THE CHURCH OF FACEBOOK How the Wireless Generation is Redefining Community

The author looks at how faith affects Facebook and how Facebook affects faith. Narrator Adam Verner verbally paints the author’s picture of a culture obsessed with the creation of community through social media. In particular, Rice examines how this new sense of community might connect people in spiritual ways. Could the connections we build though social media become a new kind of church? At times, the analysis veers into the clinical, but listeners who are familiar with social media will recognize themselves amid the talk of hyperconnection, continuous partial attention phenomenon, and the arbitrary designation of friendship. Verner does an adequate job with the narration except for his attempts at words he’s not familiar with, a problem that should have been addressed during the recording process. Nevertheless, his voice embodies the text. S.M.M. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2010]