If you are a GMail user, you most likely have seen a new little icon pop up on your menu bar for “Buzz” – or perhaps logged on and got a pop up message about setting up “Buzz”.
So what is Google Buzz exactly and how is it supposed to improve my life? Is it the same as “wave” or something entirely different? Many friends asked, “So is this like “Facebook News-feed” in Gmail?”
Well, the answer to all of those is yes and no.
Buzz is essentially both a “micro-blogging” and “chat” tool all in one. You can post news and updates to buzz just like Twitter or Facebook, or you can post your thought for the day, pictures, videos, links, etc. It is entirely up to you. You can make your posts public or private and even set up private groups to have a threaded conversation. Buzz can pull in updates from other social networking sites like Twitter, YouTube, and Picasa. It also will automatically share your “shared items” from Google Reader.
While Google is obviously doing its best to compete with services like Twitter and Facebook, it has a long way to go before Buzz will be much of a comparable option. Personally I am not sure how much time I have for yet another service to help me social network. I already use Google Chat, Facebook, and Twitter, plus run three websites and co-manage another. How do you find time to have real conversations when trying to manage all of these virtual ones?
I have been in ministry for twelve years now. Most of that time has been spent working in parish youth ministry. One of the best things about parish ministry is the long term investment in people’s lives. Getting to know not only teens, but families and watching them grow. It is amazing how time and presence can lead to some incredibly life-giving relationships. I still am in touch with so many of these teens and families from over the years, and while I wish I would have been a little better at keeping in touch with more of those beautiful people that I’ve encountered I am ever grateful for those who I have been able to keep in touch with.
As a Catholic speaker it is very different. You go into a parish or event, you spend a couple hours, or maybe a day or two with a community and hopefully inspire and enliven their community. Then, you leave. Sometimes you come back, but most times you don’t. I often felt a bit of guilt going into a community and then leaving with no way of keeping in communication. I would leave a community and feel a longing to keep in touch, to leave behind something to help them continue the journey. Some communities didn’t need that because they had vibrant ministries going on to serve the people, they just needed a little spark or spiritual boost. For some communities, they didn’t have much going on in the way of active ministry for teens or adults. Often, this was the only retreat they got. I often wondered about the teens and adults that I would meet at these events, those who came forward for prayer or wrote to me later. I often wondered how they were, where they were, and if they were still on the journey.
Every where you look people are text messaging. In fact, Americans on average send 357 text messages per month versus 204 cell phone calls. Those numbers are higher when the cell phone user gets younger. 72% of Americans have a paid for text messaging package on their cell phone which equates to 203 million people. Almost 60% of cell phone users who are 13 years old + are considered regular text message users. In another study 42% of teens indicated that they could text message blindfolded. The same study also revealed that a majority of teens preferred text to talking on the phone because it allows them to multi-task.
In the year 2000…
10 Years ago, I was in my second Parish youth ministry post at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Tempe, AZ. It was my first post as Director of YM and my second full time job in youth ministry. At the time I was “cutting edge”:
* I purchased $300 database software that helped me manage my teens information and contact them in what seemed like cool ways. Email was the best way to get the word out to teens.
* I was online – using AIM constantly. Teens would contact me all the time to chat – many of those conversations turned into some serious discussions which turned into phone calls or face to face time, praying together.
* I created cool fliers weekly to get the word out.
* Relational ministry was the way to go. Hanging out with teens, taking them to eat, having drop in times at the parish center or office.
10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
We wanted to do a live, online launch with champagne, special guests, a live concert, and a ball drop – but figured we’d spare the expense. Instead we settled for that little countdown above. Hope it was everything you hoped for.
Welcome to NewMediaMinistry.com!
On behalf of Matt Brown and Nick Heller – the co-founders of this site I want to thank you for stopping by.
NewMediaMinistry.com is a site dedicated to offering you insight and resources on how to effectively utilize new media for the new evangelization. Whether you are a youth minister, parish formation director, Priest, Pastor, Music Minister, blogger, speaker, radio personality, writer – we hope we can be of service in helping you learn how to use the numerous tools and resources now available to us through social media.
