Facebook is everywhere I turn lately. I continue to encounter: news, news and more news about and leading up to the IPO; blogs and news stories on how the Instagram acquisition will not happen soon as was originally indicated; information that all is not well with online ad revenues, especially compared to Google; and people who are passionate about the future of Facebook, especially from those favoring both extremes. With this in mind I was intrigued to learn the Read More …
Social Media
New Perspectives (#0712)
Matthew Paul Turner's recent blog post entitled "25 Christian Blogs You Should Be Reading" highlights a list of blogs he finds insightful that don't typically receive significant attention or traffic. After reading his list and clicking through to a few of the blogs, I started to fashion my own list. After listing just a few I realized how easy it would be to add several dozen Christian blogs I have found of interest that would not appear on any lists of top Christian blogs. As Read More …
Associate Pastors & Technology (#0691)
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) recently released its first systematic look at associate pastors in an 88 page report "Associate Pastors in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)." The comprehensive report is based on a 2011 survey of associate pastors and a 2008 & 2009 survey of key leaders. The survey found associate pastors spent an average of 11 hours a week "emailing, text messaging, or using the Internet" in their personal lives. Professionally, these pastors used differing Read More …
Twitter Turns 6 (#0675)
Happy 6th birthday to Twitter! Writing for Mashable.com, Stan Schroeder effectively captures the significance of this milestone in the first two sentences of his post, which was publsihed earlier today: On March 21, 2006, Jack Dorsey tweeted the first ever tweet on Twitter. The sheer fact that you can understand that sentence shows you how far Twitter has gone since then. So What? Twitter passed the 500 million user count last month and Read More …
Top Church Websites (#0664)
Sharefaith recently posted their list of 22 Top Church Websites on Church Relevance. The alphabetically ordered list includes: Church on the Move - Tulsa, OK Fellowship Church - Grapevine, TX Imago Dei Community - Portland, OR Hillsong Church - London, UK LifeChurch.tv - Edmond, OK Mars Hill Bible Church - Grandville, MI Second Presbyterian Church - Memphis, TN Watermark Community Church - Dallas, TX So What? The author notes that this updated list for Read More …
Facebook Friends Friday (#0663)
While I spend a great deal of my day online and tend to be an early adopter, I was so late to Facebook that it already boasted over 100 million members when I joined. The network has expanded to include some 850 million accounts that were active during the month of December, 2011. Interestingly, one's age appears to be an indicator of the likely size of one's Facebook friends network. Lee Raine, Director of the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, Read More …
#FF – Follow Friday (#0656)
Every Friday morning I wake up to a Twitter stream that differs from the other six days of the week because of #FF or Follow Friday. This weekly event is a way that those on Twitter can share who they value and encourage others to consider following those individuals (or entities). So What? Months ago I found that with each new Follow Friday I asked myself "who do I follow?" While this was a good way to evaluate my ever expanding list of those I follow on Twitter, it also pushed me Read More …
Women Are Smarter Than Men (#0655)
Jeff Bercovici's recent article on Forbes.com explains the key findings of the latest poll by the Pew Internet & American Life Project: When it comes to managing their social media profiles, women, on average, behave more like mature, responsible adults while men act like impulsive adolescents. Some of the gender differences include: Allow only friends to view content: two-thirds of women - less than half of men Have deleted people from network: 67% of women - 58% of men Read More …
No Longer Divided: Virtual and Real (#0650)
Elizabeth Drescher is the author of Tweet If You Love Jesus: Practicing Church in the Digital Reformation and co-author of the forthcoming Click 2 Save: The Digital Ministry Bible (2012). In a recent guest post for Union Theological Seminary's New Media Project she provided one of the best brief explanations of the shifts in life on and off-line: Social media participation has clearly become a real part of the lives of almost every American in nearly every demographic Read More …
Top 11 Posts of 2011 (#0589)
Based on the number of unique hits, the following are my top 11 posts in 2011 Best Church Logos Contemporvant Worship: Too Close To Reality? Review of Not a Fan Preferred Frequency for Communion / Lord's Supper / Eucharist Managing the Social Network Map The Influence of Technology The Presbyterian (PCUSA) Church is Deathly Ill Review of The Jesuit Guide To (Almost) Everything The UCC, General Synod, and the Trinity The Acceptable Year of the Lord - Rev. Dr. Martin Luther Read More …