@pontifex: Pope With 1.2 Billion Followers Starts On Twitter
The 85-year old Pope Benedict XVI, with 1.2 billion followers in the offline world, will start on Twitter from 12 December 2012 via @pontifex.
In an official statement, The Vatican said last Monday that the pope will start tweeting on December 12, the feast of the Madonna of Guadalupe.
Pontifex might seem a bit like Asterix and Obelix to you? But it means ‘pope’ and it also means ‘bridge builder’,” said Greg Burke, senior media advisor to the Vatican.
“The pope wants to reach out to everyone,” he told a news conference. The first papal tweets will be answers to questions sent to #askpontifex.
The tweets will be going out in: English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, Polish, Arabic and French. Other languages will be added in the future.
“We are going to get a spiritual message. The pope is not going to be walking around with a Blackberry or an iPad and no one is going to be putting words into the pope’s mouth. He will tweet what he wants to tweet,” Burke said.
Primarily the tweets will come from the contents of his weekly general audience, Sunday blessings and homilies on major Church holidays. They will also include reaction to major world events, such as natural disasters.
Benedict will be sending his first tweet himself on December 12 but in the future most will be written by aides and he will sign off on them before they are sent in his name.
But while the pope will be one of the world’s most high-profile tweeters and have many followers, he will not be following anyone himself.
The pope’s Twitter page is designed in yellow and white – the colours of the Vatican, with a backdrop of the Vatican and his picture. It may change during different liturgical seasons of the year and when the pope is away from the Vatican on trips.
My Opinion?
I understand the corporate approach, and am dying to know if the Vatican will soon have their of social media mission control room? Another question I have: How would they organize community management and the selection of the questions via Twitter?
Next, I expect a lot from the Vatican’s storytelling skills. With 1.2 billion followers in the offline world, @pontifex might be one of the most followed Twitter pages soon.
What About You?
What do you expect to happen with @pontifex? Should Twitter be buying extra space in the cloud? We would love to hear your opinion in the comments below.
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Source: Reuters.
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