A Video Goes Viral: Why it Matters

Reading the Qur'an as a Quaker gets 50k views in less than a month

It’s been an exciting few weeks for the QuakerSpeak project: one of our videos “went viral.” Reading the Qur’an as a Quaker, featuring Quaker scholar and author Michael Birkel, has been viewed 50,000 times in less than a month, making it our fastest trending video since we started QuakerSpeak four years ago. Why does this matter?

This matters because of our mission: to communicate Quaker experience in order to connect and deepen spiritual lives.

Tens of thousands of people (two-thirds of them under age 45) likely got their first glimpse of a living, breathing Quaker this month. These people encountered a thoughtful Quaker approach to interfaith dialogue. A record number of them signed up to hear more from QuakerSpeak, and many stuck around to watch more QuakerSpeak videos. We know this engagement will lead some QuakerSpeak viewers into real-life Friends meetings. And some will find their spiritual home is with Friends.

This work is only possible if people like you support it.

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Jon Watts

Jon Watts launched and directed the QuakerSpeak project for its first 6 seasons. Keep up to date with Jon’s work at his website.

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