More than 42,000 people now follow and benefit from Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche’s free live teachings on Facebook and cybersangha.net. With help from Daniel Conover, the newest member of Rinpoche’s core CyberSangha team, CyberSangha has now launched an Instagram account featuring Rinpoche’s teachings. We asked Daniel to say a bit about how we can all benefit from this new social media offering.
CyberSangha: Why Instagram?
Daniel Conover: Meditation and spirituality are becoming more popular on Instagram, and I feel that Rinpoche has a lot to offer for that space. He can reach so many people who are looking for information and support in their practice. Rinpoche has a vision for building an online community of people who can connect with the teachings and each other, and Instagram is another avenue for doing that.
CS: How will CyberSangha Instagram differ from Rinpoche’s Facebook presence?
Daniel: With Instagram, we plan to synthesize Rinpoche’s most recent Facebook Live teachings by offering short and long video excerpts and quotes that point us to the essence of the teachings, along with recent photographs Rinpoche has taken. There’s a younger crowd on Instagram we hope to reach. The content there is shorter and more quickly digestible and accessible — it’s just right there for you. Instagram was made to be used on the smartphone, and the app has a better mobile interface than Facebook’s.
CS: What is your personal vision in doing this?
Daniel Conover
Daniel: I think people really need to hear the message of love and wisdom that Rinpoche has and to feel the support I have received just by his speaking and being himself. I just want to give that to other people. Also, I have so many friends who ask me where to start with meditation or how to get into spiritual practice. Now I can say, “This is something you will like. Just go here and click follow.” No one is going to say no to that. There’s so much negative conversation happening on social media these days, there needs to be more love in it.
I’d like to see Rinpoche have a million followers, because that’s the kind of world I’d like to live in. His message is universal and has the potential to reach so many people. When he speaks about what’s going on in our world, it’s so honest, true and clear. When he guides a meditation, he is helping you to be honest and true with yourself. We need more truth in the world.
Visit the CyberSangha Instagram page (@cybersangha) at https://www.instagram.com/cybersangha/. If you send a message through the app, Daniel will be happy to respond.