What social media platforms do you use for Masonic interaction? Do you think that social media is helpful or harmful for our Fraternity? Why? Please tell me what you think.
We are currently using Zoom to meet with. We have an under utilized (rarely used) Facebook page. Social media can be helpful in sharing events and ideas but so many older brothers don’t use or feel comfortable using social media. Social media can be helpful for potential candidates to find out about masonry but at the same time, if your social media platform isn’t constantly monitored, it can also leave a sour taste in a potential candidate’s mouth. I think some brothers believe social media is beyond Masonic rules of behavior and at times it shows.
I think that Zoom has been a powerful thing for us collectively to learn how to use. So many of the things I found myself doing at the Grand Lodge were just business things. I used to drive an hour or so each way for a meeting of an hour or so. It would take half a day, and cost quite a bit of money in gas for my truck.
Moving forward, I think we will just be doing all of that kind of stuff on Zoom, it will honestly cut out probably half of my Masonic related driving, and that in turn will free up time which can be better spent doing what I want to do, which is visit Lodges.
My home Lodge has also had pretty good luck with Zoom in that guys who have moved away are able to again visit our Lodge. That's been cool. They have also run a fairly robust educational program that's been well received. I think one trick that has helped them attract people to their Zoom meetings is that they only let the meetings go about an hour. Short and sweet.
I do notice that Zoom meetings without a set agenda or time limit seem to drag.
Our Lodge also has a Facebook page, and the members try to keep it up, because I think you are 100% right, if it is un-monitored it will leave a bad impression on potential people who use it to make contact.
When I was a Lodge officer, I used my personal page for event announcements and the like. Doing it that way seemed to work because I monitor it more often than the Lodge page got monitored. I do notice though that over time Facebook has made monitoring easier by flagging it on ones personal page when something happens on a group page that one is set up as an admin for.
Our Lodge was however lucky I think in that all of our active members (with the exception of one) were active Facebook users. Even a member in excess of 90 years was on Facebook. Our one member who was not, I would print out the posts he needed to know about when I was Secretary, and a member who worked near his home would drop the paper by.
Hostile behavior on Facebook when a guy identifies as a Mason is I think as you mention a huge problem. People won't believe that we are a Fraternity of good men when they run across a Mason ranting online. Unfortunately, I think the way Social Media platforms work is to encourage anger, which increases engagement, and thereby eyeballs for their advertisers.
That's one of the reasons I wanted to come here to Substack. As it is completely opt in, and without software pushing click bait, I think that discussions can be elevated.
I agree, Zoom has been a great platform to keep us in touch with one another. We had been meeting twice monthly and in February we started meeting every Wednesday with something educational every night. As the Master of Kennewick, I have been able to facilitate meetings from Phoenix. It was at first, awkward and challenging, but through trial and error we’ve gotten pretty comfortable. Zoom has allowed us to attend educational meetings at other lodges and Districts, to interact with Brothers in the Grand Jurisdiction we might not ever meet.
Holding weekly educational meetings is a great feat. You and your lodge are doing something tremendous with that I think! Congratulations!
When I became a Fellowcraft the lecture was delivered by our then Grand Lecturer. I remember him speaking to the lodge following the meeting, and I remember him pointing out that "no man ever joined Freemasonry to sit through a business meeting." I've always tried to remember his words stressing the importance of Masonic Education.
Speaking of people we might not ever get to meet, I got to sit in on a meeting arranged by the Grand Lodge of California with the Grand Master of the Women's Grand Lodge of California. Certainly something I'd have never been able to experience had it not been for Zoom.
Another interesting thing on Zoom was a side degree created by some Brothers on the east coast in which the challenges of the pandemic became a part of the quest.
It is my hope that once things return to normal, we are able to retain that which is best with Zoom, along with our in person interactions.
When we first started our Zoom meetings, it was purely a social time, which for me was both important and good. In December a Brother made a statement about not knowing the role of the senior deacon, which he will be moving up to. The easy answer was, well, COVID. No one has been meeting in person so those kinds of questions and answers couldn’t be addressed. But looking back at my own path, if I hadn’t paid attention to the person ahead of me in the line and given direction by past masters, I probably wouldn’t have known what to do either. So our educational program started with presentations of the lodge officers duties/responsibilities from the LOH. We’ve also had a presentation of the Morgan Affair and Anti-Masonic political movement by MW Bruce and a presentation on Esotericism. I feel very fortunate to be supported by a lodge of amazing men & Masons. We’re also working on how to continue integrating Zoom into our Masonic experiences after we’re fully open.
Going through each officer position role and responsibility is a great idea. I know, especially when I first was put into the officer line, some similar instruction would have made me feel a lot more confident.
I'm not sure how my Lodges will end up integrating Zoom, but I'm hopeful that we will continue to use it for some educational events, and even bring it into our Stated Meetings for brothers who have moved away. I know that there is some fear about doing that, fear that some will just zoom because it is easier, but I imagine those fears would prove to be unfounded. The social/fraternal aspects of our Lodges are extremely important to most Masons I think.
Facebook and Instagram. I try to rid myself of Facebook but Ashley's seem to fall back. All of the bullshit and hate, but also alot of communications with people I would not normally have the ability to communicate with
As the world's worst photographer, and model, I figure it best that I avoid instagram at all costs.
As for the anger and hatred filling facebook, I think that it is growing worse as time marches on, and given the way the software is utilized to fill news-feeds with things that cause extreme reaction, I believe that the future of that platform promises nothing but a continuing downward spiral of discontent.
I use Zoom and Facebook. On Zoom I mostly listen as many seem to monopolize the conversation and I learn a lot by just listening. On on my Facebook page I post content to help me meet my goal of. "Making at least 15 people laugh every day". Bad Puns are common place and responses are equally funny. I avoid politics and religion although I have strong opinions on both. I rather enjoy apologetics but find Facebook a poor place for it. I tend to save that for in-person conversations and even then with temperance. One of my favorite songs is , "When You're Smiling" and there are many who have sang that song in a variety of styles .
Our lodge uses zoom for our monthly meetings, but they are (until april) have been mostly just social. The problem is, our lodge has 140 or so members, and we get probably at most 8 folks to show up for these zoom calls. I find it a poor excuse for in person socializing. Since I spend a lot of time at work in zoom meetings, the novelty also wears off pretty quick.
Of the Lodge Zoom meetings I've attended, I notice that the ones that seem to be most successful over time seem to have pretty strict time limits, 45 minutes to an hour, and a fairly set agenda.
The ones that seem to drag on forever, without any sort of plan going in can be mighty painful.
I can't wait to get back into Lodge, in person though!
We are currently using Zoom to meet with. We have an under utilized (rarely used) Facebook page. Social media can be helpful in sharing events and ideas but so many older brothers don’t use or feel comfortable using social media. Social media can be helpful for potential candidates to find out about masonry but at the same time, if your social media platform isn’t constantly monitored, it can also leave a sour taste in a potential candidate’s mouth. I think some brothers believe social media is beyond Masonic rules of behavior and at times it shows.
I think that Zoom has been a powerful thing for us collectively to learn how to use. So many of the things I found myself doing at the Grand Lodge were just business things. I used to drive an hour or so each way for a meeting of an hour or so. It would take half a day, and cost quite a bit of money in gas for my truck.
Moving forward, I think we will just be doing all of that kind of stuff on Zoom, it will honestly cut out probably half of my Masonic related driving, and that in turn will free up time which can be better spent doing what I want to do, which is visit Lodges.
My home Lodge has also had pretty good luck with Zoom in that guys who have moved away are able to again visit our Lodge. That's been cool. They have also run a fairly robust educational program that's been well received. I think one trick that has helped them attract people to their Zoom meetings is that they only let the meetings go about an hour. Short and sweet.
I do notice that Zoom meetings without a set agenda or time limit seem to drag.
Our Lodge also has a Facebook page, and the members try to keep it up, because I think you are 100% right, if it is un-monitored it will leave a bad impression on potential people who use it to make contact.
When I was a Lodge officer, I used my personal page for event announcements and the like. Doing it that way seemed to work because I monitor it more often than the Lodge page got monitored. I do notice though that over time Facebook has made monitoring easier by flagging it on ones personal page when something happens on a group page that one is set up as an admin for.
Our Lodge was however lucky I think in that all of our active members (with the exception of one) were active Facebook users. Even a member in excess of 90 years was on Facebook. Our one member who was not, I would print out the posts he needed to know about when I was Secretary, and a member who worked near his home would drop the paper by.
Hostile behavior on Facebook when a guy identifies as a Mason is I think as you mention a huge problem. People won't believe that we are a Fraternity of good men when they run across a Mason ranting online. Unfortunately, I think the way Social Media platforms work is to encourage anger, which increases engagement, and thereby eyeballs for their advertisers.
That's one of the reasons I wanted to come here to Substack. As it is completely opt in, and without software pushing click bait, I think that discussions can be elevated.
I agree, Zoom has been a great platform to keep us in touch with one another. We had been meeting twice monthly and in February we started meeting every Wednesday with something educational every night. As the Master of Kennewick, I have been able to facilitate meetings from Phoenix. It was at first, awkward and challenging, but through trial and error we’ve gotten pretty comfortable. Zoom has allowed us to attend educational meetings at other lodges and Districts, to interact with Brothers in the Grand Jurisdiction we might not ever meet.
Holding weekly educational meetings is a great feat. You and your lodge are doing something tremendous with that I think! Congratulations!
When I became a Fellowcraft the lecture was delivered by our then Grand Lecturer. I remember him speaking to the lodge following the meeting, and I remember him pointing out that "no man ever joined Freemasonry to sit through a business meeting." I've always tried to remember his words stressing the importance of Masonic Education.
Speaking of people we might not ever get to meet, I got to sit in on a meeting arranged by the Grand Lodge of California with the Grand Master of the Women's Grand Lodge of California. Certainly something I'd have never been able to experience had it not been for Zoom.
Another interesting thing on Zoom was a side degree created by some Brothers on the east coast in which the challenges of the pandemic became a part of the quest.
It is my hope that once things return to normal, we are able to retain that which is best with Zoom, along with our in person interactions.
When we first started our Zoom meetings, it was purely a social time, which for me was both important and good. In December a Brother made a statement about not knowing the role of the senior deacon, which he will be moving up to. The easy answer was, well, COVID. No one has been meeting in person so those kinds of questions and answers couldn’t be addressed. But looking back at my own path, if I hadn’t paid attention to the person ahead of me in the line and given direction by past masters, I probably wouldn’t have known what to do either. So our educational program started with presentations of the lodge officers duties/responsibilities from the LOH. We’ve also had a presentation of the Morgan Affair and Anti-Masonic political movement by MW Bruce and a presentation on Esotericism. I feel very fortunate to be supported by a lodge of amazing men & Masons. We’re also working on how to continue integrating Zoom into our Masonic experiences after we’re fully open.
Going through each officer position role and responsibility is a great idea. I know, especially when I first was put into the officer line, some similar instruction would have made me feel a lot more confident.
I'm not sure how my Lodges will end up integrating Zoom, but I'm hopeful that we will continue to use it for some educational events, and even bring it into our Stated Meetings for brothers who have moved away. I know that there is some fear about doing that, fear that some will just zoom because it is easier, but I imagine those fears would prove to be unfounded. The social/fraternal aspects of our Lodges are extremely important to most Masons I think.
Facebook and Instagram. I try to rid myself of Facebook but Ashley's seem to fall back. All of the bullshit and hate, but also alot of communications with people I would not normally have the ability to communicate with
As the world's worst photographer, and model, I figure it best that I avoid instagram at all costs.
As for the anger and hatred filling facebook, I think that it is growing worse as time marches on, and given the way the software is utilized to fill news-feeds with things that cause extreme reaction, I believe that the future of that platform promises nothing but a continuing downward spiral of discontent.
Yes, Facebook is a double edge sword. Great to communicate with people all over the world, but opens up all the rest of it too
I use Zoom and Facebook. On Zoom I mostly listen as many seem to monopolize the conversation and I learn a lot by just listening. On on my Facebook page I post content to help me meet my goal of. "Making at least 15 people laugh every day". Bad Puns are common place and responses are equally funny. I avoid politics and religion although I have strong opinions on both. I rather enjoy apologetics but find Facebook a poor place for it. I tend to save that for in-person conversations and even then with temperance. One of my favorite songs is , "When You're Smiling" and there are many who have sang that song in a variety of styles .
I find that long texts don't garner interest on FB. A picture and a line or two seem to do the best for me.
Our lodge uses zoom for our monthly meetings, but they are (until april) have been mostly just social. The problem is, our lodge has 140 or so members, and we get probably at most 8 folks to show up for these zoom calls. I find it a poor excuse for in person socializing. Since I spend a lot of time at work in zoom meetings, the novelty also wears off pretty quick.
Of the Lodge Zoom meetings I've attended, I notice that the ones that seem to be most successful over time seem to have pretty strict time limits, 45 minutes to an hour, and a fairly set agenda.
The ones that seem to drag on forever, without any sort of plan going in can be mighty painful.
I can't wait to get back into Lodge, in person though!