Seeking advice on Telegram for reaching Farsi speakers in Iran and Afghanistan

[MathGeek]

I thought the good people here could advise me on this matter.

If you're willing, I'd like your advice on a social media question I am facing. For the past few months I've been spending 10 hours a week editing and distributing evangelical videos in Farsi. My efforts have doubled the reach of a Persian church in Athens reaching people in the Farsi-speaking world, mainly Iran and Afghanistan. Right now, the videos I'm editing and posting have about 4000 monthly views, and the Persian church is pleased. As we approach the new year, we're prayerfully considering how to increase our reach even more.

Due to its security features better insulating users from potential persecution, Telegram has a much greater reach in Iran and Afghanistan than my current platforms (YouTube, BitChute, Facebook, and Odysee) and is one of the main platforms used by the Persian church in Athens. However, one of my advisors in the US is concerned that since Telegram is mostly used by drug dealers, terrorists, and pornographers in the US, it would attract a lot of attention from US law enforcement in ways I don't want. This advice comes from one who is much more savvy about these social media issues than I am.

Very few friends I know in the US feel confident helping me weigh the potential and the risks, but this is a venue with more international experience. I'm not at all eager to appear as a drug dealer, terrorist, or pornographer to US law enforcement. On the other hand, if the risk of that is small, I'm willing to take it to increase the reach of the gospel in the Farsi-speaking world.

So, what do you think?

 

[Azure]

I am not sure I see the point of what you are doing and thats none of my business but for your information, tiktok is seeming to be a more ‘reachable’ platform with tiktok itself profiting from such businesses.

I recently came across this video on bbc that exposed how tiktok is profiting from syrian refugees who beg for money on the social platform and tiltok takes a cut. Money does reach the refugees too but not the entire bulk but that tells me that tiktok has a huge reach in many places. Tiktok is also not easy to keep a tab on. Not sure if this information helps in any way.

 

[MathGeek]

I am not sure I see the point of what you are doing and thats none of my business but for your information, tiktok is seeming to be a more ‘reachable’ platform with tiktok itself profiting from such businesses.

I recently came across this video on bbc that exposed how tiktok is profiting from syrian refugees who beg for money on the social platform and tiltok takes a cut. Money does reach the refugees too but not the entire bulk but that tells me that tiktok has a huge reach in many places. Tiktok is also not easy to keep a tab on. Not sure if this information helps in any way.

Thank you for the well considered reply. I have started and managed several Christian outreaches on TikTok that have followed the same pattern: fast early growth and strong viewership. But somewhere between the 2 and 4 month mark, viewership crashes to single digits. A number of other Christian outreaches report the same thing. We suspect that TikTok may be shadow banning accounts that focus on evangelism once some number of complaints are received. This also occurred on the TikTok I started a few months ago for the Persian outreach to Afganistan and Iran, which is why I didn't list TikTok in the active social media platforms.

It's not encouraging to build an effort on TikTok only to be cut off from viewers after several months. So the question for us becomes "Is the number of people we reach before the shadow ban worth the effort?" Censorship is almost non-existent on Telegram.

 

[Azure]

Thank you for the well considered reply. I have started and managed several Christian outreaches on TikTok that have followed the same pattern: fast early growth and strong viewership. But somewhere between the 2 and 4 month mark, viewership crashes to single digits. A number of other Christian outreaches report the same thing. We suspect that TikTok may be shadow banning accounts that focus on evangelism once some number of complaints are received. This also occurred on the TikTok I started a few months ago for the Persian outreach to Afganistan and Iran, which is why I didn't list TikTok in the active social media platforms.

It's not encouraging to build an effort on TikTok only to be cut off from viewers after several months. So the question for us becomes "Is the number of people we reach before the shadow ban worth the effort?" Censorship is almost non-existent on Telegram.

Gotcha. Sorry but I do not know/use telegram for any purposes. Even if I did, it would only be to keep in touch with friends and family.

 

[onehandbh]

It's not encouraging to build an effort on TikTok only to be cut off from viewers after several months. So the question for us becomes "Is the number of people we reach before the shadow ban worth the effort?" Censorship is almost non-existent on Telegram.

Leaked Audio From 80 Internal TikTok Meetings Shows That US User Data Has Been Repeatedly Accessed From China

“I feel like with these tools, there’s some backdoor to access user data in almost all of them,” said an external auditor hired to help TikTok close off Chinese access to sensitive information, like Americans’ birthdays and phone numbers.

www.buzzfeednews.com

 

[onehandbh]

For the past few months I've been spending 10 hours a week editing and distributing evangelical videos in Farsi. My efforts have doubled the reach of a Persian church in Athens reaching people in the Farsi-speaking world, mainly Iran and Afghanistan. Right now, the videos I'm editing and posting have about 4000 monthly views, and the Persian church is pleased. As we approach the new year, we're prayerfully considering how to increase our reach even more.

Do you also make videos for outreach in the U.S.?

A bit of a segue, but I assume you are Christian, so maybe you can answer this question for me. I've always wondered why there are so many Christians in the U.S., who seem to vote based on a candidate's stance on abortion, overlooking all the other things about the candidate that totally go against what is espoused in the bible.

 

[MathGeek]

Leaked Audio From 80 Internal TikTok Meetings Shows That US User Data Has Been Repeatedly Accessed From China

“I feel like with these tools, there’s some backdoor to access user data in almost all of them,” said an external auditor hired to help TikTok close off Chinese access to sensitive information, like Americans’ birthdays and phone numbers.

www.buzzfeednews.com

Good point, but our work around is easy.

It's a simple matter to maintain a dedicated Android phone (< $100) that only manages the TikTok account or a small number of "high risk" social media accounts. The only data they can get is the stuff on the device you access TikTok with.

 

[MathGeek]

Do you also make videos for outreach in the U.S.?

A bit of a segue, but I assume you are Christian, so maybe you can answer this question for me. I've always wondered why there are so many Christians in the U.S., who seem to vote based on a candidate's stance on abortion, overlooking all the other things about the candidate that totally go against what is espoused in the bible.

Good questions. Thanks for asking. My video ministry, Rednecks for Jesus, began in 2016 and has made a lot more videos intended for a US audience than for Farsi speakers. We only began the Farsi project in July. Our efforts in English have averaged over 80,000 monthly views since 2020. See: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYRyegVw-hT6D7r0g8Z37oA/videos

I can't really answer for other people. But my own inner circle of Jesus followers decided we could not vote for Trump in 2016 due to character issues unrelated to abortion. We mutually agreed that we would each vote for some other pro-life candidate who better represented Biblical values. Since we agreed to otherwise keep our votes private, I don't know who my inner circle voted for, but none of us voted for Trump. My view was, since the man had proven himself so untrustworthy on many matters, how could we even take his word that he was truly pro-life? (In hindsight, we were surprised that he was remarkably pro-life during his four years in office.) We lost some "Christian" friends by refusing to vote for Trump.

If you peruse my YouTube channel, you'll see that I steer clear of politics most of the time. My goal is for viewers to give their hearts to Jesus rather than giving their vote to this or that candidate. Improved decision making usually follows trust and surrender to Jesus, but you don't earn right standing with God through improved decision making.