El éxito como tuitero del papa está asegurado y, en ese éxito, dos españoles pusieron algo más que un granito de arena. Carlos García Hoz y Gustavo Entrada, en fotografía, contaron los detalles a Javier del Pino en A vivir que son dos días, de @La_SER, el 9 de diciembre de 2012.
¿Por qué ha tardado tanto el papa en ver la utilidad de un medio como Twitter para propagar el mensaje de la Iglesia? Es posible que ejemplos como el del Dalai Lama, con años en la red y millones de seguidores, hayan ayudado al Vaticano a dar el salto.
«How could the Vatican resist such marketing magic?«, se preguntaba Stephen Baker el 5 de enero enel New York Times. Y añadía:
Growing legions of marketing consultants are pushing social media as the can’t-miss future. They argue that pitches are more likely to hit home if they come from friends on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or Google+. That’s the new word of mouth, long the gold standard in marketing. And the rivers of data that pour into these networks fuel the vision of precision targeting, in which ads are so timely and relevant that you welcome them. The hopes for such a revolution have fueled a market frenzy around social networks — and have also primed them for a fall.
Pocos podían imaginarse, en el momento de subir esta primicia del papa en twitter, a primeros de diciembre de 2012, que dos meses y dos días más tarde, el 11 de febrero, Benedicto XVI sorprendería al mundo y haría historia renunciando a seguir siendo papa. El 1 de marzo, Mathias Lüfkens resumía los dos meses y medio del papa como tuitero en un documentado texto presentado así:
Matthias Lüfkens @luefkens The Papal Vanishing Act on Twitter http://bur.sn/iaajJ #Twiplomacy
Pope Benedict XVI had barely left the Vatican for his temporary residence at Castel Gandolfo on February 28 when, as is tradition, his private apartments were sealed and his Twitter account @Pontifex deactivated. The account was renamed to “Sede Vacante” (vacant seat), the photo of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI removed and all his 39 tweets, including his last tweet sent a couple of hours earlier, simply vanished.
The papal social media team took great care to create a Twitter archive on the Vatican’s website but you can no longer retweet them or see how often they were favourited or retweeted. The deletion of tweets from a Twitter stream is considered ‘sacrilege’ by many Twitter users.
However, sticking with tradition the Vatican wanted to start the ‘vacant seat’ period with a clean slate. Interestingly they did not delete the 1.6 million Twitter followers the English version of the account has attracted. The Vatican has indicated that it is up to the next Pope to decide whether to continue using the @Pontifex handle.
En opinión del autor, no sería extraño que el sucesor mantenga la cuenta, teniendo en cuenta que ya tiene más de 3 millones de seguiroes en 9 idiomas y que son muchos los católicos y no católicos que estarán atentos al primer tuit del nuevo papa. Tampoco sería la primera vez que una cuenta oficial cambia de manos.
When David Cameron became Prime Minister in May 2010 one of his first decisions was to rename the @DowningStreet account created by his predecessor Gordon Brown in March 2008 to @Number10gov adding the PM’s mugshot in as the profile picture. However the tweets from the Labour government were not deleted and now bear the effigy of David Cameron.
Likewise ‘Sarkozy’ is still among the three most used words – after ‘President’ and ‘Republique’ – on the Twitter stream of the @Elysee palace ten months after Francois Hollande become French president.
An archiving system for old tweets sent under previous administrations would probably have been welcomed by the UK and French governments.
Pocas horas después de su nombramiento como nuevo Papa, el cardenal Bergoglio había reactivado la cuenta de Benedicto XVI en twitter, había saludado y hablado con los miles de periodistas que cubrieron la transición y, para sorpresa de propios y extraños, se había ganado en pocos días la confianza y el apoyo no sólo de la mayor parte de los católicos del mundo, sino de los medios de comunicación. En el siguiente enlace, distribuido en un tuit en la madrugada del 18 de marzo, se explica por qué:
Pete Cashmore ✔ @mashable What It’s Like to Be Pope Francis’ Social Media Intern http://on.mash.to/WzqQ2y
«It’s the first time I ever heard a pope cracking jokes,” said Eric Reguly, Rome correspondent for the Toronto Globe & Mail. “Even John Paul, who had a connection with people, didn’t show a sense of humor like this.”
After reading a prepared text, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio said he wanted to tell the story of how he chose his name. In the process he revealed first-hand information into the secretive conclave, points out the Los Angeles Times. (Watch video of his remarks after the jump.) The pope says that when it was clear the balloting was going his way, the retired archbishop of Sao Paulo—“my dear friend”—told him not to forget the poor. “And that’s how in my heart came the name Francis of Assisi,” famous for devoting his life to the poor. «Oh how I would like a poor church and a church for the poor,» Francis said with a sigh…. read more and watch video
Speaking to the thousands of journalists and camera operators that covered the papal transition, Pope Francis recounted the story of his election and his choice of the name Francis. (Published on March 16, 2013)