Madison Avenue has discovered Pope Francis. Or maybe it's more accurate to say Silicon Valley has. Vanity Fair chronicles the path being beaten between the Bay Area and the Vatican as a tech giants gain audiences with the Pontiff, from Google's Erich Schmidt to Apple's Tim Cook to Instagram's Kevin Systrom. Now even Spotify is using Pope Francis in its latest series of TV ads. Part of the reason is obviously the Pope's enormous public popularity. But part of it may be how he has raised the profile of Twitter by his presence there. When he joined Instagram in March, he broke the record for fastest to 1 million followers and undoubtedly brought in many new users.
Lest you think this is a one-sided relationship, with companies using all the good will surrounding the Pope for their marketing gain, the Pontiff is the first to tell you how much he gets from the Internet, which he once called a “gift from God.”
I agree. I think he can reach more people to spread the church’s message and give us access to the day to day activities (sort of speak) of the pontiff like never before.