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Top 10 social media sites

November 14, 2009 in Social Media

According to comScore, the top 10 social media sites in Australia (as at June 2009) were:

1. Facebook
2. MySpace
3. Windows Live Profile
4. Bebo
5. Twitter
6. DeviantArt
7. Digg
8. Tagged
9. Buzznet
10. Orkut

According to seomoz.org, the top 10 social media sites in the world are:

1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. LinkedIn
4. Wikipedia
5. MySpace
6. Digg
7. YouTube
8. StumbleUpon
9. Reddit
10. Yelp

Which of these social media sites do you use most often, and why?

15+ resources to learn more about social media

November 14, 2009 in Social Media

Thanks to all who attended my seminar at the Create Conference today – ‘What is social media, and why should I care’? As promised, here are 15+ resources to learn more about social media. It’s certainly not a definitive list – consider it more of a collection of interesting resources I’ve discovered over the past 12 months:

  1. The history and evolution of social media. Excellent article exploring how social media evolved, and the different ways social media has been and is being used.
  2. Social media in Plain English – a great explanatory video for the tech-novices, from the inspiring folk at Common Craft.
  3. Social Media Counts – a visual ‘counter’ illustrating how much new social media content is generated, in real-time.
  4. The Social Media Guide – lots of interesting posts on social media.
  5. 5 Ways Social Media is Changing Our Daily Lives – I don’t want to overstate its importance, but social media is changing our lives in lots of ways.
  6. Twitter Guidebook – Mashable has put together a helpful guide to Twitter.
  7. 19 Twitter desktop apps compared – if you’ve decided Twitter is for you, check out different platforms for tweeting.
  8. 10 Twitter tools for effectively managing your followers – this one is perhaps for the more advanced (obsessed?) users.
  9. 10 things social media can’t do – it’s always good to keep some perspective! For fun, check out 10 things you need to stop tweeting about!
  10. Compassion using Twitter to get kids sponsored – a post I wrote about an innovative use of Twitter.
  11. 101 social media sites – a good list, plus check out the top 25.
  12. Responding to the internet revolution – two compelling videos with some mind-boggling stats on the use of social media.
  13. Top 10 most popular social media sites in Australia – plus lots of other interesting links.
  14. 15 ways for churches (and ministries) to use Twitter – the fourth most popular post on Communicate Jesus!
  15. How to organise an event on Facebook – another helpful guide by Mashable. Check out their collection of social media lists and resources.

Have you come across other resources that you’ve found helpful? Share them with us!

Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it

July 31, 2009 in Social Media

I’ve now heard several times “I don’t get Twitter. It just seems to just be a website that displays your Facebook status updates”. If Twitter was just a place to display Facebook status updates, I can assure you, I wouldn’t be mildly interested! Afterall, if I just wanted Facebook updates, wouldn’t I just use Facebook?

However, to be fair, these comments are usually made out of ignorance. People haven’t used , but have already decided they know what it’s about, and have made up their mind that it’s no good. This doesn’t make sense to me.

  • If you told me that North African food was no good, but that you had never tried it, I’d tell you to go to Kazbah in Balmain and then give me your opinion on North African food.
  • If you told me that coffee was no good, but that you’d never tried it, I’d tell you to go to Campos in Newtown and then give me your opinion on coffee.
  • If you told me that going to the snow is boring, I’d tell you to go to Whistler and then give me your opinion on a visit to the snow.

You see, to write something off without even trying it is just nonsensical. Particularly when others can testify to the goodness of what you have written-off.

So here’s my challenge for tech-knockers. Give it a go before critiquing it!

  • Try out Twitter for three months. See how others use it for ministry. Put your brain to work to consider all the ways you could exploit Twitter for ministry and to make Jesus name known. If, after three months, you think Twitter has little usage for your ministry – that’s ok! But at least you can say that you gave it a go, did an honest appraisal and came to an educated conclusion that it’s not for you.
  • Try an online calendar for three months (read first ‘10 reasons to throw out your paper diary‘!) Experiment with it. Persevere with it. Hit the bottom of the learning curve and pedal hard until you reach the top. If, after three months, you think a paper diary is going to best suit your needs – great! But at least you can say that you tried both, and settled on the best option for you.

What’s the moral of the story? Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it!

Harness Twitter for post-Sunday communication

May 21, 2009 in Social Media

The world is in a flutter over Twitter. People are using Twitter to stay in touch with celebrities and politicians (Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull are on Twitter), to network within their industry, to report on events as they progress, and to provide updates to groups of select (i.e. interested) people. Twitter is an interesting phenomenon – here’s how it works:

  1. Sign up for a free Twitter account.
  2. Search for people you know or would like to follow and click ‘follow’. From then on, each time they send an update (known as a ‘tweet’) you will receive the tweet in your account.
  3. Each tweet is no more than 140 characters (i.e. 20 characters less than a text message).
  4. Each time you send a tweet, anyone who is following you will receive the tweet in their account.

There are some unique advantages to Twitter:

  • Limiting tweets to 140 characters forces users to keep their updates short, sharp and to the point.
  • It avoids the extra fluff that is common on Facebook – Twitter only provides text updates, so there are no games, poking nor all the other useless applications that seem to thrive on Facebook.
  • It’s a simple way to learn what others are doing (e.g. what other ministries are involved in) without the need to regularly check their website or sign up for a newsletter.
  • It’s easy to provide a link to extra information that can’t fit within the 140 character limit.
  • It’s a useful method for sending and receiving to-the-minute updates in a way that isn’t possible apart from a phone call or SMS. For example, I just received this tweet from Malcolm Turnbull – “Getting ready to speak at the National Press Club, you can watch it live on the ABC.”

I’m always keen to explore how new technologies might be used to advance God’s kingdom, and bring Him glory. So, a couple of weeks ago I set up a Twitter account for church, to send updates to whoever is interested. Here are some examples of the messages (‘tweets’) Church by the Bridge has sent to its ‘followers’:

Bible talks from the weekend are now available on our website – http://www.cbtb.org.au/media/bibletalks

Struggling to forgive? Six goals of Satan in getting you to hold grudges – http://www.cbtb.org.au/news

Prayer meeting at church tonight at 8pm. “The best thing about prayer is who you get to be with when you pray” – Ben Patterson

1 Timothy 2:1-4 – a great encouragement to pray. Thanks to Des and Suzie’s group for leading us in prayer and praise tonight.

Inspired to pray for world mission? Check out Operation World – http://www.operationworld.org/

Read ahead for Saturday and Sunday night services – Exodus 34:29-35 and 2 Corinthians 3.

As with most technologies, Twitter is taking its time to warm up in Australia. But as you can see, Twitter has great potential for ministry throughout the week – reminding people about upcoming events, encouraging people to pray and read the Bible, and  pointing people to useful resources.

Could this be time for you to create a Twitter account and start experimenting with this tool for the benefit of God’s people? Can you think of other ways Twitter might be used for ministry?

Interested in learning more?

Tomorrow…

Stay tuned tomorrow as we explore some “Tools for Twittering”.

The dos and don’ts of Facebook

December 12, 2008 in Social Media

Over at the Gospel and Culture Project, Justin Buzzard has written a great article with nine ways not to use Facebook, and six ways to use Facebook to love God and others, and to care for your own soul. Read Redeeming Social Life Online here.

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