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    1 January 2013 - Salt Lake City
    Commentary

    Guidelines and Helps for Latter-day Saints Participating in Online Conversations About the Church

    When discussing the Church on the Internet, it's helpful to keep the following in mind:

    • You’re speaking as an individual member of the Church, sharing personal perspectives. Don’t leave an impression that you are speaking officially for the Church. It’s your own experiences that will be insightful and interesting.

    • Remember that “a soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger” (Proverbs 15:1). It almost never helps to argue or contend with others regarding your beliefs or to become defensive or belligerent. Just share your stories in a kind and gentle way, remembering that not everyone will agree with what you say—and that’s okay. Remember to respect others and their opinions.

    • Be friendly and polite, even if you comment anonymously. Act like you would if you were talking to your next door neighbour. How you comment may be just as important as what you say.

    • What helps the most are thoughtful and measured voices that explain the Church and what it’s like to be a member.

    • Be relevant. Discuss the gospel where it’s the topic of conversation. Be cautious about trying to force a conversation about gospel topics.

    • Everything you say or write could be on the Internet forever. Remember you’re always on the record.

    Ways you might participate:

    • Create your own blog, or comment on other blogs that are of interest to you.

    • Share your perspective in the “comments” section of online news stories about the Church.

    • Create videos that illustrate aspects of your membership in the Church and post them on video sharing sites like YouTube.

    • Share material from Church Web sites by email and on the Internet.

    How to use Newsroom.lds.org:

    Newsroom.lds.org is the Church's official Website for the news media, opinion leaders and the public, including bloggers and others using new media. The Newsroom Website is a great resource to find content that you can reuse in your own blog, video, social networking page, etc. Available content includes:

    • Links to news stories about the Church

    • News released by the Church

    • Commentary on issues impacting the Church

    • Public issues statements

    • Background material

    • Statistics

    • Video

    • Audio

    • Photos

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    Style Guide Note:When reporting about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, please use the complete name of the Church in the first reference. For more information on the use of the name of the Church, go to our online Style Guide.