social media « Thoughts of Resurrection

Top 10 Ways to Connect

31 05 2011

Connecting with people is one of the most important roles of being a pastor. I was inspired by Valeria Maltoni with her list of 100 Ways to Connect. I selected my top 10 from the list at Conversation Agent.

Introduce Peers
Tell Stories
Stay offline when you’re tired or argumentative
Brag about your fans’products and services
Become the person you’d like to be
Stay soft on people, hard on issues
Thank often and liberally
Adopt and credit good ideas
Appreciate success is several years in the making
Set a good example

What do you find to be the most effective ways of connecting with people?

Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: connect, connectional, connections, facebook, life, open source, personal, real life, social, social media, twitter
Categories : leadership, life

SXSW Interactive – Next Steps for Resurrection Online

6 04 2011

This is a collection of next steps for Resurrection Online from my time at SXSW Interactive in categories. Will you please share your thoughts, feelings or opinions about these possible next steps?

The Journey of becoming a Deeply Committed Christian

Create opportunities for positive competitive environments – best guidance, most faithful next steps, insightful response to scripture or worship, etc.
Create feedback loops for membership expectations.
Explore the possibility of allowing users to tag, rate, connect and organize Resurrection’s sermon archive.
Encourage offline actions (love your neighbor) through what happens online.

User Design Experience

What if we allowed Resurrection Online to be embeddable on other sites?
Create the opportunity for people to engage from the very first time they worship online
Create a vision onesheet for Resurrection Online
Intentionally design a user experience strategy for Resurrection Online
Design a user experience that will sustain connection over a long period of time
Pay attention to the motivating human behavior for worship online
Develop a shaping strategy and view for mainline church online
Determine whether Resurrection Online will become a shaping platform for mainline church online
Audit the Resurrection Online website

Community Development

Develop a way to share and receive stories of people who worship with Resurrection Online.
Create opportunities to live out attributes of a community for Resurrection Online
Facilitate connections among regular worshipers that are in similar situations
Practice random acts of connection among regulars – email, phone, letter.
Create predictable programs to invite people to engage – once a week, first Monday, etc.
Expand the Resurrection Stories shared via the GPS beyond Lent.
Engage with people who I may not recognize as being an influencer
Introduce members of the Resurrection Online community to one another.

Game Layer

What would a game layer would look like for the journey of knowing, loving and serving God?
What would a game layer would look like for worship at Resurrection Online?
Design game mechanics for Resurrection Online including: Come and Try It – intial engagement; Bring Friends and Play Together – social; Come Back – creating repeat engagement

Open / Crowdsourced Project

Explore open projects for the people of Resurrection Online
Set up a crowdsourced project for the people of Resurrection Online about how they became connected with Resurrection Online called Why Resurrection Online?
Create opportunities for Resurrection Online regulars to influence future development.
Focus on a single platform and use it very well before expanding.
Pay attention to whether those that share feedback are regulars at Resurrection Online
Ask for ideas to improve Resurrection Online from regulars.

Worship

Provide guidance for people to prepare offline for worship online. Some internal preparation may be helpful before you turn on the screen.
Do not force people to log in or share contact information to worship
Clearly communicate what will be done with information that is received in the attendance form

Be Aware

Be aware that Resurrection Online is amazing technology to which some people feel entitled.
Be aware that Resurrection Online encourages bilocationality – people trying to be two places at once.
Pay attention to guidelines for building an online community as development continues with Resurrection Online
Visit the communities where I hope to build Resurrection Online frequently
Pay careful attention to the updates that we encourage people to make about Resurrection Online

Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: feedback, Game mechanics, online community, social media, strategy, SXSW Interactive
Categories : ministry, renewing the church

My #SXSW Interactive Experience – Day 4

14 03 2011

I came to SXSW Interactive 2011 to gain perspectives, discover technology and learn practical steps that will help Resurrection Online fulfill our purpose of building a Christian community where non and nominally religious people are becoming deeply committed Christians. I hope to share some highlights and next steps from the day for Resurrection Online and myself.

My Experience – Day 4

I discovered the Delivering Happiness Bus Tour with Gowalla and picked up a free copy of the book, Delivering Happiness.
I stuck around in downtown Austin for John Oliver’s show and enjoyed dinner at Koriente – highly recommended.
I cruised through the Trade Show – more updates in a post to follow

Tweeting On Weekends: Are We Becoming Socially Anti-Social?

You have to decide where your line for using or not using social media. Consider why you are using social media and make an decision about where your line for using or not using social media will be.
People draw the line for social media usage in different places.
Be aware of not invading other people’s time with your social media updates.
Considering the quality of your update will help you decide whether or not to share an update.
The smart person in the future is not the one who has memorized all the information, but the person who is able to sort through all the junk to find the good stuff.

How to Personalize Without Being Creepy

Personalization helps the organization put something more relevant and likely more delightful in front of you.
Transparency is important. There needs to be a clear communication about how data is being used and an easy way for customers to opt out and modify information if necessary.
Personalization should be around data users chose to share – not assumptions that are made by the organization
Let people know what inferences your site is making about them. Help them understand how it improves their experience.
Explain why your user might be interested in something. “Because you liked X, you might like Y”

5 Steps to Bulletproof UX Strategy

You need a user experience strategy. If you don’t have one, whatever you are doing is a fun guess.
Start designing the user experience from the one thing that you want people to do on the site
Steps to a User Design Strategy: Audit, Define the Vision, Plan, Implement, Measure
A strong purpose communicated well will result in a successful user experience vision.
Strategy session: “Tweak it until it’s perfect. Then leave it alone.” Measure, Iterate, Stop.

Game On: Design Patterns For User Engagement

Game mechanics are design patterns that promote play and play-like engagement
Game mechanics are powerful, because they connect with some of the most innate systems of reward that we have in our brain.
Three primary design aspects involved in the user journey: Come and Try It – intial engagement; Bring Friends and Play Together – social; Come Back – creating repeat engagement
Use metrics to determine if you are successful or not and be ready to implement based on learning gained from testing
Determine what the metric will be for tracking any particular game mechanic

Comedy Showcase: John Oliver’s New York Stand-Up Show

I was on the front row for the show and really enjoyed it.
There were a series of comedians that will be on the show that will be on Comedy Central.
The best part was during the final act, John was sitting just off stage and I could see him laugh and respond to the comedian on stage. It seems rare to see a professional comedian laughing along with the rest of the audience. It was fun!

Next Steps for Resurrection Online

Pay careful attention to the updates that we encourage people to make about Resurrection Online
Do not force people to log in or share contact information to worship
Clearly communicate what will be done with information that is received in the attendance form
Audit the Resurrection Online website
Create a vision onesheet for Resurrection Online
Intentionally design a user experience strategy for Resurrection Online
Design game mechanics for Resurrection Online including: Come and Try It – intial engagement; Bring Friends and Play Together – social; Come Back – creating repeat engagement

Next Steps for Me

Intentionally create boundaries for my use of social media and communicate them with friends and family
Investigate:

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Tags: Austin Texas, Christian, Game mechanics, Simon Sinek, social media, SXSW Interactive, twitter
Categories : leadership, ministry, renewing the church

My #SXSW Interactive Experience – Day 3

13 03 2011

Column at the Austin Convention Center

My Experience – Day 3

It makes a difference if you choose a workshop that doesn’t interest you. I am thankful that it is okay to get up and leave as long as you do not disrupt other people. I took advantage of that to get out of a workshop and in to the TED presentation.
Free food is good, but not always worth the wait.
I have seen or received more randomly free things than I can remember.
It was good to worship with Resurrection Online. I happened to find a place outside the Microsoft Interactive Lounge.
Sleep is a very good thing.

Radical Openness: Growing TED by Giving it Away

TED Talks principals: embrace open models, design for a small screen, start strong, evoke contagious emotions
Worship with Resurrection Online
Only half of what you get from a conference is on the stage – the other part is having the inspired conversations with people around you who have just experienced the same content.
We don’t have a monopoly on good ideas.
Openness works when you: Put forward a clear goal that inspires; draw a passionate user base; Provide clear guidelines (with rewards + consequences); Allow the community to police itself; Make your contributors rock stars.
Openness isn’t easy: It is actually much easier to stay closed than to open up; Openness goes against most of our human tendencies; It can be quite challenging to fight against the fear of letting go; The rewards can truly be extraordinary

Better Crowdsourcing: Lessons Learned From the3six5 Project

Setup: Tell the story of a simple idea to get people involved. It is important for something brand new to have an idea that people can wrap their heads around
Managing People: Set up the rules and pay attention to the human interaction
Rewards and Recognition: Have a clear hierarchy when it comes to user involvement, reward people who are active by allowing them to take the next step and become editors or moderators. People that may not have had a voice before, suddenly have a voice.
Ending Gracefully: Set clear guidelines and pay attention to scaling from the beginning
Engage with people who you may not recognize as influencers.

Keynote: Christopher Poole – Founder of 4chan/Canvas

I did not hear any thing helpful at this presentation

Nonprofits and Free Agents in A Networked World

Nonprofits and Free Agents in A Networked World

Introduce people to others to create meaningful relationships
A networked non-profit is a simple agile organization that is transparent enough to let insiders out and outsiders in
Make connections with people who don’t care about the logo or branding document, but care about your cause.
A network weaver introduces people to others to create meaningful relationships.
Some non profits are a fortress that has trouble adopting and working with social media

27 (Fun!) Ways to Kill Your Online Community

Have a clearly defined audience
Have user guidelines
Set a good example for everyone on the site
Answer repetitive questions in a respectful manner
Don’t do everything that you can do

Next Steps for Resurrection Online

What if we allowed Resurrection Online to be embeddable on other sites?
Explore the possibility of allowing users to tag, rate, connect and organize Resurrection’s sermon archive.
Ask for ideas to improve Resurrection Online from regulars.
Expand the Resurrection Stories shared via the GPS beyond Lent.
Explore open projects for the people of Resurrection Online
Engage with people who I may not recognize as being an influencer
Set up a crowdsourced project for the people of Resurrection Online about how they became connected with Resurrection Online called Why Resurrection Online?
Introduce members of the Resurrection Online community to one another.
Pay attention to guidelines for building an online community as development continues with Resurrection Online
Visit the communities where I hope to build Resurrection Online frequently

Next Steps for Me

Squarespace Food Truck

Be surprised by the communities of which I am a part
Remember that losing control is the only way to do some things.
Be a network weaver who introduces people to others to create meaningful relationships.

Sites to Investigate

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Tags: 4chan, Austin Texas, Christopher Poole, facebook, social media, South by Southwest, SXSW Interactive, twitter
Categories : ministry, renewing the church

My #SXSW Interactive Experience – Day 1

11 03 2011

Badge Pick Up

I came to SXSW Interactive 2011 to gain perspectives, discover technology and learn practical steps that will help Resurrection Online fulfill our purpose of building a Christian community where non and nominally religious people are becoming deeply committed Christians. Over the next few days, I will share some highlights and next steps from the day for Resurrection Online and myself.

My Experience – Day 1

I will likely take free stuff – T-shirt from Gowalla, headband and mmmpanadas from Groupon, and a taste of Man Bites Dog from SquareSpace.
The line to pick up badges was where I saw the highest percentage of people engrossed in their mobile device that I had ever experienced.
I think I had a sense of what coming to Leadership Institute at Resurrection is like for some people – This is the biggest conference that I have ever attended and it is overwhelming at times.
Well run logistics, especially transportation and registration, are necessary for a conference to have a chance at success. Well done SXSW.
Austin Convention Center
Some people are here to party. I am not.

MicroMarketing: Get Big Results by Thinking and Acting Small

The next big thing is no more big things. There are a lot of small things.
Content consumption and production has become shorter over time – books to magazine or newspaper articles to blogs to 140 character updates.
Small content can travel fast and free far across the web.
For many marketers micro media and short form content is a mess – you cannot market in mass ways on the internet.
Learn from how constituents are actually engaging with content instead of case studies and best practices.

Why Everything is Amazing But Nobody is Happy

Why Everything is Amazing But Nobody is Happy

What is an amazing piece of technology to which you feel entitled, so much so that you complain about it when it doesn’t work exactly like you want it?
Bilocationality is trying to be two places at once, often using technology.
Social media is information poor as a result of no nonverbal communication.
Interacting with the internet is behavior that may become compulsive, however may not be addictive.
Explore opportunities to create positive competitive environments.

Metrics for Social Media: The Net Promoter Score

I did not make it in to this presentation because the room was full when I arrived late, as a result of the shuttle ride between locations.

Ignite SXSW – 2021 Vision of the Future

I took part in the egg drop competition to try to win a Roku. I did not win.
Free quesadillas and nachos were supper for me.
The first few presentations were unimpressive, so I came back to my hotel.

Next Steps for Resurrection Online

Be aware that Resurrection Online is amazing technology to which some people feel entitled.
Be aware that Resurrection Online encourages bilocationality – people trying to be two places at once.
Provide guidance for people to prepare offline for worship online. Some internal preparation may be helpful before you turn on the screen.
Create opportunities for positive competitive environments – best guidance, most faithful next steps, insightful response to scripture or worship, etc.
Investigate http://www.theforgivenessengine.com and http://compassionpit.com

Next Steps for Me

Beware of book readings at conferences.
Visit the 2 Week SXSW Apple Store to take a look at the new iPad.
Pay attention to venues when selecting sessions or workshops – being present at a second choice session is better than missing a first choice session.
There is not a need to do everything at SXSW, at work or home.
Be present.

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Tags: Austin Texas, business, gowalla, Groupon, social media, South by Southwest, SquareSpace, SXSW Interactive, twitter
Categories : ministry, renewing the church

Online Memory of Life at 1000 Memories

21 12 2010

Image representing 1000Memories as depicted in...

Image via CrunchBase

What is an appropriate way to remember someone online after they have died?

You find http://1000memories.com to be a useful tool to recommend to others. Here is a bit from their website:

1000Memories is a new way to remember the life of someone you love. We help you build a space to share photos, record stories, and memories with family and friends. Everyone knows a person in a different way and together, we can create a truly special place to remember a life. It’s absolutely 100% free to use and your memories will be stored here forever.

How do you feel about this?

Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: 1000Memories, death, facebook, Online memorial, relationships, social media, technology, United States
Categories : changing lives, communications

Social Media and US Catholic Bishops

23 11 2010

Image via Wikipedia

The US Catholic Bishops are Urged to Embrace Social Media in Order to Effectively Evangelize ‘Digital Continent’

“Although social media has been around for less than 10 years, it doesn’t have the makings of a fad,” said Bishop Herzog. “We’re being told that it is causing as fundamental a shift in communication patterns and behavior as the printing press did 500 years ago. And I don’t think I have to remind you of what happened when the Catholic Church was slow to adapt to that new technology,” he said, referencing the Protestant Reformation.

“Anyone can create a blog,” he noted. “Everyone’s opinion is valid. And if a question or contradiction is posted, the digital natives expect a response and something resembling a conversation. We can choose not to enter into that cultural mindset, but we do so at great peril to the Church’s credibility and approachability in the minds of the natives, those who are growing up in this new culture. This is a new form of pastoral ministry.”

It is pretty heady stuff to make compare social media to the printing press and possible outcomes similar to the Protestant Reformation. I believe that there is “a new form of pastoral ministry” to be explored and developed.

How do you feel about this comparison and guidance?

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Tags: bishop, Catholic Church, Christianity, Protestant Reformation, social media, United States, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Categories : communications, ministry, renewing the church

10-11-15 Resurrection Online Update

15 11 2010

This week, I put together some roles for serving with Resurrection Online. I am excited about the potential here. Find out more at Resurrection Online Mission + Service. Here is the text from the site:

Resurrection Online is looking for people to be part of building a Christian community online where non religious and nominally religious people are becoming deeply committed Christians. Here are some ways that you can get involved…

Online

If you are in the Kansas City area, you can connect with missions opportunities at www.cor.org/missions. If you are outside the Kansas City area or unable to participate in those opportunities, will you please consider one of the following opportunities to serve?

Facebook Moderator: As a Facebook Moderator, you will read and respond, in a loving way to Facebook messages and ensure all comments are responded to quickly.
Facebook Prayer Partner: As a Prayer Partner you will pray for services while they are live and send daily prayer messages to those connected with the Resurrection Online Facebook page.
Social Media Editor: As a Social Media Editor you will modify eNote and notes from worship to compose social media posts. You will design social media posts to be conversational and include links in posts that allow further exploration on posted content.
Tech Admin: As a Tech Admin, you will upload posts from the Social Media Editors into HootSuite and schedule them for publication.

In Person

If you are in the Kansas City area, you can get connected with opportunities to serve by visiting www.cor.org/missions. If you are living outside the Kansas City area, you may consider serving in person in one of the following ways:

Baking cookies for your neighbors
Donating canned goods to a local food bank
Helping an elderly person with work around their yard or home.

Will you consider ways to bless your neighbors or serve others in your local community? If you are serving God in your community through Resurrection Online will you please mail Pastor Andrew Conard to share your story?

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Tags: facebook, HootSuite, HootSuite - Social Media Dashboard, Marketing and Advertising, missions, prayer, Resurrection Online, service, social media, Social network, twitter
Categories : ministry, united methodist church

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