Social networking web-site is an interactive multi-user website the content of which is filled by the users. There is a possibility of communication and sharing files, etc. between the users in the frames of the web-site.
Sahaja Yoga is presented on every Russian-speaking social networking web-site: there are one or several groups where you can find information about Sahaja Yoga in the form of texts, images and video: information about Sahaja Yoga, opportunity to ask questions, protocol of Self-realization (text or video). Every user of the social networking web-site can join the group.
According to the statistics, 5 people, as minimum, watch the video-file of Self-Realisation Protocol in each group every day. For example, there are registered more than 12000 people in “Sahaja Yoga” group at “Mail.ru” social networking web-site. Every day, the visits of the group range from 40 to 100 people. There are such options in the group as:
- to read about Sahaja Yoga;
- to communicate with others;
- Sahaja music;
- to get Self-realization;
- to meditate.
The Methods of Spreading Sahaja Yoga through Social Networking Web-sites
The experience of Nizhny Novgorod Sahaja Yoga collective is given below as an example:
To intensify dynamics and efficiency, there was created a “Meeting” called “Sahaja Yoga School” in the group “Sahaja Yoga of Nizhny Novgorod” of the social networking web-site “vKontakte”. Due to this, every member subscribed to the meeting (to which every user of the social networking web-site who lives in the area where Sahaja Yoga programs for newcomers take place was invited) gets an announcement about the time and place of the next newcomer program once a week.
There is also commercial advertising on “vKontakte.ru” social networking web-site. Thanks to this more people visit the “Meeting: Sahaja Yoga School”. Some text and the picture of Shri Mataji are used in advertising. Now there are about 120 people at the “Meeting: Sahaja Yoga School”. Most of them joined the group due to the commercial advertising. The picture of Shri Mataji was shown 2 million times during 1,5 months on the social networking web-site “vKontakte.ru” in Nizhny Novgorod.
When the collective of Nizhny Novgorod started spreading Sahaja Yoga in the region, there was created a “Meeting” on the social networking web-site before every SY meeting in a certain town which invited all the users of the town to the meeting.