Social Networking for the Faithful

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However safe the religious sites may be, some critics say they can give users a false sense of security and can't shield kids from the untamed World Wide Web just a few keystrokes away. Greg Horton, a former evangelical pastor from Oklahoma who now writes for Christian publications, lets his 12-year-old daughter use MySpace. He reckons that she'll eventually stumble on the inappropriate content permeating the Web anyway. He would rather help her navigate it with her own moral compass and learn how to protect herself from miscreants. "I understand the parental desire to protect children, but I think it is misdirected," he says. "The proliferation of wireless service and Internet connections at any place has made it virtually impossible for a parent to restrict their child's Internet usage."

How best to handle kids' participation in social networks is the subject of spirited debate on religious sites. Horton's blog, "the parish," includes a discussion of whether MySpace is worse than on the Christian chat rooms on Yahoo! (YHOO). But other blogs describe MySpace and other social networks as "unclean" places. Wayoflife.org, a self-described Fundamental Baptist blog, says MySpace and other social networks have an anything-goes atmosphere that glorifies bad behavior. One commenter, who identified himself as a researcher for Christian ministries, wrote, "Warn your readers strongly because what I have seen is a spiritual death trap to those who a[re] new in the Lord, teenagers who are easily impressionable, and the undiscerning."

Finding Common Ground

Of course, many people who choose religious social networks aren't in it for safety. They'd simply rather socialize with like-minded people. "One of the most important factors [for competing social networks] is that MySpace is too big and too wild," says Shmooze's Koret. "There is something special about being in a place where you can at least have a comfort level, where people share certain values or a certain heritage."

Shmooze, Yiddish for a heart-to-heart or casual chat, lets users do many of the things general social networks do. Members can post pictures, create groups, build blogs and discussion boards, and amass friends. In some ways, the move to religious social networks is part of a larger trend toward niche social networks (see BusinessWeek, 3/14/07, "Social Networking Goes Niche"). Some people, particularly after they move from college to the work world, seek more intimate networks where they can keep in touch with smaller groups of friends or meet new people in the same profession or who share their interest in a particular hobby.

Religious social networks are additionally appealing for older people who are seeking not just to date around, but to settle down. Koret says he sees people on the site who want to find others who share their religion because they eventually want to start families and raise them in that tradition. "When people are finished with college and settling down, the issues of Jewish identity…that maybe weren't so important in an earlier part of your life, are more important," Koret says.

A Faith-Based Mating Ritual

Naseeb.com proudly highlights stories of Muslims who found each other on the network and later married (naseeb means destiny in Arabic and other languages). "I saw the woman of my dreams," writes Pedro, a Muslim man from Fresno, Calif., who joined Naseeb to meet a future wife who shared his religious values. "Without Naseeb, we would never have found each other." Such sites have become particularly important for some Muslims whose beliefs bar dating around.

Some religious social networks are even more explicit when it comes to their role in dating. Koolanoo, a social network for the Jewish community, is known for an ad, posted on YouTube, featuring an attractive, blond bikini model who loses her top after diving in a pool. The model is "saved" from exposure when a guy, noticing that both he and the woman are wearing a necklace with the Star of David, jumps in to "help" cover her up.

Though all the religious networks hope to appeal to a particular faith community, the degree to which they emphasize religious morals can differ greatly. Koolanoo's sexually suggestive ad wouldn't make it on Xianz, while the Xianz discussion board on cars might not fly on sites focused more exclusively on religious beliefs.

What the sites have in common, though, is that their appeal isn't making friends through friends of friends—the name of the game on many traditional networks. It's making friends through shared values. "It's for people of faith who want to meet other people of the same lifestyle," says Hutchins.

Holahan is a writer for BusinessWeek.com in New York.