On the heels of Aleteia, an evangelistic website sponsored by two Vatican councils, we now have Awestruck, a social networking site created by some tech-savvy Catholics in South Africa:
When I first discovered the site, I was a bit skeptical. We’ve seen several “Catholic social-networking” sites rise and fall so how could this one avoid that fate? The simple fact is that most Catholics are already connected to Facebook and other popular platforms and they don’t want to keep up with another social network exclusively for Catholics. But Awestruck isn’t designed to replace any of these tools but to work with them:
“The Awestruck network is tailored specifically for the Catholic community and focusses on this niche and its particular issues. It is not intended to replace one’s other social network profiles. It is also a safe space to interact with fellow Catholics, and it even allows one to build one’s own groups. It goes without saying that the site will be moderated to ensure that Awestruck remains a trusted space and that groups are faithful to the magisterium of the Catholic Church.
We’ve integrated Twitter and Facebook feeds right into Awestruck, and, if you want you can log on to Awestruck with your Facebook account.
In a secular society, filled with temptations and mixed messages many Catholics feel alone in their faith convictions, but the reality is we’re not alone! To help illustate this graphically we’ve built a geolocation map into the site and it gives a visual representation of Awestruck friends.”