide their religious beliefs, but when it
came to talking more about their personal religious life, they felt much more
uncomfortable speaking about it. One participant explained what would
help him post more and a little about why he doesnt already, I would post
more if the church made a bigger stance saying that they wanted us to post
stuff. At least from what Ive heard the church hasnt at least reached me and
communicated to me that I should be posting a lot of stuff I think that they
have kind of suggested that we need to do missionary work and reach out in
a general sense and then kind of leave it up to our own discretion according
to the personality of every person and what they want to do with social media
and these videos.14 This interesting finding offers an intriguing solution to
the members preaching activity online. Tell them to post. If church members
were told that it was their responsibility to post online and that they should
be doing whatever they can to spread the gospel through these social media
outlets. If this were to happen, more people would post.

14. appendix A

15

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The focus group suggest that people are more willing to express their
religion views outside of the religion field when they know that those that will
be reading will agree. This supports other research done in Scientific Study
and religion which examines a study of MySpace,15 where the subjects of the
study where not willing to post outside of the religious field provided.

Though the focus group an understanding of posting about religion
began. First return missionaries seem to be more active in posting about
religion then others, this is easy to understand since they would have spent so
much time learning about the gospel that they feel comfortable with it.
Next finding that the word fear is not a word that is used when discussing
religion. When asked, how many dont post out of fear?16 there where no
hands. No one was willing to admit fear was a reason for not sharing. Upon
more investigation all of the participants would use synonyms to fear such
as uncomfortable, or not wanting others to feel negatively or because of their
friends view, while another participant explained that she did not want others
to look at her as a hypocrite. These responses show that the specific word fear
has resistance to it being used in describing why or why not one would post.

Many of the participants do not post because of their friends, will be
the next finding that is discussed. One participant explained that she does
not post because more then half of her Facebook friends are not members
of The Church and she does not want to alienate them or make them mad.
Another participant as discussed before said she does not want to look like a
hypocrite to those friends she has on Facebook. Even one of the participants
said he does not like when others post testimony online, saying I think it is
just weird medium to here a testimony on you know on a Facebook status you
know if I think it is sappy I think most non-members would defiantly not
be open to it.17 From these examples it is easy to see that, as has been said
before, people are looking for others to agree with them online.
15. Bobkowski, P. S., & Pearce, L. D. (2011). Baring their souls in online
profiles or not?
16. appendix A
17. appendix A

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The following two findings go together, that The Church provides
enough information, but people feel that they do not get the support that
they want or are looking for. This seems to provide insight into the purpose
of posting, it is rare that the purpose is to teach or express ideas. It is to seek
validation from those that will be reading the post.
The final finding follows the previous study published in Scientific Study
and Religion. All the participants have on their Facebook page that they are
members of The Church. Both the participants that post and do not post, this
is inline with the previous study and provides backing evidence of its validity.

Following the line of thinking that people post on Facebook for
validation, the Church should not suggest that its members post more,
but instead like and comment on others who post. This would create an
awareness and motivation to those questioning, to post or not to post. The
most effective way to start this would be asking mission presidents to educate
their missionaries on this idea and motivate them to take action when
returning home.

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Bibliography
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Bobkowski, P. S., & Pearce, L. D. (2011). Baring their souls in online profiles

or not? religious self-disclosure in social media. Journal for

the Scientific Study of Religion, 50(4), 744-762. doi:10.1111/j.1468 5906.2011.01597.x
Campbell, H. A. Understanding the Relationship between Religion Online

and Offline in a Networked Society. Journal of the American Academy

of Religion, 64-93. Retrieved May 25, 2014,
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (2014, 13 March). Social

Media Helps for Members. Retrieved from: https://www.lds.org/
pages/social-media-helps
Curtis, Anthony. The Brief History of Social Media. The Brief History of

Social Media. University of North Carolina, Jan. 2013. Web. 20 July
2014.

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Proctor - Welcome to our focus group. Everyone knows what a focus group
is, and were just going to ask you some questions. Were going to talk a little
bit, and McCain is going to record us. Were going to use this information for
our final research.
Proctor So some questions Actually before our questions Im going
to define a few things. First the phrase social media that means Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, and MySpace.
Proctor whichever social media outlet you want to use, or whichever you
most often use, thats what were referring to. Second the phrase church
material. So Mormon messages, talks, scriptures, all of that.
Proctor so first of all by a raise of hands how many of you have a social
media account of some form.
*Everyone raises hands*
Proctor how many of you have more than one?
*Hands stay raised*
Proctor Awesome! So we all have a social media account. And we are all
members of the LDS church, right? Just a raise of hands, every ones good? All
right.
Proctor So were you baptized before you were 12? If you were baptized
before you were 12 raise your hands?
*Everyone raises hands*
Proctor Everyone? Awesome. Gone on a mission? By a raise of hands? All
the gentlemen. Awesome.
So how many of you have posted, used social media to share church material
like a Mormon message, scripture, or talk? All right lets go around, what did
you do or what did you post?
Participant 2 I posted my Mormon.org profile to my Facebook to just let
anybody open it up if they wanted to.
Proctor Sweet-o, did you get any comments from that or no?
Participant 2 I cant remember.
Participant 3 I posted that and I posted a lot of Mormon messages and
videos; and I did get comments on some of it.
Proctor how often would you say youve done that, once a week, once a
month?
Participant 3 Id say once every two or three weeks
Proctor That sounds pretty consistent, next, so you said you had?
Participant 5 A few Mormon messages, Ive only done it a couple times.
None of them ever got any comments though.
Proctor yourself?
Participant 6 I did that He lives video during Easter time.
Proctor how many of you did do that for Easter? By a show of hands, I
believe Because of Him was the hash tag that the church promoted, just
19
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Abstract
2
Literature Review 3-7
Methods
8-9
Findings
10-15
Conclusions and
Recommendation 16-17
Bibliography 18
Appendix A
(transcript)
19-27
Appendix B
(consent)
28

Participant 7- Ive posted quite a few general conference talks and stuff, Ive
actually been able to get somebody taught through social media.
Proctor Thats awesome. So they were your friend before then, obviously?
Participant 7 No. I think she found my Mormon.org profile, which linked,
to me on Facebook, and then I started talking to her. And then I sent the
missionaries to her.
Proctor cool beans, so those of you that didnt post anything. The two girls
and this young man Tyler, why havent you?
Participant 1- I just dont go on there a lot
Participant 4 I dont like to post anything emotional
Proctor how often do you post, may I ask?
Participant 4 once every three months if that I tend to post things if
theyre really funny, thats it
Participant 9 Same here I just post maybe once every three months
Proctor and you guys only use Facebook?
Participant 4 no I use Instagram
Proctor I think its more difficult to, I guess share, gospel material on that
so we were talking about the Because of Him campaign, whatre one or two
words that come to mind when you think of that. If someone asks you, maybe
your bishop, or a member of the church tells you, Hey we need you to post
this on social media What comes to mind when you that?
Participant 1 Ive never heard of that
Proctor youve never heard of that? Well if that were to happen? What
would you think? The church says, hey Facebook is a new way to bring
people unto the church would you be willing to post some stuff? How would
you feel about that?
Participant 1 Yah, I mean depending on the material, if it were just a post I
would do it.
Participant 2 I would do it, I wouldnt care what people thought of me, and I
would do it
Participant 3 I would say the same thing
Participant 4 I wouldnt do it, its just because I was inactive for a few years
so I would feel like a hypocrite when I post stuff like that
Proctor dont feel bad for being honest, so yourself?
Participant 5I dont know, Im kind of cautious about those things because
a lot of my friends on Facebook and Twitter are very opinionated and
sometimes it can start an argument and Id rather not start an argument so I
just am careful about posting stuff like that.
Proctor how many of you havent posted because of the friends you have?
And how many of you are afraid itll cause way more problems than good?
Four of you. Okay.

20

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Abstract
2
Literature Review 3-7
Methods
8-9
Findings
10-15
Conclusions and
Recommendation 16-17
Bibliography 18
Appendix A
(transcript)
19-27
Appendix B
(consent)
28

Proctor- Because of the friends you have, because of the friends you have on
Facebook? You were afraid it would cause way more problems with them?
Four of you ok. Going around, if you were asked to post on Facebook would
you do it? What are some thoughts on that?
Participant 6 -It kind of depends on what they were asking me to post, but
the thing in general kind of makes me feel a little bit uncomfortable because
if I post something on there and it is related to the church which Is very often
I want it to sound and be coming from me and be my thoughts. If someone
is asking me to just post this. I have seen movements within the church
happening where people post that equal sign thing as their profile picture and
I was like I am definitely not doing that. You know, or it was the counter thing
to the marriage equality thing. It does make me feel a little uncomfortable.
Participant 7- I would just post it.
Proctor: You wouldnt have a problem if you posted it?
Participant 7- No, I feel like all of my friends are pretty laid back so if they
really dont want to see it theyll just un-follow me.
Proctor: Ok, whos turn?
Participant9- I probably wouldnt post it. I just have never posted anything
like that before. I just dont post too much.
Proctor: Once again raise your hands, who has posted before? (5 hands) And
do you feel the response was positive?
Participant2- I dont remember the response.
Participant3- (shakes head yes)
Participant5-I didnt really get much of a response.
Proctor: And if you had to speculate why would that be?
Participant5- I dont know, I was kind of surprised that I didnt but I just
didnt. I mean my LDS friends like it. But that was really all.
Participant 6: Yeah like if there was someone who is LDS they liked it, but all
the other people dont say anything.
Participant 7: Thats usually how my experience is.
Proctor: Members friends will like it but not a lot of people will comment on
it? Ok, you said earlier that you were afraid of an argument ensuing? That
didnt happen or did that happen?
Participant 5: No, but I have posted political stuff in the past and people have
argued about that and it has only been like one or two times. And after that I
stopped because it just started a huge argument. I mean the only thing I have
posted are Mormon messages which are more like inspirational videos. Its
not really like hey join the church it is more like an inspirational video.

21

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2
Literature Review 3-7
Methods
8-9
Findings
10-15
Conclusions and
Recommendation 16-17
Bibliography 18
Appendix A
(transcript)
19-27
Appendix B
(consent)
28

Participant 3: It was around my mission and the reason I was going on my

mission and a lot of my friends had been kind of debating that. And I was
just kind of mission mode just getting back from the mission. Do you want to
know what was in the comment?
Proctor: What was the topic? Just mission?
Participant 3: It was a Mormon message on missionary work. I just posted
not exactly a testimony but in a way a testimony. Just saying what they are
doing is a true work. It was plain and simple like that.
Proctor: Going back to what you posted on line, was it Mormon messages or
talks?
Participant2: Mine was a Mormon.org. My profile.
Proctor: Just your profile?
Participant2: Yeah
Participant3: Mine was a Mormon message.
Participant5: Mormon messages.
Participant6: Just my own thoughts.
Proctor: So you havent shared a link to an LDS.org thing.
Participant6: I dont think I ever have.
Participant7: I think I have done everything.
Proctor: A talk, a Mormon message, a meme?
Participant7: yeah
Proctor: When you do post do you just link it or do you explain it
beforehand?
Participant2: I just linked it.
Proctor: You just linked it, no explanation?
Participant2: yeah
Participant3: Yeah linked it. Maybe made a small comment about it. Oh I
enjoyed this video or something like that.
Participant5: I just linked it.
Proctor: Just linked it? No comment?
Participant6: (nods head yes)
Participant7: Same, linked it. All of it
Proctor-In the past 2 month anybody post anything religious Mormon
message Mormon meme talk testimonial.
Proctor Do you remember how long ago
Participant 7-It was April 5 May 25
Participant 6-I think Ester was less then two months ago
Participant 6-I think that polarization thing is a big thing I think it really
happens I strongly agree with that I have member friends that post a lot
of stuff and if it bothers me it annoys me then and I am a member then I
know its annoying the few friends that they have that are not a member so it
probably shut down those channels
22

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Literature Review 3-7
Methods
8-9
Findings
10-15
Conclusions and
Recommendation 16-17
Bibliography 18
Appendix A
(transcript)
19-27
Appendix B
(consent)
28

Proctor- Are those generally testimonial style or a link

Participant 6-I think the links are not done so often I think that if I for my
personal experience is I think the most common thing is having people
baring their testimony and Im not going to say that is never a good thing,
but if its all the time I fell that it is often times overdone and often times a
just weird medium to here a testimony on you know on a Facebook status
you know if I think it is sappy ok I dont want to hear this right now I dont
know maybe this is just me and I am bing skeptical and I assume that most
non members would definitely not be that open to it.
Proctor-Ya go ahead
Participant 7-So growing up I always got along better with non LDS then LDS
I like know my non lds friends pretty good but I just this is my stand point
the reason I do it is because at some point, just like when Christ came to the
earth he is like I come here to divide the good and the bad and a truth is a
truth, for me I know that I know I have been asked by stake presidencies to
post stuff and that is why I do it.
Proctor-And your comment
Participant 8- I was just going to agree with this guy in the black for me the
way I look at it I just feel like posting things on Facebook it is an ok thing but
I feel like if you were to share it as a message personally to some one specific
instead of just here something for everyone to look at, I feel like there is more
of a intent behind it and more focused to just one person in general for that
person needs I think there are thing you can shear with everyone on the
internet as well but it is more generalized to just public oh here is a really nice
thing people look at that and thing oh ya that is a really nice thing there is
religious people everywhere in the world but I feel like if you are trying to get
really technical with what we believe and everything and you are trying to hit
a certain topic maybe that should be specified to a certain someone instead of
just in geranial for everyone to read
Proctor-So by a raise hands who would be willing to if one of your friends on
Facebook sent you a message respond asking a question about the church, gay
marriage is a big one right now, sent a message to you what does your church
believe on gay marriage would you respond to the message
(everybody would)
Proctor-how many of you would have a discussion with them vs talk to the
missionaries
Proctor-rise your had have a discussion with them
(everybody)
Proctor- back to you did you go on a mission
Participant 8-I did
Proctor-And where you baptized before you where 12 or after you where 12
Participant 8-Before when I was 8
23

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Abstract
2
Literature Review 3-7
Methods
8-9
Findings
10-15
Conclusions and
Recommendation 16-17
Bibliography 18
Appendix A
(transcript)
19-27
Appendix B
(consent)
28

Proctor-You said earlier that your mom post how many of your families
parents siblings post religious content by raise of hands
Lets do in general, anything that is religious, testimonial style stuff
Participant 8-Just related to our church or just a spiritual anything
Proctor- A spiritual anything, anything religious7/9
Proctor- How about by a raise of hands families that have linked to an LDS.
org thing5/9
Proctor- So Lets go around, what would make you post? So if you havent
posted, this is going to be to the ones that havent posted, what would be the
motivation? If I did something today, what would that something be for you
to be like yeah I will go home and link to an LDS talk or link to a Mormon
message.?
Participant 1-I think if it was something really spiritual and had deep
meaning to me, I would post it.
Proctor-Would you preface it or do a little testimonial before it or just post it?
Participant 1-Probably explain why Im posting it.
Proctor-What could I do today to help you or motivate you to post? What
would it take?
Participant 4-I was inactive in the church and when I came up here I wasnt
really following the standards of the church so when I came up here and was
around the people following the standards that I wanted to follow, I almost
posted something on Facebook talking about how happy I was here and what
a wonderful environment it is and the changes I made.
Proctor-If I may ask, what stopped you from doing that?
Participant 4-I screwed up when I went back home, I dont want to post
anything like that. I know that my friends back home know what Ive
done and I feel if I post something like that it will make them comment or
something like that?
Proctor-How many people choose not to post because you dont want to be
hypocritical?1
Proctor-How many dont post out of fear?0
Proctor- Is fear not an option or an issue with anybody? Raise of hands?
Nobody is afraid?
Proctor-What would be done today to help you post or motivate you to post?
Participant 9-I dont know. Ive been debating the last couple of weeks to
delete my Facebook account. Its not really useful to me.
Proctor-Do you have any other social media besides Facebook? So youre just
rarely on there?
Participant9-no I dont
Proctor-Have you posted before?
Participant 8-I has posted things before, yes.

24

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Literature Review 3-7
Methods
8-9
Findings
10-15
Conclusions and
Recommendation 16-17
Bibliography 18
Appendix A
(transcript)
19-27
Appendix B
(consent)
28

Proctor-What kind of stuff were they? Mormon messages? Mormon memes?

LDS talks?
Participant 8-It was more along the lines of anything spiritual in general. Ive
posted things of just myself mentioning what I believe in. Once was about
temples actually, but mainly its anything that touches me that I think others
need to hear about.
Proctor-What is a roadblock for people from posting? So nobody posted
anything today, what was the reason or what were some reasons that you
didnt post today?
Participant 7-I like spacing it out. At most, once a month. You dont want to
overkill it. You see someone posting the same kind of post and you dont want
to follow him or her. You just need to be kind of smart about it.
Participant 3-I agree with that. I have a friend that posts political stuff
everyday of his life and Im just about ready to delete him. Even though he is
a really good friend of mine, its just really annoying to see all of the time. The
other reason that I wouldnt have posted today is lack of time would be one
thing. Normally the only time I ever watch Mormon messages or something
like that is on Sunday if I am on the computer. I YouTube Mormon messages
or look up talks. That is kind of when I am looking at that stuff because I have
time for it. When you get too much of one thing you get kind of annoyed
with it. I personally would get annoyed with it too.
Participant 6-I would post more if the church made a bigger stance saying
that they wanted us to post stuff. At least from what Ive heard the church
hasnt at least reached me and communicated to me that I should be posting
a lot of stuff I think that they have kind of suggested that we need to do
missionary work and reach out in a general sense and then kind of leave it up
to our own discretion according to the personality of every person and what
they want to do with social media and these videos.
Proctor-Yeah, no one has specifically said, do this. Do you feel that the
church has adequate information for you to post to make a knowledgeable
post? All yes
Proctor-Any topics or maybe regions of conversation that the church doesnt
have anything that you feel that they should have some more of?
Participant 6-A lot of those resources are aimed at reaching people who arent
members of the church, yet on my mission I knew a lot of people who werent
so solid in the church and a lot of those things applied to them. The Mormon
messages are good because they apply to everyone but there could maybe
some more information for people who are already members.
Proctor-So something that you could post that is not specifically directed to
someone not of our faith but more of our faith to strengthen them and health
them.

25

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Literature Review 3-7
Methods
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Findings
10-15
Conclusions and
Recommendation 16-17
Bibliography 18
Appendix A
(transcript)
19-27
Appendix B
(consent)
28

Participant 6-Uh huh, stuff that, you know, members struggle with.
Proctor-So we talked about earlier hypocrisy and fear being an issue. Any
other issues or roadblocks that anyone can think of that would prevent you
from posting?
Participant5-: Well earlier I said conflict. I really dont want to start conflict
over Facebook.
Proctor: Quick, aside from majority of your Facebook friends were kind of
focusing, majority of your Facebook friends are not LDS? Raise your hand
if majority of your friends ARE LDS. So 3 of you. So for the rest of you,
majority of your friends ARE NOT LDS. Is that correct?
Participant8: Well mine is kind of more in the middle really.
Proctor: So like half and half? How many of you would say your Facebook
friends are more half and half? So 3 of you? So avoiding conflict can be a big
thing especially when there are a lot of different people on your Facebook
who dont agree with your views.
Participant4: Well mine might just be a little complication thing. My mom
is the only member in my family and my dad kind of raised me Lutheran,
so I dont want to seem like I am picking sides. But it would piss family off. I
am friends with his side of the family on Facebook and I dont want to cause
conflict with them.
Proctor: Thats interesting. So, you dont post or an option of why you dont
post is because you have family or people that you probably spend a lot of
time with that would be offended by that.
Participant4: Yeah.
Proctor: How many people feel that many, lets define many; ten or more
people of your Facebook friends would be offended if you posted more?
Whether you have posted or havent posted a lot. You have ten or more
Facebook friends that will be offended by you posting more? Does that
question make sense?
Participant6: Define offended.
Proctor: Offended, frustrated, wanting to start a conflict but maybe they
dont.
Participant8: Kind of angry that you posted it?
Proctor: Kind of see it as, like what we were talking about before, kind of
unnecessary. Maybe a little inappropriate? Not the venue for that. So think
negatively of the post. How many of your ten or more Facebook friends that
you would think negatively of you posting more religious content? Raise your
hand. 5/9

26

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Literature Review 3-7
Methods
8-9
Findings
10-15
Conclusions and
Recommendation 16-17
Bibliography 18
Appendix A
(transcript)
19-27
Appendix B
(consent)
28

Participant6: I wasnt going to raise my hand with the original definition but
when you said think negatively, I think that would jump that number from
likeI dont think anyone would be necessarily offended but the number
of people that would think negatively or wouldnt enjoy that or would stop
listening or un-follow me, or whatever. I dont think any one person would
get mad necessarily, or maybe it is just one or two, but would they feel
negative about it. Yeah, I feel like there would be a lot of those.
Proctor: Would you say more than ten? Raise your hand for more than
ten. Like twenty people. Half of your Facebook? You would say half of your
Facebook page would be negatively affected by you posting?
Participant1: Definitely.
Participant5: I was just going to say that I dont think my friends would
necessarily be negatively affected by it but a lot of them like to play Devils
advocate and just like starting an argument for the sake of starting an
argument. So, I mean its not necessarily that even if they do appreciate the
post, or if they dont, its just because they would like to argue because they
like to argue.
Proctor: They just want to top you?
Participant5: Yeah, its just an excuse to start an argument because some
people like to argue over Facebook.
Proctor: How many of you feel that arguments about religious content
happen this way? Like its not very much I believe or dont believe what is
being said, its more like lets have a discussion because we can and it gets
crazy. Raise your hands if you feel that way. It gets out of hand.4/9
Okay, any other thoughts, ideas, feelings, comments, concerns? Otherwise?
Awesome. Okay, I think thats it. Were good. Thanks for coming.

27

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Abstract
2
Literature Review 3-7
Methods
8-9
Findings
10-15
Conclusions and
Recommendation 16-17
Bibliography 18
Appendix A
(transcript)
19-27
Appendix B
(consent)
28

28