Video from Facebook's virtual faith gathering with religious leaders on June 29, 2021, is seen in this screenshot taken in New York City, U.S., July 21, 2021. Handout via REUTERSShare this contentThe prayer feature is part of Facebook's recent and concerted outreach to the religious community, which it is speaking about in detail to media for the first time. Facebook sees worshippers as a vital community to drive engagement on the world's largest social media platform.
At the end of May, Facebook made its prayer tool, which it had been testing with some faith communities, accessible for all U.S. Facebook Groups to turn on. In one private Group seen by Reuters, a woman used the tool to request prayers for an aunt sick with coronavirus. People replied by clicking a button to say"I prayed," and their names were counted underneath. Users could choose to be notified with a reminder to pray again tomorrow.
"When I looked at the data of what was taking off during the pandemic, we were seeing massive growth in the spiritual category." This year, it has started up an Interfaith Advisory Council to hold regular meetings with faith leaders and educators. As well as consulting religious leaders - who told Reuters their wish lists for the site included church planning tools and emojis showing more diverse forms of worship - Facebook has been picking the brains of organizations already running large online faith platforms like evangelical megachurch Life.Church, pastor Kyle Kutter said.