After a week of anticipation for a message from the leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, nearly 270,000 people were on YouTube and already commenting when President Russell M. Nelson’s video began.
“I got chills when I saw this topic,” one man had written on the page six days earlier. “I’ve been praying for hope and healing.”
The number of viewers grew to 352,000 as the video played for the first time on Friday. More watched on Facebook.
In the first hour, the video from the church leader, consider a prophet to the world by Latter-day Saints, had more than 1.1 million views in multiple languages across YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. The number of views ballooned past 2.25 million after seven hours, at 6 p.m. Mountain Time.
President Nelson asked those viewers to spend the next week flooding social media with a wave of gratitude, and many started immediately. Messages bearing his suggested hashtag, #GiveThanks, appeared instantly. Some were captured on a new webpage, PowerofGratitude.org, launched by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The hashtag quickly became the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter in the United States and was still the second-biggest trending topic more than two hours after the video posted and remained in the top five for several hours.
Even before it posted, thousands from around the world had checked in on the Youtube channel with comments that scrolled by at high speed. People wrote “Hello from Dubai,” or “Love from the Philippines.” Others watched from Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America and the Pacific.
“I needed to hear from our prophet today,” wrote one.
“We are all brothers and sisters,” another said.
Others added messages after the video was posted :
- “Thank you so much. Your spiritual words make me feel safe.”
- “I accept the challenge.”
- “To be in prayer with the very Prophet and all the dear brothers and sisters from all over the world at the same moment ... Isn’t that the most beautiful moment, ever?”
- “Thank you for the prayer, President Nelson.”
Others responded on Twitter and Instagram:
(Translation: “Thank you for the beautiful message of hope that I needed so much, I love you and I support you President.”)