nacworld is made up of thousands of lines of code and high-performance servers. The actual heart of this network, however, are the hundreds of thousands of personal posts, media, and news items. The Church is now making these available for the members to download.
At the end of November 2020 the social network of the New Apostolic Church will shut down. All nacworld members can now download the content from their own profile page: their posts and comments, as well as messages received and sent. All these mementos can be downloaded between 5 and 30 November.
The data goes back to the user
On Thursday, 5 November 2020 all active nacworld members will receive an email and a link to a personal download page, where they can register with their nacworld account data and download any items they themselves posted. The download package includes the entire content since registration. In some cases, this goes back to the start of the social network in November 2008.
The download thus contains treasured memories and the opportunity to once again immerse yourself in twelve years of your own nacworld history.
Shut-down with prior notification
Back in March 2020, the Church announced in nacworld and other media that the network will be shut down at the end of November. The members were able to discuss this openly in a blog especially set up for this. The nacworld team responded to a whole series of individual questions, and the Church spokesman, Peter Johanning, also repeatedly explained the Church’s position.
nacworld was initially set up in 2008 as a social networking site in the run-up to the European Youth Day. In 2010 it was opened for all age groups and grew to over 40,000 members. Since then the way people use social media has changed completely.
A general development is also being felt in the Church: social networks with a particular focus are less popular. Instead, networks that are not restricted to one subject area are gaining ground such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. This has been impacting activity on nacworld for a long time. Fewer than one per cent were active over the last few years.
The Church is redirecting its focus
The Church will strike out in a new direction in terms of coverage and reaching out. This includes revamping the nak.org website, which is more than 20 years old. This is the official homepage of the international Church leadership and will be relaunched this year with new functions and an expanded range of content. In addition to this, the activities on the social networking sites Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube will be intensified. In some media, new languages will be added, in others new social media projects are planned.
The Church is still firmly focused on its members, in fact, the future media offer will bring demand and supply even closer together while taking into account changing user behaviour. This does not only include various websites and social media, but also the member magazine community and various apps for mobile devices.
When the end becomes the beginning
What will be left of nacworld? Well, the many friendships across congregational and national borders and a broader view of the world. And this is something very personal, which is not bound to a single medium, but can be lived and experienced anywhere and anytime.
So maybe the best of nacworld are not the posts and pictures, but every single member with her or his gift to reach out to others and enter into dialogue openly and with respect.