New ways of evangelization - Mormons and YouTube daily Vlogging. Case study of '8Passengers' on YouTube

Abstract: 

In the year 2000, C. Helland proposed the dichotomy between 'Online Religion' and 'Religion Online'. In 2015, he extended his theory by affirming that 'for those individuals who participate in online religious activity, there is no separation between their offline lives and their online experiences'. In this way, he perceives the Internet as being simply one more way to extend religious practices and significance. This article analyses the content produced by a family member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Utah on YouTube. Under the hypothesis that the followers of the Church use YouTube Vlogs not only to share their vision and experience of faith with other members of the Church, but also and above all to bring their dogma closer to those who are not part of their religion, breaking stigmas and practicing a kind of indirect evangelization. At the same time, the official position of the Church regarding the production, consumption and use of digital content, both from official sources and from its members, has been analysed.

During the research, a total of 270 videos uploaded onto the 8Passengers channel between January 2nd 2018 and November 24th 2018 have been analysed, in particular noting that religion appears in 44.6% of them. Those values were present not only in the private sphere of home, but also in their community, school, social relationships, family etc. Researcher has also reviewed the Church's videos and official articles, comparing styles and messages, perceiving that the incarnate values coincide 100%. Conclusions show that 8Passengers is not an isolated case. There are multiple accounts grouped under the category of Mormon YouTube Influencers and the Church actively encourages its members to become producers of digital content, thereby blurring the edges of Helland's dichotomy.