Archbishop Vincent Nichols on Social Media – Right or Wrong? | Local Online Marketing from Counterpoint Matters

In an article in the Sunday Telegraph yesterday, Vincent Nichols – Archbishop of Westminster, was quoted as saying that “the internet and mobile phones were “dehumanising” community life”.

I would like to disagree. I, of course, am a regular user of Facebook and other social networking media like Twitter and I have never been in more contact with friends and family than now. Through the internet I am able to see what my sister is doing in Dundee, what my husband’s family are up to in the Lake District and what my friend, Rachel and her family, in Australia did this weekend. And, not only that, through the social media functionality I am able to interact with those people in real time through ‘Chat’ and almost in real time through leaving comments, marking entries that I like, sharing my own news, and so on. We have an account with www.wee-web.com, which enables us to share videos, photos and news about our two year old daughter privately with invited friends and family, which they love – my husband’s 93 year old Great Aunt in particular!

What did we do before social media? The odd phone call, the occasional letter and perhaps a Christmas card (always from them; not always reciprocated by me – Christmas just gets too hectic, doesn’t it?!).

I am now regularly in touch with many of my in-laws from my first marriage, who I had lost touch with ten years ago; my daughter constantly asks to look at photos on wee-web and even plays putting her own photos online to show our family; I have regular, sometimes daily, online conversations with local business associates, which I would usually have at most once a month at a networking event; and my netball club have built an even closer team spirit by sharing photos, results and match reports on Facebook.

The Archbishop’s comments came after the extremely sad case of a 15 year old girl who took her own life after being bullied on Bebo, which is absolutely awful, but in defence of social networking online I would argue that this was an issue of bullying rather than a result of the medium used.

Vincent Nichols laments, “I think there’s a worry that an excessive use or an almost exclusive use of text and emails means that as a society we’re losing some of the ability to build interpersonal communication that’s necessary for living together and building a community”.

Again, in my experience, the use of phones, texts, emails and social media doesn’t replace face to face interaction where it’s possible. Youngsters (and older people!) still spend a lot of time socialising together backed up by, and often arranged through, more electronic means.

Where it’s not possible, e.g. where the friend or family member lives too far away, electronic communication is making staying in touch much, much easier.

From a business perspective it is also much easier to keep in touch with, and get to know, other local business people through social networking; small business owners are so busy that there isn’t much time to build and maintain these sorts of relationships. Many small business owners attend networking meetings but there is a limit to how many you can attend whilst continuing to be productive in your business! I have a wide range of local business contacts online, some of whom I’ve never met and maybe never will, but I am building relationships that may involve future collaborations and mutual business support nevertheless.

The Archbishop is on Facebook and he has a Fan Page so I can’t say “don’t knock it until you try it”, but I do wonder whether there is an opportunity for him to use social media with a different perspective.

What do you think?