An impalpable reality - faith - presented in a virtual world – the blog

Also known as “the fourth estate" and featuring modern means of broadcasting new media is not coming to supplement the traditional media landscape, but to redefine it, which is why we are witnessing a process of redefinition of the concepts in use. What we call generic new media is incorporating different communication tools such as blogs, podcasts, video games, virtual encyclopedias, digital televisions, e-mails, etc. All these tools are encouraging the creation of virtual communities. Benefitting from the support of these user-friendly tools, the reader is not only a receiver, but also a communicator. It appears that this facility of communication leads to a culture of masses, standardized and simplified in terms of content. One of the characteristics of the virtual reality, the anonymity, may be a serious problem because anyone can create false images, manipulative or propagandistic messages. The reader is sometimes overwhelmed by the numerous websites centered on a certain issue. One of the players in this virtual reality is the Orthodox Church, for which the need of effective communication is of paramount importance. The official communication strategy of the Orthodox Church changed rapidly in order to be up-to-date with the new tools. In parallel with the official websites, a significant number of blogs were launched, all pretending to convey Orthodox beliefs.