Quick Notes or calendar updates to your cell phone.
Can use as a to-do list
Can type in things to remember
As I slipped into my car last evening, my cell phone made some new noises. “Who’s calling me I thought” not usually getting calls late on Friday evening. Then I looked at the screen. They were messages from my Google Calendar, recently set up on the mobile tab of the calendar page.
Just set up your phone with a verification code from Google and you will be notified in advance with a reminder message of whatever is on your calendar. Fairly cool tool
Fellow technoministry blogger, Josue Sanchez, created an awesome slide show using animoto, for a project we’re working on using ning. Animoto’s slide show presentation software does pretty much all the work for you. It even puts your slide show to music, or you can choose from different genre’s and musicians.
Ministry Filter
If you are looking for an awesome way to use all the pictures you’ve taken of your youth group, working on something for a family reunion, or wanting to show your church family what your youth group is all about this would be a great way to do it. Its free for short shows and also has a paid business model which produces you an HD quality slide show. I definately recommend that you check it out.
This Washington Post article demonstrates the indefinability of the most recent generations, but links them with the use of technology that separates them from other generations.
Ministry Filter
You might find the answer here as to why tech is important to our church culture, at least one of the answers.
I took a while to get serious about Facebook. I just didn’t see much good in it. Then I came across this pdf book. It changed my mind and I began playing around with the facebook site. If you’ve been a little skeptical about social networking, check out this free ebook. It might make you take a second look at the whole scene. Josue had to work on me for a while before I got interested.
Ministry Filter
Relationships are the stuff of ministry, are they not? Facebook is a great relationship builder in the virtual world. And it spills over into the real world faster than we think. There are a number of ministry uses I can think of and you will too once you get acquainted with the site.
Have you ever seen one of those big non-profit groups that have their own affinity credit card and wished that you could have your ministry partners give back to you in the same way? Have you been denied participation in such a program because your organization is to small? Cardpartner.com claims to be on the side of the little guy, and will help you start an affinity program regardless of your customer base, constituency or membership size.
Ministry Filter
If your ministry or organization relies heavily on member participation and donations this may be a way for you to generate more revenue with an already loyal audience. CardPartner claims “now smaller organizations can create a Visa credit card program for their supporters, receive $50 per active account and a percentage of every purchase made.” Sounds good doesn’t it, but before you jump in and sign up make sure you read through their list of FAQ’s to make sure they’re a proper fit for you.
Social networking is no longer phenomenon, but a part of our culture. As terms like, just facebook me later and I’ll twitter you, are as common as what’s up, and how’s it going. What does this mean for your ministry? Well in some cases if you have a targeted niche and a captive audience you can create a community based around your ideal and common goals. Creating your own social network is also easier than you might think. Their are several white label (off the shelf) platforms available that have a host of features already built in and ready to go.
Ministry Filter
So how do you know if creating a social network is right for you? And which platform do you choose? Well if your mission is targeted at a niche market that is working towards a common goal, chances are a social network may be an option for you. What platform you choose is a bigger question. Based on your technical expertise and design capabilities their are many to choose from. The social network that I am involved with was developed using ning. Ning gave us the options that we were looking for at an affordable price. But I recommend doing some homework and researching the different platforms yourself. TechCrunch developed two charts that list the features and scalability of several white label social networks. In our link section below you can preview the social network I’ve been involved with (theFlow) and check out the tables that were put together by TechCrunch.
Lets pretend that your church board decided to host an awesome community event in your area. Now the question is how do you publicize your event. Well you go through the motions of submitting your event to the local radio stations, community calendars and the like. Well why not try a new approach. Many radio stations accept spots from non-profits. They use them as filler when they are out of commercials and need to fill up dead air space.
Ministry Filter
For only $49 you can get a professionally done radio spot. You can also choose from 56 different voice talents, so you can pick the voice that works for you and the audience of the radio station. It’s a cost affective way to share your message, event and mission with the community. I’ve used VTN several times and have been really happy with the results I’ve gotten.
I think the Poetic Prophet has it right. If you’re interested in improving your site he gives some good advice that you should take to heart. You want to make sure your site has the “stickiness factor” that keeps people coming back.
Links
If the Poetic Prophet was a little fast for you, some of my favorite SEO tools that you can use for free are:
Lets pretend that your church board decided to host an awesome community event in your area. Now the question is how do you publicize your event. Well you go through the motions of submitting your event to the local radio stations, community calendars and the like. Well why not try a new approach. Many radio stations accept spots from non-profits. They use them as filler when they are out of commercials and need to fill up dead air space.