Bishops conference issues guidelines on social media

Social media are the fastest growing form of communication in the United States, especially among youth and young adults. Our Church cannot ignore it, but at the same time we must engage social media in a manner that is safe, responsible, and civil.

--Social Media Guidelines - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Church leaders are taking seriously how social media can be harnessed to advance the gospel message. Last week, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops issued guidelines for using social media.

With everything from a primer on Web 2.0 to how to set up a blog, the guidelines are geared toward parishes, ministries, church offices and even bishops.

It has a lot of good tips to consider so if you are just putting your big toe in the Internet pond, take some time to read it here.

Faith leaders, starting with Pope Benedict XIV, know the importance of communications transformation. (Atlanta Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory does his part when he occasionally tweets at the archdiocese's Twitter account: @archatl)

The guidelines encourage people to read the messages from the pope to mark World Communications Day, including the 43rd message and the most recent 44th World Communications Day Message.

--Andrew, reporter

The art above is a word cloud from the document.