This article has me thinking: Is Twitter a national mood ring?
So, I’m intrigued: Could Twitter be used to monitor the spiritual climate of a target area over time?
I know someone who uses Twitter to identify hurting people who might be more open to spiritual conversations. He uses Twitter’s geographic search to look for people in his zipcode area and nearby areas. He searches for words like “suicide” or “depressed” or “divorce”. He then direct messages them a short encouragement. If they respond, he engages in direct message ministry. Because they are nearby, he can invite them to his church, or to an event, or something more geographic.
This paragraph intrigues me:
In fact, other research groups have also begun to examine Twitter data and have demonstrated that it can be used to predict the box-office success of an upcoming movie. And Twitter data yields much more detailed polling when compared to traditional methods, enabling real-time feedback for issues that are of local, national or international interest.
This person first did this as a job for a local politician, finding prospective supporters and donors based on issues, filtered by the geographic area of the politician.
So, I wonder about spiritual issues. I wonder if it is a way to “measure” the impact of a billboard campaign or a Jesus Video distribution or other ministry strategies.
What do you think?