PR on the run

I really didn’t want to lift those words from the Reuters headline. But, hey, it’s Friday afternoon and I’ve been reading and grading final projects and papers for about 30 hours this week. OMG

Anyway that’s how I came across this story, first mentioned in the Buzzword column in the online edition of The Wall Street Journal. Yeah, even the Wall Street Journal can provide a mindless diversion at this point in the week and semester.

Here are the lead paragraphs from the Reuters story:

Pope Benedict will text message thousands of young Catholics on their mobile phones during World Youth Day in Sydney in July, hoping going digital will help him better connect with a younger audience.

The Pope will text daily messages of inspiration and hope during the six-day Sydney event while digital prayer walls will be erected at event sites and the church will set up a Catholic social networking Web site akin to a Catholic Facebook.

The idea makes sense given the audience. Give the Catholic Church and Pope Benedict credit for trying this. And he certainly worked hard to boost the image of the Catholic Church in the United States during his recent visit here.

So if the Pope is embracing social media, can the CEOs of Fortune 500 corporations be far behind? LOL

And I wonder what a digital prayer wall is? Sounds like something Bear Stearns should have checked out a few months ago.

And I know I’ll get into trouble for writing this — but here goes.

The article says, “Australia’s Catholic nuns are already praying for good weather for the Pope’s visit.”

Shouldn’t they be twittering?