Evangelical Alliance

Natwivity - the social media natwivity - is back for Christmas 2011   

Natwivity, the Christmas story told on Twitter and Facebook, is back for another year with more than 10,000 followers already signed up ahead of its launch date on 1 December.

Natwivity began, in 2010, as a project to tell the Christmas story in an up-to-date format for the digital age. Followers catch up with the story as it unfolds through tweeted comments during the day. Thousands of followers will, once again, hear the thoughts of Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and wise men, but this year can look out for two new voices - the inn-keeper's wife and a reporter for the Jerusalem Daily.

Huw Tyler of creative agency, Share Creative, who devised Natwivity, said of its popularity: "Natwivity caught on because it helps us imagine the thoughts and feelings of a group of people caught up in one of the biggest stories ever told, and the Twitter platform is a great medium to express that."

Each character will post up to 140-character updates on Twitter and Facebook each day. By reading their daily tweets, followers can learn more about each of the character's lives in the run-up to the birth of Jesus on 25 December. Excerpts reveal Mary's inner thoughts as she decides how to reveal news of her pregnancy to Joseph, while the Jerusalem Daily's star reporter files stories about late night arguments of an expectant couple and a girl of 16 being thrown out of her home. 

Among the team of writers is Andy Kind, a stand-up comedian, writer and tweeter. Andy said: "Many of our followers from last year told me Natwivity had helped them rediscover the story afresh because of the personal - and, we hope, comic - observations. Tweeting the nativity also really helped me think how this story might have unfolded at a personal level for such well-known characters."

Natwivity has been made possible through collaboration between Share Creative and the Evangelical Alliance.
 

Followers can visit www.natwivity.com and see the story unfold at www.twitter.com/natwivity or on www.facebook.com/natwivity.

The play is suitable for people of all ages and backgrounds.