Interactive Website Traces Mentions of God on Social Media
A new interactive website that tracks mentions of God by social media users also categorizes them in a satirical way.
The tag line for the website, God-Was-Here.com, is "tracking god and all he does in real time." The site not only categorizes mentions of God by state – Texas and Florida were tied for the highest number of mentions on Friday morning – but also by other specifics as well.
For example, it shows how many times "god" and "coffee" are mentioned in the same post as compared to how many times "god" and "beer" are mentioned, and says "god poured more" of whichever beverage has been mentioned more frequently by social media users.
Under the "god achievements" section, the site tracks how many "badges" God has earned for the day. The "mcyummy badge" tracks how many times God is mentioned in a tweet about McDonald's. The "alarm clock badge" measures the number of people "god aroused...from bed today" based on posts about God and waking up.
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The site also tracks mentions of iPhones, breathing, relationships and test grades, among other things, that are within posts that also mention God.
Kevin Lynch, a copywriter from Chicago, and his fellow collaborators launched the website on Good Friday, Mashable reports. The site's data comes from messages posted to social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
"The inspiration for the site came from the proliferation of 'thank yous' to God that have invaded all sports postgame interviews, music award shows, and other events where you would assume God didn't have a rooting interest," Lynch told Mashable.
"It got some friends and I thinking, 'Obviously, God is busier than we thought. Someone should be keeping tabs on His daily achievements.'"
According to a study published by the Pew Research Center in 2011, 46 percent of Americans who are active in religious groups use social media sites, compared to 49 percent of people who are not involved in such groups.
Apologist Ravi Zacharias recently compared social media to the biblical Tower of Babel in a video posted to ChurchLeaders.com.
"It is how we use it that turns out either for good or for bad. That's true of any communication method. That's true of any entertainment. That's true of sports. That's true of any way in which we find fulfillment in entertainment," said Zacharias. "But the capacity that this gives is what we need to be cautious about because I want you to hear me carefully now. Where destruction is the motive, unity is dangerous. For example, if I have evil intent and I galvanize that evil intent with many others, the capacity to destroy is immense. Where goodness is the motive, unity is phenomenal and actually has some good issues to it."
