Tens of thousands of Brazilians log on to Facegloria - the evangelical version of Facebook
The squeaky clean version avoids swearing or pornography and aims to attract 10 million users
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 05 July, 2015, 2:35am
UPDATED : Sunday, 05 July, 2015, 2:35am
Agence France-Presse in Sao Paulo
A user in Sao Paulo logs into Facegloria, in which an "Amen" button has replaced the "like" option. Photo: AFP
Fluffy clouds waft across a blue sky as you log in and while you chat with friends, Gospel music rings out: welcome to Facegloria, the social network for Brazilian evangelicals.
The new website's homepage bears a passing resemblance to the global phenomenon Facebook.
But Facegloria, which has attracted 100,000 users in its first month, was set up to serve those who find billionaire entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg's version sinful.
There's no "liking" on Facegloria. Here, you click "Amen".
"On Facebook you see a lot of violence and pornography. That's why we thought of creating a network where we could talk about God, love and to spread His word," said one of the founders, web designer Atilla Barros.
It all started three years ago when Barros and three other devout Christian colleagues working at the mayor's office in Ferraz de Vasconcelos, near Brazil's financial capital Sao Paulo, decided there was a market for a squeaky clean version of Facebook.
Given that 42 million of Brazil's 202 million people are estimated to be evangelicals - and the fervent Protestant movement continues to make inroads into traditionally dominant Catholicism - they might be right.
With help from the mayor's own pocket, they set up a business with about US$16,000 in start-up money and Facegloria was born.
Anyone can sign up to Facegloria.com but if they do, they better mind how they behave.
Swearing is banned - there is a list of about 600 forbidden words - as is any violent or erotic content, or photo or video depictions of homosexual activity.
"We want to be morally and technically better than Facebook. We want all Brazilian evangelicals to shift to Facegloria," Barros said.
Behind the scenes, more than 20 volunteers patrol online to weed out bad language and to decide whether or not to allow potentially risque selfies and bikini shots. Even pictures showing tobacco and alcohol get scrutinised for possible removal.
But the morality cops don't have a hard job.
"Our public doesn't publish these kinds of photos," said one of the volunteers, Daiane Santos, 26, who spends six hours a day working for Facegloria, in addition to his job in the town's commerce department.
Brazil has the world's biggest Roman Catholic population.
However evangelicals, who numbered just 6 per cent of the population in 1980, are now 22 per cent, while the Catholic total has dropped from 90 per cent to 63 per cent.
At that rate, evangelicals will become the majority by 2040 and Facegloria hopes to be riding the wave.
"Evangelicals have spread because of the intense urbanisation over the last 50 years," said Edin Abumanssur, an expert on religion at Sao Paulo's Catholic University.
"The Pentecostal message which is preached on the outskirts of cities and in the favelas puts a lot of emphasis on the individual as being responsible for his behaviour if he wants help from God ... This kind of faith works well in cities."
With the religious movement's influence seen everywhere, Barros expects Facegloria to become Brazil's go-to site.
"In two years we hope to get to 10 million users in Brazil. In a month we have had 100,000 and in two we are expecting a big increase thanks to a mobile phone app," he said.
