A Critical Analysis of the Catholic Church’s Utilization of Social Media in Nigeria

Abstract

New media technology like social media offers a new dimension into how we communicate in society. The Catholic Church seems to be lagging behind in regards to social media use. Consequently, a critical analysis of the Catholic Church utilization of social media for the propagation of faith and doctrine became imperative. Anchored on technological determinism theory, this study came up with three objectives. First, to analyze the presence of the Catholic Archdiocese of Benin (Benin Deanery) on Twitter and Facebook. Secondly to access the efficiency of the use of Facebook and Twitter for the propagation of faith and doctrine in the Archdiocese of Benin (Benin Deanery). Thirdly, to evaluate how the Catholic Archdiocese of Benin (Benin Deanery) uses social media for the propagation of faith and doctrine. This study employed mixed method where questionnaire, interviews and content analysis were employed. A sample size of 398 was randomly analyzed and parishes grouped into economic clusters for better Analysis. Data was collected from respondents, coded and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and MAXQDA. The findings indicated the presence of the Catholic Church on social media and how they use it for communication and propagation of faith and doctrine. However, it was discovered respondents are comfortable with WhatsApp as supposed to Facebook and Twitter that had little and no presence. It was also discovered that activities on social media pages were very minimal given the time frame. The study recommends that there should be diversity in creating various social media accounts that would benefit the various demographic of the Catholic faithful.