The Black Duck107

Westboro Baptist Church

The Westboro Baptist Church has gain a sufficient amount of media attention due their hateful protests against homosexual people, Jews, and politicians at major events such as funerals, large public gatherings, and televised events. These unethical methods of protest leads to their overall disapproval by most of the nation but also contributes to the success of their power in social media.

The Westboro Baptist Church uses social media differently than most groups do. They do have a webpage but instead of advertising it on websites they take to the streets to let the people do it for them. By protesting at such inappropriate places with such blunt and hurtful messages, they manage to attract a large amount of media attention to themselves. News teams film them protesting, allowing them to get their message out through mass media. This message can therefore attract those who agree with their point of view allowing the cult to grow.

Video showing multiple interviews with WBC members.

The Westboro Baptist Church also attracts unwanted attention. Due to their heinous methods of protests, multiple individuals and groups have attempted to blocked the Westboro Baptist Church out of events. One example happened in Aurora, Colorado where the community came together to form human walls in attempts to deter the Westboro Baptist Church from protesting at a memorial service for the victims of the movie theater shootings. They have also been attacked both physically and through the internet. Multiple members have been assaulted and groups such as "Anonymous" have shut down their web page. Although the Westboro Baptist Church is one of the more disliked groups on the web, it is a perfect example of how an organization can use social media to proclaim their message.