Abstract
Background: Social media has transformed how religious communities practise their faith and engage with followers in digital spaces. While these platforms create opportunities for religious participation, they also raise underexplored privacy and ethical concerns.
Objectives: This study identified religious practices facilitated through social media and examined the privacy and ethical concerns reported in existing scholarship.
Method: A systematic literature review was conducted across five academic databases and Google Scholar, covering publications from 2014 to 2026. The search yielded 285 articles, of which 12 met the inclusion criteria. The selected studies were analysed using an inductive thematic approach.
Results: Christianity dominated the existing literature, with limited representation of Islam, Judaism and multi-religious contexts. A total of 25 religious practices were identified and grouped into five categories: (1) communication and engagement, (2) religious rituals and services, (3) dissemination of religious content, (4) community and fellowship activities and (5) religious education and resources. While most studies focused on the opportunities afforded by social media, a smaller number reported concerns related to misinformation, trolling, impersonation, exclusion of non-technical users and algorithmic disruptions.
Conclusion: Social media has expanded opportunities for religious participation and engagement; however, research remains unevenly distributed across religious traditions and gives limited attention to privacy and ethical risks.
Contribution: This study synthesises religious practices conducted through social media and highlights emerging privacy and ethical concerns, providing a foundation for future research on digital religion and privacy in underrepresented contexts.
Keywords: social media and religion; digital religion; religious practices; privacy concerns; religious communities; Southern Africa.
Introduction
The introduction of social media has had a profound impact on many facets of modern life, including the interactions, practices and spread of religion among religious groups. In the past, religious activities and social interactions took place only inside buildings such as synagogues, churches, mosques and temples. However, the digital era has ushered in new modes of interaction, allowing religious communities to transcend geographic boundaries and engage with a broader audience through social media platforms (De Oliveira 2018:9–30; Kgatle 2018:1–6).
Social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, X (formally known as Twitter) and Instagram provide unprecedented opportunities for religious groups to disseminate their messages and conduct religious services. Anecdotal evidence suggests that social media facilitates practices such as preaching (Lim & Sng 2020:261–274; Prempeh 2021:100–141) and evangelism (De Oliveira 2018:9–30; Urquiola 2020:40–45), to communal prayers (Aduragba, Yu & Cristea 2023) and even virtual religious services (De Oliveira 2018:9–30; Kgatle 2020:1–6). However, a comprehensive and systematically derived understanding of the spectrum of religious practices that have been documented as being conducted on social media remains limited. In this study, ‘religious practices’ refer to activities through which individuals or communities express, enact or sustain their faith, including rituals, communication, teaching, worship and community engagement, whether conducted in physical or digital environments. This study specifically seeks to identify and consolidate these practices as they are reported in academic literature, rather than relying on anecdotal or assumed forms of digital religious engagement.
The nature of social media enables religious leaders and followers to maintain continuity in their religious life, even during global disruptions such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic (Kgatle 2020:1–6; Prempeh 2021:100–141). Although much of the existing literature focuses on Western and Asian contexts, similar digital transitions are increasingly visible within Southern Africa, where diverse religious communities have adopted social media to sustain worship, fellowship and evangelism.
Furthermore, social media can be a significant catalyst for growth and exposure, for example, in business. Social media has been an effective catalyst for businesses when it comes to marketing their products (Alharbie 2015:873–880; Dwivedi et al. 2018:1149–1175), and used in various operations of many companies including start-ups and small, medium-sized and large organisations (Smits & Mogos 2013). During the COVID-19 pandemic, churches were forced to use social media to keep in touch with their followers. Despite the growing use of social media in religious contexts, there is a lack of systematic research examining how these platforms are specifically used for religious practices, particularly studies that explicitly document such practices and examine their associated privacy concerns.
The lack of research on religious practices within social media creates a critical knowledge gap with potential implications for user privacy and security on these platforms. This gap is especially evident in the Southern African context, where religious expression is both socially influential and culturally diverse. While social media privacy is a growing concern, existing research often focuses on identifying vulnerabilities and mitigating general privacy risks (Beigi & Liu 2020:1–38). However, addressing these risks effectively becomes more challenging when we do not fully understand the specific religious practices conducted online and the privacy concerns associated with them. Additionally, the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) classification of religious data as personally identifiable information that needs protection further complicates the issue (POPIA 2013, s b, ss 26). Without a comprehensive understanding of religious online practices, it is difficult to develop targeted strategies to mitigate privacy risks related to this sensitive data.
Addressing this gap is essential not only for advancing academic understanding but also for supporting responsible digital engagement among religious communities. Without such research, religious groups may unknowingly expose their members to privacy risks, while policymakers and platform designers remain ill-equipped to develop protections tailored to the unique nature of religious data. Given that religious expression often involves deeply personal beliefs, identities and practices, failure to account for these dimensions in digital environments may result in harm that extends beyond technical breaches to include social, cultural and spiritual consequences.
As a result, this systematic literature review (SLR) aims to fill this gap by systematically identifying and synthesising the range of religious practices that have been documented in academic literature as being conducted on social media platforms. In addition, the study examines the privacy concerns associated with these practices, as reported in existing research. By conducting an extensive search across multiple databases and systematically screening the resulting articles, this review identifies and analyses the methodologies, types of religions, specific religious practices and documented privacy concerns. Furthermore, it highlights areas for future research, including the need for practice-specific privacy investigations across diverse religious groups, particularly within urban and rural contexts, and the relevance of these findings for understanding the evolving digital engagement of Southern African faith communities in the post-pandemic landscape.
While social media enables the expansion of religious practices beyond physical spaces, it also introduces new forms of vulnerability that are closely tied to the nature of these practices. Activities such as online prayer, counselling, confession and the sharing of personal testimonies often involve sensitive personal and spiritual information. When conducted in digital environments, these practices expose individuals and communities to risks such as data misuse, surveillance, impersonation and algorithmic manipulation. Despite these risks, current research has not sufficiently examined how specific religious practices contribute to heightened privacy concerns. This creates a critical gap, as understanding the relationship between religious practices and digital risks is essential for developing ethical, safe and context-sensitive approaches to digital religious engagement.
The primary research question (RQ0) guiding this review is: How have existing studies explored the use of social media by religious communities for religious practices, and what privacy concerns have been identified in this context? To address this question, the study is structured to achieve two complementary objectives. Firstly, it seeks to map the landscape of digital religious practices by identifying the types of practices conducted, the religious communities involved, the platforms used and the methodologies applied in existing studies. Secondly, it aims to identify and analyse the privacy concerns associated with these practices, thereby establishing a link between digitally mediated religious engagement and emerging risks. Together, these objectives provide both a descriptive and analytical foundation for understanding how religious practices conducted on social media give rise to new privacy challenges.
Goal of the review
A SLR is a rigorous and structured approach to gather and analyse information from various sources to answer a specific RQ (Kitchenham 2012). In this case, the goal was to systematically identify and synthesise the range of religious practices that have been documented in academic literature as being conducted on social media, and to examine the privacy concerns associated with these practices. Unlike general reviews of religion and social media, this study specifically focuses on extracting explicitly documented religious practices from the literature, thereby providing a structured and evidence-based account of how religious engagement is enacted in digital environments. The process involved defining the RQ, conducting the search, screening, selecting relevant studies, analysing and synthesising the findings, and then presenting the results.
The specific RQ addressed in this review is: How have existing studies explored the use of social media by religious communities for religious practices, and what privacy concerns have been identified in this context? This dual focus reflects the central premise of the study, namely that understanding digital religious practices is a necessary precursor to identifying and analysing the privacy risks associated with them. This topic is important, given the increasing integration of social media into everyday life and its potential to reshape religious engagement and practices. This significance extends to the Southern African context, where social media use among diverse faith communities continues to grow, yet systematic studies on its influence on religious practices remain limited.
In addition, the SLR enabled the identification of documented religious practices and the platforms used by various religious communities, providing insights into their digital strategies and highlighting gaps in the existing research. These gaps are particularly evident in terms of methodological diversity, representation of different religious traditions, and the limited attention given to practice-specific privacy concerns, especially within Southern African religious contexts.
Research methods and design
This review was conducted using Kitchenham’s technique for completing SLRs, which provides a structured and replicable approach to identifying, evaluating and synthesising existing research (Kitchenham 2012). In this study, the technique was applied to systematically identify and extract religious practices documented in academic literature as being conducted on social media, as well as the associated privacy concerns. Each step of Kitchenham’s framework was operationalised to align with the objectives of the study, particularly the identification of explicitly documented practices and the synthesis of practice-related privacy insights across the selected studies. Kitchenham’s technique lists the following seven critical steps when conducting an SLR:
Plan the review: In this step, the research questions and objectives need to be defined, the scope of the review identified and the inclusion and exclusion criteria for selecting studies specified. Conduct the search: This step involves identifying relevant studies by searching electronic databases, reference lists and other sources. Select studies: In this step, the search results need to be screened based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria defined in the planning step. Assess study quality: This step involves assessing the quality of the selected studies and the need to develop a checklist or tool for assessing study quality. Extract data: In this step, relevant data need to be extracted from the selected studies. Synthesise results: This step involves analysing and synthesising the data extracted from the selected studies. Report the review: In this step, the results of the review need to be reported in a clear and concise way.
These seven steps were consolidated into three broader phases in this review: (1) planning, involved planning the review process; (2) execution, included conducting the search, selecting studies, assessing study quality and extracting data and (3) reporting, involved synthesising and reporting the review findings.
Within this structure, particular emphasis was placed on the study selection and data extraction phases, as these were critical for ensuring that only studies explicitly documenting religious practices conducted on social media were included in the final analysis.
Planning
The SLR sought to answer the following sub-RQs:
RQ1: What are the prevalent religious communities actively utilising social media platforms for religious practices?
RQ2: What specific types of religious practices are facilitated through social media by religious groups?
RQ3: What are the prevalent social media platforms used by different religious groups for their religious practices?
RQ4: What are the prevalent methodologies used to examine how religious groups utilise social media platforms for religious practices?
RQ5: What privacy concerns have been identified in the context of religious groups using social media for religious practices?
RQ6: What gaps exist in the current research regarding the use of social media by religious groups for religious practices?
These RQs are structured to address two complementary objectives. Collectively, RQ1, RQ2, RQ3 to RQ4 focus on mapping the landscape of digital religious practices, including the communities involved, the platforms used and the methodological approaches employed. Together, RQ5 and RQ6 focus on identifying privacy concerns and research gaps, thereby linking the identified practices to emerging risks and areas requiring further investigation.
This review’s inclusion criteria were centred on studies that specifically addressed the use of social media by religious groups for their religious practices. Only studies published in peer-reviewed journals or conference proceedings and written in the English language were considered eligible for inclusion in this review. Additionally, these studies had to be directly relevant to the research questions and explicitly address the use of social media by religious groups. A key inclusion requirement was that studies had to explicitly document religious practices conducted on social media platforms. Studies that discussed religion and social media in general terms, without identifying specific practices, were excluded. This ensured that the final dataset was focused on empirically documented digital religious practices rather than broader conceptual discussions.
Execution
A search was conducted using the Elton B. Stephens Company host (EBSCOhost), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Sabinet, Science Direct, Journal Storage (JSTOR) and Google Scholar. The search aimed to identify journal articles and conference articles published between 2014 and 2026 that discussed the use of social media platforms by religious groups for religious purposes. This timeframe was selected to capture the period during which social media platforms became widely integrated into religious practices, particularly with the acceleration of digital engagement during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The search terms were ‘Religion’ AND ‘Social media’ and yielded 285 articles in total across all the databases as shown in Table 1. This broad search strategy was intentionally employed to ensure comprehensive coverage of studies at the intersection of religion and social media, after which stricter inclusion criteria were applied during the screening stages to identify studies specifically documenting religious practices.
The next step was to screen the search results based on the inclusion criteria that were established in the planning stage of the SLR. The initial screening was conducted based on the titles, abstracts and keywords of the articles to identify and exclude any irrelevant or clearly unsuitable studies. During this process, it was found that one article was a duplicate, resulting in a reduction in the total number of articles from 285 to 284. After the initial screening, 29 articles met the inclusion criteria and were selected for further analysis. At this stage, studies that addressed religion and social media without identifying specific religious practices were retained for further screening but flagged for closer evaluation during the full-text review.
Furthermore, after the initial screening, the remaining articles were subjected to a second screening based on their full texts. This step was necessary to ensure that only studies meeting the inclusion criteria were considered for review. Several articles were excluded owing to reasons such as not addressing religious practices that religious groups practise on social media, some focused on religious extremism, cyberbullying, religious misinformation, hate speech and the like. After the second screening, 12 articles were found to be eligible for review. The reduction from 29 articles to 12 articles reflects the strict application of the inclusion criterion requiring explicit documentation of religious practices conducted on social media. Studies focusing on related issues such as extremism, misinformation or online behaviour without linking these to specific religious practices were excluded.
The chosen articles were analysed and yielded a total of 25 religious practices as shown in Figure 1, which were classified into five overarching categories. In this study, ‘religious practices’ refer to activities through which individuals or communities express, enact or sustain their faith, including rituals, communication, teaching, worship and community engagement, whether conducted in physical or digital environments (Evans et al. 2025). These categories encompassed the themes of communication and engagement, religious rituals and services, dissemination of religious contents, community and fellowship activities and religious education and resources. These practices were identified through an inductive thematic analysis process, where recurring patterns across the selected studies were coded and grouped into higher-level categories. This approach enabled the systematic organisation of diverse religious practices into five overarching themes while maintaining alignment with the study’s objective of identifying documented practices and linking them to emerging privacy concerns. The following section discusses the five overarching categories of the findings of the review.
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FIGURE 1: Religious practices across studies. |
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Reporting
This section summarises the overarching categories of religious practices identified through the analysis, providing a structured synthesis of how religious engagement is enacted on social media platforms.
Communication and engagement
Religious groups use social media for various forms of communication and engagement. They share important updates and notifications about events, services and other activities through announcements. These platforms are used for advertising, promoting religious events, religious products and services to their audience. Inspirational and motivational religious messages are shared to uplift and engage followers. Leaders of religious groups often use social media to communicate directly with their followers, providing guidance and insights. Visual content, including pictures and videos from events and services, is widely shared to enhance engagement. In addition, some religious groups organise online talent shows to showcase the talents of their members. These practices highlight the role of social media as a space for continuous interaction and visibility, where religious communication extends beyond traditional boundaries and becomes more immediate, interactive and publicly accessible.
Religious rituals and services
Religious groups also use social media to conduct and share various religious rituals and services. Sermons and religious teachings are broadcast live or shared as recorded videos for preaching. Online prayer sessions and prayer requests are facilitated through social media platforms. Mass services are live-streamed, allowing followers to participate remotely. Social media is also used to pray the rosary collectively, often through live sessions or organised online groups. Virtual candle lighting ceremonies enable remote participation in this traditional ritual. Some communities provide virtual confessionals, where followers can engage in confession through social media platforms. In addition, regular religious services are broadcast to reach followers who cannot attend in person. Furthermore, choir performances are shared through live streams or recorded videos, allowing participation and enjoyment by a broader audience. Online worship sessions enable communal worship activities despite physical distances, while digital spaces are created for followers to visit and engage in personal or communal worship through virtual chapels. These practices demonstrate how traditionally private or sacred rituals are increasingly mediated through public or semi-public digital platforms, often involving the sharing of sensitive personal and communal information. This shift has important implications for privacy, as it transforms the context in which religious participation occurs and increases exposure to potential risks associated with digital visibility.
Dissemination of religious content
Religious groups additionally make use of social media to disseminate religious content in various ways. Daily or weekly Bible verses are shared to provide spiritual nourishment and guidance. Communities advertise and sell religious products such as books, religious products and clothing. Social media is also used as a tool for evangelism, spreading religious messages and converting new followers. Furthermore, educational sessions and lectures on religious topics are shared to educate and inform followers. These forms of dissemination illustrate how social media functions as both a communication and outreach tool, enabling religious content to reach broader and more diverse audiences. However, this expanded reach also increases the potential for content to be misinterpreted, redistributed or used outside its intended context.
Community and fellowship activities
Various community and fellowship activities are facilitated by religious groups through the use of social media. Followers share personal testimonies of faith and experiences to inspire and support each other. Religious concerts are live-streamed, allowing wider participation and enjoyment. Digital platforms facilitate online donations and offerings, supporting the financial needs of religious communities. Furthermore, social media supports missionary work by spreading information and facilitating connections. These activities reflect the extension of communal religious life into digital spaces, where participation is no longer confined to physical gatherings. While this enhances accessibility and inclusivity, it also introduces new dynamics related to visibility, participation and the sharing of personal experiences within broader audiences.
Religious education and resources
Religious communities use social media for religious education and resources. Educational content for catechism is provided to support the religious education of followers. In addition, online resources and services are offered to support various religious needs and practices. These practices indicate the growing role of social media as a platform for religious learning and knowledge dissemination. At the same time, they raise questions about the reliability, control and interpretation of religious information within digital environments.
Ethical considerations
Ethical clearance to conduct this study was obtained from the Nelson Mandela University Research Ethics Committee (Human) (No. 1418).
Results
This section presents and analyses the results of the review, structured around the identification of religious practices, the platforms used, the religious communities involved and the methodologies applied in the selected studies.
Religious practices
The following answers sub-RQ2: What specific types of religious practices are facilitated through social media by religious groups?
This SLR identified a wide range of religious practices facilitated through social media platforms, as shown in Figure 1. The findings illustrate the diverse ways in which religious communities leverage digital technologies to sustain, transform, and expand religious engagement beyond physical settings. These findings indicate that social media is not merely a supplementary communication tool, but a central space through which religious practices are reconfigured, extended, and, in some cases, transformed.
A prominent practice identified across the reviewed studies is the dissemination of preaching and religious messages. Social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and, more recently, immersive social virtual reality environments are used to broadcast sermons, religious teachings and guided reflections. Religious leaders also share daily or weekly scriptural content, including Bible verses and words from religious leaders, to provide spiritual guidance and maintain ongoing engagement with followers. This widespread use of preaching and message dissemination reflects a shift from geographically bound religious instruction to digitally mediated forms of spiritual leadership, where content can be accessed, shared and interpreted beyond its original context.
Besides, announcements and advertising constitute another significant use of social media by religious groups. Platforms are used to communicate information about prayer meetings, religious events, services and compliance-related instructions. In addition, religious communities promote religious products, services and events through digital platforms, enhancing visibility and participation within and beyond their immediate congregations.
Prayer-related activities are notably enhanced through social media. Both communal and individual prayer practices are facilitated online, including collective prayer sessions, prayer requests and spiritual counselling. Catholic communities, for example, organise virtual rosary prayers, while other Christian and Islamic communities utilise social media for collective prayers, counselling and spiritual guidance. The live streaming of mass, worship services and other religious rituals enables participation regardless of geographical location. These practices are particularly significant as they often involve the sharing of personal intentions, emotional experiences and sensitive spiritual information, thereby increasing exposure to potential privacy risks within digital environments.
Social media also supports interactive and community-building practices. Activities such as talent shows, concerts and choir performances are shared through live streams or recorded content, fostering community cohesion and creative religious expression. These practices are complemented by testimony sharing, where members narrate personal faith experiences to encourage, inspire and strengthen communal bonds. Such practices illustrate how communal religious life is extended into digitally visible spaces, where participation is often public or semi-public, thereby altering traditional boundaries between private faith expression and collective religious engagement.
In addition, educational practices form a substantial component of digital religious engagement. Social media is used for catechesis, religious lectures, Bible study and broader religious education initiatives. These practices support continuous learning and faith formation across different age groups and religious traditions. Moreover, digital platforms facilitate religious counselling, question-and-answer sessions and structured guidance, particularly in the context of Islamic religious counselling initiatives. This shift also raises important considerations regarding the control, interpretation and dissemination of religious knowledge, particularly in algorithm-driven environments where visibility is shaped by platform dynamics rather than institutional authority.
More intimate and reflective practices have also migrated into digital spaces. Virtual confessionals and counselling environments provide followers with avenues for private religious engagement and guidance. Similarly, virtual chapels and immersive worship environments allow individuals to engage in prayer and reflection outside traditional physical spaces. The migration of such intimate practices into digital spaces represents a significant transformation in religious engagement, as activities traditionally considered private are now mediated through platforms that may not fully support confidentiality or controlled access.
Missionary work and outreach activities are further supported through social media, enabling religious communities to disseminate teachings, coordinate outreach programmes and engage wider audiences. Practical religious activities, such as the collection of offerings and donations, are also facilitated digitally, supporting the financial sustainability of religious institutions. Additional practices, including virtual candle lighting and memorial services, contribute to a shared sense of solidarity and remembrance within online religious communities. These practices further demonstrate not only how social media enables religious outreach at scale but also introduces challenges related to data use, consent and the potential repurposing of content beyond its intended audience.
While a broad spectrum of religious practices was identified, only limited attention was given to privacy-related concerns within the reviewed studies. Where addressed, these concerns were discussed in general terms, including issues of anonymity, impersonation, moderation challenges and the ethical implications of digital religious engagement. Importantly, the limited treatment of privacy concerns across the reviewed studies suggests that while digital religious practices are expanding, the risks associated with these practices remain insufficiently theorised and empirically investigated in current scholarship.
In summary, the findings demonstrate the adaptability and versatility of social media in facilitating religious practices across diverse traditions. Religious communities increasingly integrate digital platforms into core religious activities, extending their reach and reshaping contemporary religious life, while simultaneously revealing areas that require further scholarly attention, particularly in relation to privacy and ethical considerations.
Methods used
This section addresses sub-RQ4: What are the prevalent methodologies used to examine how religious groups utilise social media platforms for religious practices? This review reveals a diverse range of methodological approaches employed by the selected studies, with a clear dominance of qualitative research designs. As shown in Figure 2, the methodologies include literature-based and conceptual analyses, interviews, questionnaires, social media and digital content analysis, online observation, anthropological fieldwork, digital ethnography and qualitative descriptive approaches. This dominance of qualitative approaches reflects the exploratory nature of the field, where researchers seek to understand emerging forms of digital religious engagement rather than test established theoretical models.
Evidently, several studies relied primarily on secondary data and conceptual analysis. Prempeh (2021:100–141) examined electronic and social media reports to analyse how religious institutions in Ghana reinforced their relevance during the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing on publicly available narratives rather than direct engagement with religious adherents. Similarly, De Oliveira (2018:9–30) and Kgatle (2020:1–6) employed literature reviews to explore the broader relationship between religion and digital media, while Kgatle (2018:1–6) adopted a missiological perspective to conceptually interrogate the role of Facebook in the emergence of prophetic churches in Southern Africa. More recent work by Mudau and Tshifhumulo (2025:1–9) extended this approach through a qualitative synthesis of scholarly literature, media artefacts, sermons and social media content to examine the influence of technology on Pentecostalism. While these literature-based and conceptual studies provide important theoretical grounding and historical context, they do not generate primary empirical data and are therefore limited in their ability to capture lived religious experiences, evolving digital practices and the nuanced privacy concerns associated with religious participation in digital environments.
In addition, empirical qualitative methods were more prominent in studies that employed interviews and observational approaches. Lim and Sng (2020:261–274) used semi-structured interviews and online observations to examine how religious communities in China negotiate shifting boundaries between religion and social media. Ferguson, Ecklund and Rothschild (2021:258–272) conducted interviews with Jewish and Muslim participants in the United States to explore how religious minorities navigate religious expression online. Natalia (2021:4–22) combined interviews with online observation and anthropological fieldwork to investigate how Old Believer communities construct religious visibility through social media. These studies offer rich, contextualised insights into how religious actors perceive and experience digital platforms, although their findings are necessarily shaped by relatively small samples and participant subjectivity. These findings highlight the importance of context-specific, experience-based research in understanding how individuals negotiate both religious expression and privacy in digital spaces.
More recent research reflects a methodological shift towards immersive digital approaches. Głębocka et al. (2025) employed digital ethnography, semi-structured interviews and virtual field observations to study religious communities operating within social virtual reality platforms. By treating digital environments as lived religious spaces rather than merely communication channels, this approach provides a deeper understanding of emerging forms of digitally mediated religious practice. However, the intensive nature of ethnographic engagement may introduce researcher bias because of prolonged immersion and close interaction with participants.
Only one study adopted a questionnaire-based approach. Aduragba et al. (2023) combined survey data with the analysis of X content to examine religious and spiritual expression on social media in the post-pandemic context. While this approach enables the identification of broader patterns and trends in online religious engagement, it offers limited insight into the nuanced meanings and motivations underlying these practices.
Additionally, Hidayati (2025:25–38) employed a qualitative descriptive methodology, incorporating document analysis and literature review, supported by triangulation and the Miles and Huberman interactive data analysis model. This approach provides structured qualitative insight into the implementation of Islamic religious counselling on social media but remains largely interpretive and context specific.
Overall, the reviewed studies demonstrate increasing methodological diversity and sophistication, particularly in more recent work that embraces digital ethnography and immersive observation. Nevertheless, several gaps remain evident. None of the studies employed participatory or dialogical methods such as focus groups or World Café approaches that allow for collective reflection within and across religious communities. Furthermore, no study adopted a comparative empirical design involving multiple religious traditions within a single investigation, nor did any explicitly distinguish between rural and urban contexts. These methodological gaps underscore the need for future research to adopt more integrative, comparative and context-sensitive approaches when examining social media use for religious practices. This is particularly important for advancing research that seeks to link specific religious practices to emerging digital risks, including privacy concerns that are shaped by both individual and communal forms of participation.
Social media platforms
The following answers sub-RQ3: What are the prevalent social media platforms used by different religious groups for their religious practices?
The SLR revealed that religious communities utilise a diverse array of social media platforms to facilitate their practices, demonstrating both the flexibility and reach of these digital tools, as summarised in Figure 3. This diversity of platforms reflects the adaptability of religious communities in selecting digital tools that align with specific practices, levels of interaction and audience engagement.
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FIGURE 3: Social media platforms used across studies. |
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Facebook emerges as the most widely used platform, appearing in eight of the 12 studies. Its versatility allows religious groups to live stream sermons and services, share religious messages and announcements, promote community events and engage with followers through interactive content. WhatsApp was noted in three studies and is valued for private messaging and group communication, making it particularly suitable for prayer groups, counselling and other small-scale religious interactions.
YouTube and X are each prominent, featuring in five and four studies respectively. YouTube supports the broadcasting of sermons, educational lectures, music performances and virtual worship sessions, while X enables rapid dissemination of religious updates, inspirational messages and community interactions.
Furthermore, several other platforms are used in specific contexts to reach particular audiences. Instagram and Flickr are leveraged for visual storytelling and sharing images from religious events; Tumblr, Google+, Reddit, QQ, Weixin and Zoom are used for targeted community engagement, discussions or live-streamed sessions. The inclusion of TikTok and Social virtual reality (VR) (VRChat) in more recent studies highlights the expansion of religious practices into emerging digital spaces, including short-form video content and immersive virtual environments. Similarly, livestreaming platforms, podcasts, webinars and digital giving platforms provide additional channels for worship, teaching, fundraising and outreach.
Overall, the findings indicate that religious communities strategically select platforms based on the type of practice, the desired level of interaction and the target audience. While some platforms are suited for broad dissemination of messages (e.g. Facebook and YouTube), others facilitate interactive or immersive experiences (e.g. VRChat, Zoom and podcasts), reflecting the adaptability of religious practices to evolving digital environments. Importantly, the choice of platform also influences the nature of privacy risks, as different platforms offer varying levels of control, visibility and data protection.
Religions
The following answers sub-RQ1: What are the prevalent religious communities actively utilising social media platforms for religious practices?
The review analysed the religious affiliations covered in the selected studies, as summarised in Figure 4. Christianity emerges as the most studied religious community, featuring in 7 of the 12 articles. This underscores the strong presence of Christian groups in the digital religious landscape and illustrates their active engagement with social media for practices such as preaching, community building and virtual worship. The prominence of Christianity in these studies also provides a basis for future research exploring technology acceptance, privacy concerns and adherence to regulations such as POPIA and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) within Christian communities. This dominance may reflect both the strong digital presence of Christian communities and a research bias towards contexts where digital religious practices are more readily documented.
Islam is represented in two studies, while Jewish practices are addressed in one study. Although these communities appear less frequently in the literature, their inclusion confirms that social media is utilised across diverse religious contexts. These findings suggest the need for additional empirical research to investigate the specific purposes for which Islamic and Jewish communities engage with social media, as well as associated concerns such as privacy, ethical use and regulatory compliance. The limited representation of these communities suggests that current research may not fully capture the diversity of digital religious engagement across different faith traditions.
In addition, one study adopted a multireligion perspective, offering valuable comparative insights into how different faiths use digital platforms. Such an approach facilitates understanding of both commonalities and distinctions in social media practices across religious traditions, highlighting opportunities for cross-cultural and interfaith analyses.
Finally, the review also identifies under-represented groups, such as smaller Christian denominations, African indigenous religions and other minority faiths. Addressing these gaps will be essential for building a more comprehensive understanding of digital religiosity across diverse religious communities.
Religious practices by religion
To gain a clearer understanding of which religious communities engage in specific digital practices, a heatmap was constructed to show religious practices against religions as shown in Figure 5. This visual representation integrates the findings from Figure 1 (practices) and Figure 4 (religions) and allows for an immediate view of which religious activities are prevalent within each community. The heatmap shows that Christianity dominates digital religious engagement, with nearly all identified practices reported. These include preaching, announcements, prayer, Bible verses, evangelism, worship services, choir performances, offering collections and virtual chapels, highlighting the diverse and extensive use of social media by Christian communities. This visualisation provides a more granular understanding of how specific practices are distributed across religious communities, revealing both patterns of dominance and areas of absence in the literature.
In contrast, Islam demonstrates a much narrower digital footprint in the reviewed studies, with only Preaching (da’wah) and Prayer reported. Similarly, the Jewish community is represented by only Evangelism, while the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church (ROORC) shows a single reported practice: Services. Studies categorised as multireligion did not report specific practices for individual faiths, reflecting their broad comparative focus rather than detailed practice-level documentation.
Overall, the heatmap highlights two key insights: (1) Christian communities have the most diverse and frequent engagement in digital religious practices and (2) other religious communities, including Islam, Jewish and ROORC, are under-represented in empirical studies, indicating gaps in the literature. This visualisation underscores the need for future research to explore the full spectrum of digital religious practices among non-Christian communities, particularly to identify whether the observed gaps are because of limited digital engagement or simply underreporting in the current literature. This reinforces the need for future research to move beyond dominant religious contexts and systematically investigate under-represented communities to better understand the full scope of digital religious practices and associated risks.
Discussion
Gaps in literature
The following answers sub-RQ6: What gaps exist in the current research regarding the use of social media by religious groups for religious practices? The SLR reveals a growing engagement of religious communities with social media, highlighting the variety of platforms and practices adopted to sustain and enhance religious activities. At the same time, the review identifies several key gaps in the existing literature, both in terms of scope and depth, which point to directions for future research.
Key findings and positives
This review demonstrates that Christianity has a strong and well-documented presence in digital spaces. Seven of the 12 studies focused on Christian communities, illustrating how these groups have effectively utilised platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, X and emerging virtual reality environments for a broad spectrum of religious practices, including live-streamed services, preaching, Bible study, evangelism and community support. This extensive adoption provides a foundation for further research into technology acceptance, privacy considerations and compliance with regulatory frameworks such as POPIA and GDPR. Understanding these dynamics is essential to capture how digital tools reshape religious practices and the risks or opportunities they create.
Although Islam and Jewish communities appear less frequently in the literature, the reviewed studies indicate that these groups also engage with social media to perform religious activities. Islamic communities are associated with preaching (da’wah), religious counselling, Q&A sessions, dissemination of religious guidance, announcements related to prayer and compliance, access to religious resources, online lectures and community education. Jewish communities are represented through practices such as access to religious resources and online lectures. The ROORC is associated with church services and missionary work. Multi-religion studies report collective practices including services, choir participation, corporate worship, meditation, prayer and yoga. Although these religions are less represented in the literature compared to Christianity, the diversity of practices identified indicates meaningful digital engagement across faith traditions.
Negatives and gaps in research
Despite these insights, several gaps remain. The majority of studies focus on Christianity, leaving non-Christian religions under-represented. This imbalance restricts our understanding of how different faiths leverage digital platforms for religious purposes and limits comparative analyses across religions. Future research should strive to include a broader range of religious traditions to provide a more comprehensive view of social media use across diverse religious communities.
Methodologically, there is a notable lack of diversity. Most studies employ interviews, literature reviews or observational methods, with few employing collaborative or participatory approaches such as focus groups or World Café discussions. Such methods could provide richer, collective insights into the experiences and perspectives of religious communities. Moreover, very few studies combine data across multiple religions, which limits the ability to draw comparative conclusions about digital religious practices. Expanding methodological diversity and integrating comparative designs would strengthen future research in this field.
Geographic and contextual gaps are also evident. None of the studies systematically examine differences between urban and rural religious communities, making it difficult to understand how social, economic and spatial factors shape digital engagement. Investigating these contextual variables is essential for a complete understanding of social media practices across diverse religious environments.
These findings align with and extend existing research on digital religion and social media. Similar to prior studies, the dominance of Christianity and the reliance on qualitative methodologies reflect broader trends in digital religion scholarship, where research has largely focused on accessible and well-documented contexts. However, this review reveals a more pronounced imbalance in the representation of religious communities than previously highlighted, with non-Christian traditions appearing only marginally in empirical studies. A particularly notable and unexpected finding is that although social media enables a wide range of deeply personal and communal religious practices, there is limited corresponding research examining how these practices translate into privacy risks. This suggests a disconnect between the rapid expansion of digital religious engagement and the scholarly attention given to its implications, especially in under-represented contexts.
Privacy and ethical concerns
Recent research has begun to highlight privacy and ethical issues associated with social media use in religious contexts, although this coverage remains fragmented and uneven when compared to the more established focus on digital religious practices. On the one hand, Głębocka et al. (2025) documented Christian communities in social virtual reality platforms, identifying concerns related to anonymity, trust, impersonation, trolling, technological barriers, moderation and accessibility. On the other hand, Hidayati (2025:25–38) explored Islamic religious counselling on social media, noting challenges such as misinformation, hoaxes, hate speech, radical content, algorithmic disruption, superficial guidance and limited participant interaction. While Mudau and Tshifhumulo (2025) analysed Pentecostal communities’ use of digital media, highlighting issues around the authenticity of worship, the digital divide, dilution of authority, commodification of spirituality, exclusion of non-technical users and general privacy concerns.
These concerns are not isolated technical issues but are closely linked to the nature of religious practices conducted online. For instance, practices such as counselling, confession and testimony sharing involve sensitive personal disclosures that may be vulnerable to misuse or exposure. Similarly, live-streamed services and digital interactions may be subject to trolling, impersonation or algorithmic filtering, which can distort religious messaging and participation. These findings highlight the need for a more practice-oriented understanding of privacy risks in digital religious environments.
These findings demonstrate that ethical and privacy considerations are emerging topics in digital religious studies, particularly as communities experiment with more immersive and interactive platforms. However, the coverage remains isolated, often focusing on specific platforms or practices rather than offering a holistic perspective across religions and contexts. There is a clear need for systematic research that addresses both individual and communal privacy risks, explores ethical and safe engagement strategies and considers the social, technological and spiritual implications of digital practices. Such research is essential to support sustainable and responsible digital engagement in religious communities and to bridge the gap between the expansion of digital religious practices and the limited scholarly attention given to their associated risks.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this SLR has provided a comprehensive overview of how religious communities utilise social media to support, sustain and enhance their religious practices. The findings revealed that these communities engage in a wide spectrum of digital activities, ranging from preaching, prayer and evangelism, to conducting services, sharing religious content, fostering fellowship and providing guidance and education. Christianity emerged as the most studied and digitally active community, making extensive use of platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, X and virtual reality spaces. Islam and Jewish communities, although less represented in the literature, also demonstrated engagement with social media for practices such as preaching, counselling and accessing religious resources, highlighting the growing relevance of digital platforms across diverse faiths. Multireligion studies offer comparative insights, pointing to both commonalities and distinctions in digital religious practices.
When compared with existing studies in digital religion, these findings confirm the growing centrality of social media in facilitating religious practices. However, this study extends prior work by systematically identifying and categorising the specific practices conducted on these platforms and linking them to emerging privacy concerns. Notably, the limited representation of non-Christian communities and the fragmented treatment of privacy issues highlight an important imbalance in the literature. This imbalance suggests that current research does not yet fully reflect the diversity and complexity of digital religious engagement, particularly in relation to vulnerable groups and context-specific dynamics.
This review also identified several critical gaps in the current research. Non-Christian religions remain under-represented, limiting our understanding of how different faith communities navigate digital spaces. Methodologically, there is a lack of diversity, with most studies relying on literature reviews, interviews or observational approaches, and few studies using collaborative or participatory methods such as focus groups or World Café discussions. Empirical studies that combine multiple religions, which account for geographic and contextual differences between urban and rural communities, are notably scarce. These gaps constrain the ability to draw comprehensive conclusions about digital religious practices across diverse settings.
Furthermore, although still fragmented, privacy and ethical concerns have emerged as an important area of this study. Recent research highlighted issues such as misinformation, trolling, impersonation, algorithmic disruption, accessibility barriers and exclusion of non-technical users. These findings demonstrate the need for systematic research that addresses both individual and communal privacy risks, examines ethical and safe use of digital platforms and considers the social, technological and spiritual implications of online religious engagement.
As a recommendation, future research should aim to address these gaps by including a wider range of religious groups, employing diverse methodologies and exploring the effects of cultural, socioeconomic, and infrastructural factors on digital religious practices. Investigating technology acceptance, privacy concerns, and compliance with regulations such as POPIA and GDPR across different faiths will provide valuable insights into how social media reshapes religious expression and community engagement. Overall, this review underscored the transformative potential of social media for religious communities and emphasises the need for ongoing research to support responsible, inclusive and secure digital participation.
Acknowledgements
During the preparation of this work, the authors used ChatGPT 5.5 (OpenAI) as a language support tool to assist with refining the grammar of the manuscript. All intellectual content, analysis and interpretations presented in this study are the original work of the authors. The content was reviewed and edited by the authors, who take full responsibility for its accuracy.
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa, through the Black Academics Advancement Programme (BAAP), for funding the lead author’s PhD studies. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the NRF. Portions of this manuscript preparation and data analysis were supported using R programming language, specifically bibliometric and visualisation packages including bibliometrix, ggplot2 and word cloud. These were used under the supervision of the lead author, who assumes full responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of the content.
The author reported that they received funding from NRF of South Africa, which may be affected by the research reported in the enclosed publication. The author has disclosed those interests fully and has implemented an approved plan for managing any potential conflicts arising from their involvement. The terms of these funding arrangements have been reviewed and approved by the affiliated university in accordance with its policy on objectivity in research.
Competing interests
The authors, Phumezo Ntlatywa and Darelle van Greunen, declare that they have no financial or personal relationship that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.
CRediT authorship contribution
Phumezo Ntlatywa: Conceptualisation, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Darelle van Greunen: Supervision, Writing – review & editing. All authors reviewed the article, contributed to the discussion of results, approved the final version for submission and publication and take responsibility for the integrity of its findings.
Funding information
This research was funded by the NRF of South Africa, under the BAAP. The funder had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis or the writing and submission of the manuscript.
Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are not openly available and are available from the corresponding author, Phumezo Ntlatywa, upon reasonable request.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and are the product of professional research. They do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated institution, funder, agency or that of the publisher. The authors are responsible for this article’s results, findings and content.
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