I was reviewing this morning a prophecy of Joseph Smith’s that he gave in 1834, which is particularly relevant to any discussion on whom our target audience is. The Church was very small in those days. In a particular small meeting in Kirtland, Ohio, after listening to others of his associates share their convictions about the work of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the prophet Joseph declared:

“Brethren, I have been very much edified and instructed in your testimonies here tonight, but I want to say to you before the Lord, that you know no more concerning the destinies of this Church and kingdom than a babe upon its mother’s lap. You don’t comprehend it… It is only a little handful of Priesthood [Church leadership] you see here tonight, but this Church will fill North and South America–it will fill the world,” (Wilford Woodruff, in Conference Report, Apr. 1898, p. 57)

In our time, this has become the reality of the Church that I and my business associates are a part of. As we discuss target market and look at whom our end users can be, we must take into account that this is a world wide audience that we are addressing. We do well to study and remember the sensibilities and conventions used in other countries in their media productions as well as our own.

On a similar note, it seems to me that there is no other medium like the Internet poised to universally reach all of this defined target audience. As a small media production company, we really only have an even smaller part to play in what has grown to be a global brother and sisterhood. But if there is any purpose for its existence, my argument for the establishment of an LDS media movement is to create a social and cultural standard for the Latter-day Saints the world over. What we will see in our media, we can begin to emulate in our homes. Or perhaps it is the other way around, who we are in our homes, we can begin to depict in our media.