Religious propagation in Social Media: Challenges and Solutions with Emphasis on Telegram

In today’s society, the presence on social media and messaging apps has attracted a lot of attention which can be considered as one of the noteworthy platforms for the promotion of religion (proselytizing). The aim of this study has been to seek strategies to reduce negative effects and achieve good solutions by explaining the issues of media and religion with regard to theories of network society and convergence theory as well as the identification of features, challenges, and harm of social media in religious message transfer. To answer the main question of the study, “how to discover the standpoint of elites and participants in social networks about religious message transfer and the challenges of proselytism from the perspective of Islamic communication", we conducted semi-structured interviews with them in social networks as our data collection method. By carrying out a content analysis of the data collected with due regard to the limitations and disadvantages of social networks discovered during the study, we concluded that making sense of the internet as a surface web, considering the resource validity, multiplying communication channels, functional convergence, considering audience needs, diversifying activities, learning the mechanisms governing social networks, developing indigenous infrastructure, and focusing on activism and distribution are among the most important solutions.