Tag Archive - social media

Andrew Jones (aka Tall Skinny Kiwi) interview

August 13, 2008 in Technology-Social Media with 2 Comments

I had the privilege yesterday of interviewing Andrew Jones along with Andrew Jackson, Cynthia Ware, Matthew Anderson and Marcus Goodyear.

Jones has some great insight into the history of blogging (he’s been blogging since 1997/1998) and ministry. Some really good thoughts on setting boundaries online, as well as a church’s need to have a sense of integrity of what they display online and what it’s like in real life.

Check out the interview here.

Texting the VP Announcement…Brilliant!

August 11, 2008 in Uncategorized with 5 Comments

Politics aside, someone in Barack Obama’s campaign clearly understands viral marketing, social media, and the “groundswell.” And his campaign has just figured out a way to reach an audience and communicate a message to that I think McCain clearly doesn’t understand or underestimates.

This is brilliant.

Obama Plans Novel VP Announcement TXT

Four years ago, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) announced his vice presidential nominee, then Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), at a morning rally in Pittsburgh.

How times change.

Last night, in a cell phone text message that was quickly followed by an e-mail linking back to a new page on his Web site — my.barackobama.com/vp — aides to Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) campaign wrote: “Barack will announce his VP candidate choice through txt message between now & the Conv. Tell everyone to text VP to 62262 to be the first to know! Please forward.”

Note three things: the casual reference to the candidate (“Barack”); the call to “forward” the text (to friends, relatives, etc.); the perceived personal appeal of being “the first to know”; and the timing — the text was sent two weeks before the Democratic National Convention kicks off. That gives plenty of time for the text to be passed around.

It also gives the Obama campaign one more way to differentiate itself technologically from its Republican opponent; Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) doesn’t have a text messaging program.

Why Twitter? How About California Earthquake To Name One Reason

July 29, 2008 in Marriage-Family, Technology-Social Media with 9 Comments

There are many reasons to Twitter which I have chronicled on this blog.

But today was a perfect example. When the Southern California earthquake hit today at approximately 11:41 (Twitter) or 11:42 (CNN) Twitter was buzzing like crazy. I had numerous reports from numerous sources of the quake almost before it ended.

And when the phone lines wouldn’t work, it was Twitter that allowed my wife and I, as well as other family members and friends connect to make sure everyone was okay.

Great tool. And no matter what complaints people levy against Twitter’s latest technical problems, it’s days like these that make you thankful for Twitter.

UPDATE:

Twitter beats the AP and other new sources by 4-9 minutes. Gees…how slow is the MSM.

Sort of reminds me of churches, church staffs and denominations that put out “official” news days, weeks and months after everyone else knows about it.

Why aren’t you on Twitter?

POST: Re-Structuring and Moving Collective Muse

July 22, 2008 in Ministry-Theology with 2 Comments

We define the four-step POST process for creating strategies–people, objectives, strategy, and technology–and reveal why starting with the technologies is a mistake.

That is the advice I wish I would have read 6 months ago as I was thinking about creating the college ministry network Collective Muse.

I came across it in the must read book Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff.

In it they have developed the acronym POST which stands for the following:

P=People
O=Objectives
S=Strategy
T=Technology

When creating strategies for social media this is the process they recommend. Most of us think about the technology first, rather than thinking about the people who may use it. At least I do that. Hopefully not any more though.

But to create a community one was must think about the people first, and what objectives and strategies will help you accomplish your goal. Will your people create content, or do they prefer to respond? Do they respond, or do they just like to read? Lots of things to think about. I just thought about technology because I love college ministry and wanted to gather college leaders from around the country…not taking into consideration if it was/is the right tool for them, and whether or not there is something already available for them.

With that in mind I also realized through reading this book that fostering online community takes time, of which I don’t have tons of with two jobs, a family and lots of interests.

So I have decided to move Collective Muse to a Christian site that is built around gathering people around their passions…ROOV. What is ROOV? ROOV is:

Roov.com is an online community that connects like-minded individuals around shared experiences and passions within their church and cities.

You can now find Collective Muse on ROOV by going to ROOV and searching for Collective Muse, or clicking on this link when you are logged in.

I hope by moving Collective Muse to ROOV several things can be accomplished:

  1. I don’t have to be responsible for maintaining a whole network (coding, providing content, fixing bugs, etc.)


  2. The network doesn’t revolve around me, but is decentralized on an already existing site. I will still have to work part of this out though as I created Collective Muse on ROOV. But for now, I suggest people just add Collective Muse as a friend and we begin to gather around our passions related to college ministry.


  3. You will find lots of people interested in college ministry who never would have joined Collective Muse, and you will find other things you are passionate about.


  4. We are joining a new and exciting network (ROOV) which is devoted to gathering Christians around their passions, and moving them towards action. So it’s a good base to start with.


  5. By being a part of ROOV, hopefully it will be more than a group that people simply join because they are interested, but that our interests and passions drive us towards actions, and opportunities to gather.


Last, I know that there are many groups that you can join, and that by doing so takes time that you sometimes don’t have. So I apologize for moving Collective Muse off a Ning, a site which you spent time joining, but I appreciate your interest, and I know that in the long run that making this move is much smarter than staying on a site that is not very active.

Sometimes we so much want to create something new, but often there are already tools and sites that exist. And so sometimes it’s better to join those that are already doing a great work. ROOV is doing a great work and has a lot of potential. So those of us who love college ministry I hope we can gather around Collective Muse on ROOV as well as others who are passionate about this topic.

And hopefully, the more I do this, the better I get at it, and the less mistakes I make.

Thanks Bel Air for a Great 7 Years…

June 13, 2008 in Ministry-Theology with 8 Comments

It was about six months ago when I announced my resignation to the staff and students at Bel Air Presbyterian Church and The Quest, and now the day has finally arrived. I’m sitting at my desk for the last time as the college director and it’s a bittersweet feeling. I’m super excited about the next step in the journey for my family and I, but I am also leaving behind a lot of great friendships, and a work place that was as much family as it was co-workers.

So I just want to thank all the students and staff who have really made an impact on my life the last seven years. The students I came across where as much an influence in my life as I was in theirs, and I’m thankful for that.

My family and I are preparing for a move to Dallas, TX (hopefully by mid-summer; I know, bad time to leave the beaches and head to TX), and we are excited about the new opportunities that await us. It’s definitely a new adventure for us, and we are particularly happy about moving closer to family, as well as living in a more affordable city that will helpfully allow us to keep our priorities organized, work schedules, etc. in a manner that keeps family first.

As some of you know I will be working full-time at the Pastoral Counseling Education Center in Dallas, pursuing my state licensure for Marriage and Family Therapy, which is something I have been wanting to do for a while. I love the intersection of marriage, family, theology, pastoral counseling, etc, and this should be a good place to do that.

I will also be working at a church part-time in Dallas, working in the area of social media and ministry, which is something I am super, super excited about. I will fill you in on more details about this later as my job description gets cemented.

And last, I hope to continue to connect with a lot of ministry tech people out there which I have already been doing, because I’m passionate about the blend of new social technology in the Church. And Dallas seems to be a great place to do this.

Please keep us in your prayers during this time. And I hope that before we leave town we can get together and hang out.
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