BY ISRAEL THOMAS
BERRIEN SPRINGS, MI—With well over 500 million users worldwide, Facebook is now the default service of choice for people who wish to post updates about their lives. But the popular social networking site has yet to make inroads on one demographic. According to a new study released this week, an overwhelming majority of African American Adventists still prefer to use Black Worship Service as their main means of social networking.
The study, commissioned by the Institute of Church Ministry, found that 96 percent of African American Adventists selected "Black Worship Service" in answer to the question, "What service do you primarily use to post information about your lives and to obtain information about others?" The study surveyed 1052 African American Adventists randomly selected from a nationwide pool, and has a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points.
The results of the study do not surprise African American Adventists like Tarina Johnson, an avid user of the service.
"Black Worship Service offers so many opportunities if you want to share your opinions, stories, or stream-of-conscious musings. You have the Welcome-And-Announcements, each song in the Praise and Worship, the Congregational Greeting, the Offering, the Children's Story, Scripture Reading, Special Music, and more, all of which we use to let our friends know what we've been up to over the last week, what we think, and what we like," said Johnson.
The best part of Black Worship Service is that you get instant vocal affirmation and comments on whatever you share, says Johnson. "Why would we want to use Facebook or MySpace when we have something like this?"
Other fans of Black Worship Service point out to the privacy and exclusiveness of the network.
"Facebook has all these privacy issues," says Isaiah Green, a member of the Trinity Temple Seventh-day Adventist Church. "Black Worship Service is a very tight, very closed community made up of people who know and vet each other very well. We don't just friend anyone. You've got to be able to talk and act in a certain way before we'll say more than just Hi."
Critics of social networking have been very vocal about the exclusivity of Black Worship Service. They also point out that social networking services like Black Worship Service are huge time wasters, often sucking up more than four hours of a member's day, and distracting members from important tasks at hand, like worshipping God. But fans like Green shrug off such comments.
"People who say things like that are a sad reminder that racism still exists in our country," Green says. Such a rebuttal is usually enough to make critics backpedal quickly while stuttering apologies and praising diversity, though the more aggressive ones remain adamant and cry Race Card. Still, in recent years, a small body of critics has arisen from within the membership of Black Worship Service.
"I appreciate Black Worship Service," says Pastor Alvin David of the Trinity Temple Church, "but after hearing Sister Larisha James, who was doing Scripture Reading, update us on her week for 20 minutes, then preach a stream-of conscious sermon for another 20, with no Scripture Reading in sight, I began to think that it’s better if she just posted this all on Facebook instead."
