Claire Diaz-Ortiz: Twitter’s Outreach to Religious Leaders

[rug]

April 8th, 2013

In 2011, a researcher for Twitter discovered that bible verses, inspirational messages, and other tweets from religious leaders were incredibly popular among Twitter users. That discovery led the company to begin actively working with members of religious communities. Claire Diaz-Ortiz, who leads social innovation at Twitter and who spent many years abroad working with nonprofits, travels the world helping religious leaders get started on Twitter and offering advice on how to use the technology more effectively. In 2012, she worked with the Vatican to create the “@Pontifex” Twitter account for Pope Benedict XVI. We spoke with Diaz-Ortiz as she met with former White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships executive director Joshua Dubois and National Community Church lead pastor Mark Batterson in Washington, DC about Twitter’s work with religious leaders, the popularity of religious tweets, her experience working with the Vatican, and her advice on the best ways to use Twitter.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/by-topic/claire-diaz-ortiz-twitters-outreach-to-religious-leaders/15813/

6:09 video at link.

Meanwhile, here are other twitterers:

https://twitter.com/AmericanAtheist

https://twitter.com/ThinkAtheist

https://twitter.com/ThinkingAtheist

https://twitter.com/AtheistQOTD

https://twitter.com/AtheistQ

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. I'm amazed that Twitter has someone who "leads social innovation" and is paid to travel

Couldn't they have spent the money on redesigning their interface instead? It is a horrible site, from a usability point of view (which is why so many other sites have sprouted, to give the user a better experience). I assumed they didn't have money to spare from the equipment to have extra employees - let alone the implication of a 'social innovation' department with a big travel budget.

[rug]

2. Most likely marketing.

Not to be a snob but I don't use twitter or facebook, mainly because they keep pushing it.