The New York Times is running an interesting article today about the use of Twitter and other social media tools by religious institutions.
To a degree, the issues religious groups face using social media are the same faced by any other group:
In the case of ownership of the account, it becomes meaningful whether the account and all its followers/friends/etc are considered property of the organization or the property of person posting. In the case of a church with a Facebook account, when the minister leaves, does the account remain with the church or does it go with the minister? A case could be made for both use cases. People may be interested in the minister and how they present the liturgical message or they may be interested primarily in the church at which the minister serves.
Content and audience control is another issue shared by both religious and secular institutions trying to use social media tools, but sensitivity may heighten the stakes where matters of faith are concerned. When user commentary is presented with the same weight as sanctioned, official content, the official message may be corrupted. The Times article relates the story of a church which Twittered the Passion Play and found other Twitter users adding content: a Roman guard who breezily claimed, “I’ve got dibs on his robe.”
That particular church has chosen to accept that some users will interact "mischievously" and permit public access. Others have chosen to require approval of members before allowing them too post. A decision to censor content may not be made strictly to prevent unwanted posts, though. Other groups may be concerned with monitoring of their members by external groups: Some Muslim clerics have told followers to avoid making statements on social networking sites that antiterrorist investigators might misinterpret as suspicious.
The final issue the article discusses concerns the appropriateness of on-going relationships. For instance, given the clergy molestation issues which have arisen in the Catholic church over the past few years, is it appropriate for a clergy member to "friend" a minor? What are the parameters of an acceptable on-line relationship?
All of us, businesses and non-commercial groups both religious and secular, are trying to sort out what the boom in social media means for us and thus far there are many questions and no answers. Until we know all the questions, though, there's no way to work out the answers.