The Social Media Reformation
By: John Thomas
Tags: Politics, Culture, Books, Social Media, Religion

Facebook isn’t just a company that needs to be broken up, its a religion in need of reform.

Photo by William Iven on Unsplash

On an early summer day in June 2017, Mark Zuckerberg gave a speech at what was billed as the Facebook Community Summit in Chicago. The intention of the summit was to encourage the use of groups on Facebook as well as to unveil the social media platform’s new mission statement: “give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.” This new mission was a pivot from its previous goal of making the world more open and connected. The difference was subtle yet profound.

To articulate the importance of community and provide the rationale behind Facebook’s desire to pursue this new emphasis, Zuckerberg highlighted various forms of community and how they function.

“We all get meaning from our communities. Whether they’re churches, sports teams, or neighborhood groups, they give us the strength to expand our horizons and care about broader issues,” stated Zuckerberg.

In reference to trends suggesting that people are increasingly isolated and not a part of literal communities, he even went so far as to claim, “A lot of people now need to find a sense of purpose and support somewhere else.” Of course “meaningful (Facebook) communities” were the solution Mr. Zuckerberg proposed.

It was the comparison of Facebook to church that generated the most buzz in the days following the summit. Commentators took issue with Zuckerberg’s willingness to equate Facebook with a religious institution and suggest that people could find their purpose in groups on the social media platform. An article in the Telegraph cited a Church of England Bishop who called the idea of Facebook replacing the church, “a delusion.” Another commentator reflected, “Unlike Facebook, a church tells us that we are not at the centre of the world.”

Beyond these comments and a few others like them, talk of Facebook being a church or a religion, has for the most part ceased. But as Facebook’s active monthly users climb towards 2.5 billion — more than Christianity and more than Islam, the world’s two largest religions — it might be time to revisit the idea that Facebook is a religion.

A quick search of the word religion relieves our fears, and defines religion as “the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.” Facebook lacks a superhuman deity-like figure that is the object of user’s worship.

While it is true that Facebook, and social media in general, aren’t belief systems per se, one could argue that they still function like a religion.

From a sociological perspective, we could consider the definition of religion put forward by sociologist Thomas Luckmann, who defined religion as, “a socially constructed, more or less solidified, more or less obligatory system of symbols.” This system of symbols includes, “a stance toward the world, the legitimization of natural and social orders, and meanings…that transcend the individual with practical instructions on how to live and with personal obligations.”

The above definition is used by historian Kaspar von Greyerz in his book Religion and Culture in Early Modern Europe, 1500–1800, with one addition: religion is a “system of symbols and rituals.”

According to this definition of religion we see something that much more closely resembles how social media users interact on various platforms. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and others certainly are socially constructed. And in today’s social economy it is absurd to even consider the idea of forgoing the relational and economic opportunities social media provide, thus making it “more or less obligatory.”

Symbols are ubiquitous when it comes to social media and the rituals of wishing “friends” happy birthday and posting selfies or pictures of one’s latest culinary triumphs are the liturgical expressions of our day. Users order their lives around social media. How they decide to spend their time and money, how they approach the world, and the thought processes they utilize while approaching it, are all shaped and formed by the vast influence of social media. It is safe to say that social media has more bearing on many user’s daily life than any religion does.

What’s more, according to research, internet users now spend more than 2 hours and 20 minutes on social media platforms every day. If Christians, Muslims, or Hindus spent that much time praying or reading their holy books per day, they would be considered among the most devout and holy.

The amount of time users spend on social media reflects the impact it is having on their lives and is another argument for claiming it to be a religion. It reveals that social media is the functional religion of the day as it impacts users as religion impacted European daily life before the Enlightenment. According to von Greyerz, that “was an era in which religion still played a central role in the daily life of Europeans, it was experienced primarily in everyday settings.” Just like social media is today.

If social media is the functional religion of our day, and impacts users in similar ways to how religion impacted Europeans in the 1500’s, there are numerous implications that need to be considered. For example, if social media functions like a religion, Mark Zuckerberg is not only the founder and CEO of a hugely successful and profitable company, he is the pope of the largest religious order the world has ever seen. Pope Zuckerberg wields more worldly power and influence than any other religious leader past or present.