Enjoy the latest addition to the United Church of Christ's Still Speaking campaign: "Don't Let Them Lie To You." Read More …
Social Media
Facebook Friending Trends (#0585)
Earlier this week Mashable featured a post by Zoe Clark wrote an article about friending trends on Facebook based on recent research by NM Incite. This research suggests that offline relationships drive online friending while offensive remarks and attempts to leverage Facebook relationships to sell goods or services are significant reasons for defriending. The detailed infographic of why people friend and defriend others on Facebook appears at right. So What? The number Read More …
Church as Social Network (#0575)
Brandon Vogt is a Catholic layperson who blogs at ThinVeil.net and wrote The Church and New Media: Blogging Converts, Online Activists, and Bishops Who Tweet (2011 - read my review here). In the December 2011 edition of Christianity Today, he was one of three authors who answered discussed virtual fellowship or, more specifically, "What are we to make of social networking in churches (p.54)?" Vogt begins his response with these words: At its core, the church is one giant Read More …
What About Twitter is Appealing? (#0574)
Carol Howard Merritt, a Presbyterian pastor and the author of Tribal Church: Ministering to the Missing Generation (2007 - read my review here) and Reframing Hope: Vital Ministry in a New Generation (2010 - read my review here), recently was interviewed by the Christian Century. Among other things, she was asked to "say more about what you find so appealing about Twitter." Her response, in part, follows: I use Twitter in a couple of ways. It's a news stream for me . . Read More …
Internet Technologies for Discipleship (#0563)
Kelly Walsh, Chief Information Officer at the College of Westchester and seasoned IT professional, recently updated his list of ten internet technologies about which educators should be informed. Walsh's current list has changed dramatically, including only five items from his original list. The new list, in order, follows: video and podcasting resources, digital presentation tools, collaboration and brainstorming tools, blogs and blogging, social networking tools, Read More …
The Day My Blog Didn’t Appear on Facebook (#0555)
Social media is designed to be social. With so many users leveraging multiple channels, many tools exist to make it easier to share information across channels. While I no longer use Facebook as much as I once did, I have continued to import my blog posts as notes. A few days ago, I received the following message when I logged on to Facebook: Changes to How You Share Content in Notes You currently automatically import content from your website or blog into your Facebook notes. Read More …
Church Websites & First Impressions (#0527)
When I visit a church website for the first time the following items are most likely to make a negative first impression: Unattractive and/or dated overall appearance Unhelpful information: upcoming events happened months ago, multiple typographic errors, etc. Lack of easy access to basic data: contact page, worship information, and staff profiles So What? Today most potential church visitors will visit a congregation's website before attending worship or any ministry activity in Read More …
Do You AudioBoo? (#0524)
Earlier this week I discovered AudioBoo. I invite you to listen to a two minute message I just created using that tool: My Initial Experience with AudioBoo (mp3) So What? AudioBoo seeks to "be the one platform you use when you want to record audio, share it or keep it safe for the future." Currently you can record new content from your computer or iPhone, Android and Nokia devices. Soon, you will also be able to do so using Blackberry and Windows Mobile. AudioBoo Read More …
Browser or Social Media or Both? (#0523)
I have never been one to enjoy choosing either/or when both/and is a possibility. Almost a year ago, I wrote about my initial experience using RockMelt, which is an attempt to bring together the best of browsing (built on chromium) and social media (allowing for significant user customization). At that time, I had used the beta version for just one day. In the year since, the browser was released and has been enhanced on several occasions. I have gone from a curious Read More …
Reflecting on 365 Days of Daily Blogging (#0519)
I launched this blog in June of 2009, and started posting on a daily basis a year ago. Over the last 365 days I have learned a great deal, including: writing blog content is different from all other writing creating and using a standard template for each type of post (e.g., book reviews) provides helpful structure timely topics attract readers, especially those in the current news cycle posts with the greatest hit counts are, almost exclusively, those shared by others via social Read More …