The Power of the #Hashtag

The Hashtag (which, as an American, I grew up calling a pound sign) has been in existence for quite a while. In America it often precedes a digit and indicates a number in a notional sequence or ranking (as in Charlie Chan's #1 Son) and it has been used to denote a term of importance in computer programming since the 1970s. Nearly a decade ago now the hashtag began to appear on social media--in tweets and blog entries--to flag up a subject of particular interest. Such terms--names, places, events, emotions, phrases--that are repeated by many followers are described  as 'trending' and users of Twitter are able to access all of the media posts which mention a given trend. Today I notice that trending topics include #CharityTuesday, #CharlesKennedy and #BeatlesRecipes (including 'Lettuce Be'--sorry!).

Late last week ACN International posted information about Fr Jaques Mourad, a member of the Catholic order of Mar Musa. Fr Mourad lives in the monastery of Mar Elian in Qaryatayn, Syria where he is heavily involved in many projects to support and rehouse the large number of Syrian Christian families who have been forced to flee their homes to escape attacks by extremists. On Thursday 21 May, Fr Mourad was abducted, along with another man, by armed masked men; no one knows where the two men have been taken or even whether they are still alive. 

Fr Jaques Mourad, abducted in Syria on 21 May 2015 Credit: Fr Ziad Hilal

ACNUK issued an ACN News Bulletin and this appeared on the Facebook and Twitter feeds for ACNUK with a request for prayers. I shared and retweeted these on the NW Office social media platforms, adding my own plea for prayers for Syria and Fr Mourad. 

These posts and tweets were picked up by various followers who sent them back out to their followers and so on; by now the posts are likely to have been seen by people all over the world--including Syria. This morning I spoke to Hussein, a dedicated supporter of ACN who has had a big response to his ACN-inspired post about Fr Mourad and the situation in Syria. Hussein has now come up with a hashtag to get even more people involved.

#PrayingForFatherMourad  

PLEASE help us to raise prayers for Fr Mourad and increased awareness about the current situation in Syria. Get trending!