It seems appropriate to write about an Internet phenomenon on the Feast of St. Isidore of Seville, sometimes invoked as patron of the Internet, because he wrote about such a wide range of topics.
As I’ve said before, I am very much a newby when it comes to Twitter and live blogging and all that sort of thing. Of course, you can follow me at “ReadingCatholic” on Twitter, where I link to blog posts & reviews here and other random things.
But I believe I am starting to get the hang of Twitter. One thing I especially like is “hashtags” where you can search for a particular topic by putting a “#” in front of the words. For instance, when I was live blogging the Behold Conference last month, I would mark my tweets with the hashtag #BeholdConference. I had wanted to follow along on #MomsDayAway, a women’s conference in Boston sponsored by Faith & Family magazine, but ironically (since I reviewed Prayer in the Digital Age, a book about being “too plugged in,”) the last week has been a blur of appointments, science fair proctoring, and just general off-line things. I was essentially prevented from being online at all for any length of time.
But a few times, I saw the hashtag #CatholicRulesforTwitter, and it’s become quite popular as 140-word sermonettes or jokes on being Catholic. Some are ecumenical, and include the hashtag #episcopalrulesfortwitter or #lutheranrulesfortwitter. are quite funny. If you go to Twitter.com, and put in the search box at the top, “#CatholicRulesforTwitter,” you’ll see a reverse chronological history of all the tweets that have this hashtag.
Here’s a blog post about how this all got started, in case you are interested in the genesis of these kinds of things. My strange but true connection to all that (not on Twitter, by the way) is a post for another day… What I find especially interesting is how some are using the #CatholicRulesforTwitter to raise money for Catholic Relief Services.
Here are some of my favorites. I’m sure there is some App or tool allowing me to select my favorites and upload them seamlessly, but again, I’m just doing a cut and paste here:
All tweets are presumed valid unless sufficient doubt is shown to a Diocesan Twibunal.
Be sure all principles of the ‘Just War Theory’ are met before engaging in a flame war” #CatholicRulesForTwitter
Parochial school parents are expected to participate in at least two school twitter-raising activities. #CatholicRulesforTwitter
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wit and brevity, nor his custom domain URL shortener, nor his photo service.#CatholicRulesForTwitter