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.

Google still has work to do

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?

Buzz has its place

I do think it will find its place in my life and probably many others. I can already see how it would be beneficial when working with a team on a project. To set up a private conversation that can continue in nested form, would be very helpful. For youth ministers, I could see this being a great tool in communicating with your core team members. I could also see this as being well utilized in communicating amongst staff members.

Open Up!

One thing that Google did not do with Buzz that would make me more likely to use it is to make it more open. As this PC World article points out, it is “open except for when its not.” An open social networking platform is one that allows you to post to other platforms simultaneously. For instance, when I post to Twitter, I can set it up to post directly to my Facebook account at the same time. I can also set Facebook to do the same thing in posting to twitter or other platforms. With Google Buzz, you can’t do that. You can however, post a note to Twitter and it will appear in Google, as well as post a video to YouTube or pictures to Picasa and those will also post to Buzz. Why Google didn’t set it up to go the other way is beyond me. I can only hope that they are moving in that direction.

Buzz operates within Gmail, which is good if you’re like me and your entire life (email, calendar, documents, reader, etc.) is run through Google applications. It makes chatting or commenting on posts that much easier. However, what is not good about that is that you can’t invite non-gmailers into that conversation and since it isn’t an open platform it will not be shared in other social networks.

Other Concerns

A few other sites and bloggers have also raised several privacy concerns. For one, while Google claims you can set your status to be private or public, having a private status essentially means you can’t be a part of any conversations. So, if you are set up as “private” and your friend posts something that is listed as “public” then you will not be able to comment without making your status public. Melissa Wiley has raised some very valid concerns regarding this set up for parents. You can read more about that here. You can find some guidance for setting up privacy settings at MSNBC.

In the end I think Google will figure this all out and find its way into all of our lives with yet another tool. But, they have a long way to go. I’d love to hear how you decide to utilize Buzz and even your initial thoughts. You can post your comments below.

Questions to ponder:

What are some good uses for Buzz that you see down the road?

Can you see this being a valuable tool for ministry?

What concerns would you have about using buzz for ministry (especially with youth)?

Do you plan to use buzz?

Related posts:

1. Guest Post: Why New Media Will Make You Holier
2. Gain Reader Suggestions: Use Skribit
3. Why Should I Invest Time and Money?

One of the main goals that we would like to accomplish on New Media Ministry is to provide youth ministers with some new tools and resources so that they can in turn get to work in implementing these into their ministry. Chris Faddis wrote two weeks ago about the importance of connecting through text messaging, and I hope that many of you have given a shot at trying text messaging in your ministry. If not, read the post and try out the service for free that we recommended.

I wrote a review of a cool product last week called YooStar. YooStar is basically a video kit that allows you to superimpose yourself in the place of some of your favorite characters in videos. This is a great product for creating hype and promotion in your ministry.

I wanted to take a quick look today at a few ways that you can and need to begin utilizing video in your ministries. You might be a little intimidated to try and get involved in ministry because you think cameras are real expensive and editing takes a lot of knowledge, etc. But times and technologies are changing. We’ll cover this later on down the road.

Getting Started

If you’re in ministry of any kind, one of the things I’m almost certain you struggle with at every event is getting people settled and transitioned from gathering and hanging out to getting your event started. In our church, we begin every youth night with dinner. Transitioning from the kids eating and chatting with their friends to actually getting the night going is one of the hardest parts of the night.

Videos are great for filling in this void and easing the transition. Create a short 5-10 minute video skit of something that is loosely tied to your theme for the night. Make it funny and engaging and you’ll have no trouble grabbing the attention of your teens.

Creating Hype

Last week I wrote about Creating Hype in Your Ministry. Utilizing video in your hype strategies can be very beneficial. Teens are going to watch videos, plain and simple. Post it on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, your website. Get it out there and promote it, and teens will probably come to the event. Read the article to learn more.

This is a video our very own Chris Faddis did for our youth group a few weeks ago to promote our semester event.

Recap

Nick wrote recently about the Youth Group Shirt and the importance of having a tshirt for a retreat or big event that you’re putting on. I think the same is true of a recap video. If you go on a weekend retreat, take a camcorder of some sort along with you and piece together some rough clips of a variety of events from that weekend. It doesn’t have to look like the sequel to Avatar, but presenting the option for a teen to remember the experience they had at that event can be a powerful tool to use in helping to prevent what I like to call the Retreat High – where you come back from a retreat or event feeling better and more committed than ever, but a week later you’re back to your normal ways. Giving teens the ability to watch a quick 5 minute video with some footage from that weekend can be very helpful in their individual journey.

Here is a video from a summer retreat that we put together for our teens:

Teaching Tools

Video is the up and coming medium of communication I think in youth ministry. Ever notice how a handful of teens seem to tune you out while someone might be giving a testimony or delivering a message? It’s inevitable that you’re not going to be able to capture the attention of all your teens. Video gives the audience something different to focus on. After listening to the same person over and over for years, they’re going to get tired and bored of you. Sorry to break the bad news. But video keeps minds engaged because they can tell a story much better than you can sometimes because you can only describe an event, place or a person, but a video can actually show them.

So i encourage you to give video a shot in your ministry. Stay tuned over the coming weeks for some more resources helping you with video including products I think you’ll want to take a look at.

Related posts:

1. Creating Hype for Your Ministry
2. Youth Ministry Fun with Yoostar Entertainment System
3. Introducing: Audio/Video/Production Blogs!

Unless you have been living in a soundproof cave for the past few weeks, you are probably well aware that Wednesday was what I like to call another “Stevenote,” or an Apple product launch keynote. There has been tons of hype growing in the interwebs over the last month or so about whether or not Apple will be launching a tablet, what the features will be, pricing, availability, etc. Below, we’ve taken a  a closer look at the hype and how the rumors have resonated on Twitter, YouTube and blogs over the last 30 days. According to data provided by Sysomos, for example, Twitter users sent more than half a million messages – with an average of 6,545 tweets per hour – with both words apple and tablet in them.

Blogs

Sysomos also found almost 50,000 blogs posts. The post that resonated the most in the blogosphere, according to Sysomos’ data, was yesterday’s article on the Guardian’s Technology blog about Terry McGraw leaking information about the tablet on CNBC.

YouTube

In the last 30 days, YouTube users also posted over 5,391 YouTube videos that used the words Apple and tablet. The most popular one was a roundup of tablet rumors from TechnoBuffalo that currently has about 700,000 views.

Sentiment

Overall, the blogosphere’s reaction to the Apple tablet rumors has been extremely positive. Over 81% of all the tweets and blog posts in the past 30 days were positive about the tablet.

What Does This Mean?

Whether it’s a trip to see the summer blockbuster at the movie theater, a Super Bowl party, a youth group trip or even just a youth night, people more times than not respond to the hype not only with extreme interest, but also with their checkbooks. Plus, when you take into consideration the ever-stretched under-funded budgets of youth ministry, hype more times than not costs little to nothing, but can often times have a greater return than any type of true marketing.

Hype is a form of buzz marketing. Hyping a product, service, event, etc. pre-launch creates buzz which also creates curiosity and expectations. Hopefully your followers can write things on Facebook, send out Tweets, talk about it to their friends, and even more. Before you know it the word gets out to multiple people all hearing how great this product, service, event, etc. is, or is expected to be. This gets them excited and they can hardly wait to experience it.

With hype can also come backlash, it often over-inflates expectations. For example if you as a youth minister tell your teens about this great breakfast place you found around town. Over time, you keep telling them it was the best place you had ever been to and that you wanted to organize a group to go and experience its deliciousness. You are in effect building hype and a preconceived notion in your teens minds of this wonderful place that was going to be unlike anything they had ever experienced. Well, often more times than not after you take your group, some of them are going to be let down. It’s not that this place wasn’t any good, it just didn’t meet the expectations that they had set in their own mind based on your hype.

Creating Hype in Your Ministry

So how can I create hype in my ministry? Well, luckily for you, new technologies are changing the way that we can hype products, services, events, etc. and how we can connect with those to whom we minister. From running promotions on Facebook, holding a photo contest or something on Flickr, releasing videos on Youtube, to more, the possibilities are endless.

Whatever you do to create hype around your product service or event, remember and utilize these keys:

• Leak small details
• Give sneak-peaks
• Create marketing pieces that are still vague, yet help promote your event such as a logo to be used on downloadable Wallpapers and Icons, etc.

The overall key to generating hype is to give small bits of information over a period of time. You want to “wet their chops” per say and keep them coming back for more. You want them to yearn to know what it is. The emphasis needs to be on releasing details about whatever it is you’re hyping over time.

Related posts:

1. Utilize Video in Your Ministry
2. Connect through Text: Part I
3. Connect Thru Text: Part II

Today we continue our series on the site called “Where to Start?” Where to Start? is a step by step series that helps you build a website from scratch on your own by giving you a variety of options to choose from.

Follow the Series Step by Step:

1. Picking Your Site’s Backend
2. Why Use Wordpress?
3. Picking a Host
4. Picking the Perfect Theme
5. Publishing Your Website

Now What?

So you’ve spent a few hours working on setting up your new WordPress blog. You’re now (hopefully) more motivated than ever to get your site up and running to help manage your ministry and put some resources online. But there are still some things to do before you’re ready to go.

We’ve put together a quick run through of some things to work on before launching your site. As always, if you have any questions, give us a shout in the comments.

1. Add Categories: Add the categories for your blog. Remember to keep it neat and add not more than 15-20 categories. This helps to organize your site as your amount of content grows over time.
2. Add an About Page: An about page is one of the most important pages of a site because readers need to know about the person who’s site they are reading and what the site is about.
3. Install All In One SEO Pack: Install the latest version of All In One SEO Pack WordPress plugin and optimize your new site from the beginning itself. Remember to visit the plugin’s option page.
4. Customize Permalink Structure: Choose a good Permalink Structure and stick with it. Here are some examples of good Permalinks: /%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/%postname%/ /%postname%/ If you change your permalink structure after you have been linked by other sites, those links won’t work anymore. So remember to stick with the Permalink Structure you chose in the beginning. We use the /%postname%/ permastructure here on New Media Ministry, which allows posts to show up as “http://www.newmediaministry.com/nameofthepost”
5. Create a FeedBurner feed for your site: Login to FeedBurner and create a FeedBurner feed for your new site
6. Install the FeedBurner FeedSmith plugin: The FeedBurner FeedSmith plugin detects all ways to access your original WordPress feeds and redirects them to your FeedBurner feed so you can track every possible subscriber
7. Put a RSS button on your blog: Choose an RSS button and put it on your site linking it to your FeedBurner feed
8. Start Writing: What’s a website without content? Start writing content for various pages!
9. Install the Google Sitemaps plugin: This plugin will generate a sitemaps.org compatible sitemap of your WordPress site which is supported by Ask.com, Google, MSN Search and YAHOO. Download the latest version of the plugin from here.
10. Add your Sitemap to Google Webmaster Tools: Add your new site to Google Webmaster Tools and then your sitemap too. Once you add your site, you will be able to find when Googlebot last successfully accessed your home page, web crawl errors, etc.
11. Set preferred domain: Select your site from your Google Webmaster Tools dashboard and set your preferred domain (with or without www) by going to Tools>Set preferred domain.
12. Install Akismet plugin: Download and install Akismet plugin to catch comment spam. Akismet has caught 200 spam comments on this site in the last 3 weeks since we launched.
13. Add a Contact form: Install a plugin that adds a contact form to your blog so that your readers can get in touch with you. We use C Forms WordPress Plugin.
14. Install Google Analytics: Google Analytics is a great free way to check your site traffic. Signup for a free Google Analytics account, install this plugin, configure it for your site, and then voila, you’ll be able to track who all comes to your site.

Experience WordPress users: Have I missed anything? If so, give me a shout below and let me know!

Related posts:

1. Where Do I Start? – Why Use Wordpress
2. Where Do I Start? – Picking the Perfect Theme
3. Where Do I Start? – Picking a Host

I need some background on YOU (the readers) so that I can keep my blogs relevant (forgive me if I’ve been focusing on ideas/topics that are not)!

A couple questions:

1. What programs do you use to design your fliers/info cards/retreat shirts/etc.?
2. What topics are important to you?
3. Where do you need the most help in the design process? Picking fonts? Layout? Color choices?
4. Anything else? Just let me know!

I appreciate any and all feedback.

Chat with you soon!

Related posts:

1. The Youth Group Shirt
2. New Color Trends to Watch
3. A Picture – err, Design… Really is Worth a Thousand Words

Here’s an excerpt from that article:

Utilizing Texting for Ministry

So, as a person involved in ministry at the parish level, or even on a national level – how do you take advantage of this technology and leverage it to help as you evangelize those in your ministry?

Streamline using a service

If you want to get serious about communicating effectively with people involved in your ministry then you need to look at options that will help you be efficient. There are numerous options out there for “text messaging services” or “broadcast SMS services”. These are online services that you can subscribe to to send out your text messages to groups – whether its ten people or 10,000 people all at one time. This is by far the best way to maximize your reach and streamline your messaging.

What we recommend

As I mentioned in that post I have tried out a few of the services available for “group SMS”, or “broadcast text” and I have found what I think is the best bang for the buck.

It is a small company based out of Seattle called, Tatango, run by CEO Derek Johnson, who is more connected to his customers than any CEO I’ve ever heard of.  So far I have found Tatango to be a clean, efficient and easy service and to be honest they have proven to have one of the best customer service approaches I have ever seen.

True SMS to SMS

One of the major benefits of Tatango is that it is a true SMS to SMS service. Many other services out there use an email to SMS platform which creates problems in that many messages will not get to the contact and according one source could be violating certain carriers terms of service. Utilizing a true SMS platform means your contacts will get their text and it can reply to that text which will then go straight to your phone.

Get Started for Free

Tatango is a very user friendly and clean customer interface and makes it easy to set up and use. You can set up your own Tatango account in about 2 minutes flat and there is even a “try it for free” option which allows you a 30-Day trial.

Tatango is a monthly pay as you go service too, so lets say you pay for it for one month and realize you just don’t use it enough – no harm, no foul. Simply cancel at anytime. Or, let’s say you just need it for a specific purpose – like perhaps you have a major event coming up or you want to offer a “lent devotional text message” to your blog subscribers and you only need it for that time frame, simple – sign up, and cancel when you’re done.

Create Groups

Once you have set up your account you will be prompted to create a group. You can create as many groups as you’d like. Let’s say you are a youth minister and you want a group for middle school, for high school, and for parents. It’s as simple as clicking the “create group” icon and putting a group name in. Be sure to keep your group name short as that will take up some of your 160 characters in each Text message. Or, let’s say you want to use this service for several ministries in your parish, you can simply set up a group for each ministry that will use the service and assign people as the group contact.

NOTE: It is important that your group name is something that is identifiable by your contacts as this is what identifies who is sending the message and you want them to not assume that this is a junk text. So pick a name that they will recognize.

Each group you set up will get it’s own keyword that people can use to register for your text’s, but you also can set up specific keywords for your groups (see more on this below).

Adding Contacts is Easy

Once you’ve created your group you’re now ready to add your contacts so that you can begin sending messages. There are three ways to do this.

Using the Import Tool

The import tool allows you to manually enter contacts. If you have your group already set up in a spreadsheet or other database, you can also simply copy their information and enter it. What I did was to put the name of the person and the cell phone number right next to each other in a spreadsheet and then copied the columns and pasted them right into the import box, it was as simple as that. You will be give a prompt asking you to ensure that you obtained this information legally and also a chance to confirm the information before it is saved.  (The import tool is not available in the free-trial version.)

Keyword Sign-Up

The most attractive piece of the group SMS service is the opportunity to set up a custom “keyword” that your contacts can use to sign up for text updates from you. Depending on which plan you purchase – you will have a certain number of customizable keywords. This is in addition to the generic keyword that you get for free with each group. You will want to pick keywords that are easy to remember and to let people know. We made our keywords, “LIFETEEN” for our high school Life Teen group, and LEOEDGE for our middle school EDGE group. Then you simply give your teens the number to text “68398″ is our number and have them text your keyword. This automatically subscribes them to your messages.

IDEA: One of the things I like best about this feature is the ability to run little contests to get them to sign up. So to kick off our EDGE group and get the kids signed up, at the beginning of a night I said, text LEOEDGE to 68398 to win a gift card (or cd, you name the prize). Then I go to my office during the night, look at the numbers that registered and pick one at random. That kid wins.

You also can post this keyword info in your parish bulletin to let people know how to get information, which is a great way to reach people who perhaps have not gotten involved quite yet.

Web Link

You will also have the option of embedding a logo on your webpage that invites people to join your group, or you can paste the URL link into emails or web posts that invites people to sign up. This feature is a great one because it allows people to not only register their info, but actually gives them a chance to enter their name – which the keyword feature does not allow.

I have added this link to all of my outgoing email blasts as well.

Manage your group easily

Once you have some contacts uploaded you are ready to begin sending our information, inspiration, or whatever you desire to use this service for. In the ‘Overview’ Section of your group page you’ll be able to see your subscribers and who joined or left the group, etc. You can then click on contacts to see more detailed info and even to send a text to one individual.

You are also able to create subgroups within each group. For instance if you have teens that are in a leadership role or a bible study group within the larger group, you could set that up as a sub-group which would allow for an easy communication tool with your group.

Start Sending

Sending your message is very easy. Simply click, ’send message’, enter your text, and click send. You are limited to 160 characters (including your group name) when sending group SMS, and the send tool will show you how much room you have left.

There is also a feature to send a message directly from your phone. “Send your group message to the phone number provided by Tatango, starting the body of the message with the # symbol.  Have more then one group? Follow the instructions above and Tatango will send you a message prompting you to select which group you would like to send your message to.”

It is such a simple process and so easy that I don’t know why I wasn’t using group SMS in my ministry much sooner! It is so easy now to get the word out about a last minute event or a schedule change or cancellation.

Great Customer Support

Tatango does a great job with customer support. CEO, Derek Johnson recently revamped the department, hiring a community manager who has the duty of connecting with every single one of their groups and responding to all customer needs quickly. They are quick to respond and very attentive to your needs.

In fact just last week I was getting a failure error on the site repeatedly, the error message said they were aware of the problem, but just to be sure I sent a support ticket. I had a response within five minutes telling me that the engineer was working on the problem and it would be back up soon. I also noticed a post from the CEO on twitter that night, “it’s 11pm and everyone is still at work.” They made sure the issue was dealt with before they could go home.

If you don’t believe me, send them a message. You will be given not only a phone number to reach them at but the cell phone of the person you are in contact with. In fact, even the CEO of the company will give you his cell phone number.

Pricing

Tatango offers four different pricing structures, which will allow you to enter a cost you can afford and of course you can easily upgrade as you feel like your need grows. We started with the basic plan and have upgraded to expand our use to other areas.

We are excited that Tatango has offered NewMediaMinistry.com a very special discount code to share with our readers. Click here to take advantage of a 25% off coupon – this is only good for the next 30 days so hurry! The coupon code is: L84V3QKK – you can enter it at check out.

We hope you’ll give group SMS a try. We obviously like Tatango a lot, but if you find another option that fits your needs better, by all means give it a try and let us know how it works for you.

Oh, and don’t forget to join our NewMedia SMS Group by texting “NEWMEDIA” to 68398. We’ll be sending out special announcements, and invitations to special online events like our upcoming Ustream broadcast.

Related posts:

1. Connect through Text: Part I
2. Creating Hype for Your Ministry
3. Raise Money via Texting

Text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross relief efforts in #haiti.

Well, I was immediately intrigued seeing this. The outpouring of support over the last 48 hours has been tremendous. According to the American Red Cross, $5 Million has been donated to Haitian Relief Efforts. This is an incredible use of New Media tools. I would be curious to see the statistical breakdown of the people who supported, whether they were mostly adults or teens, male or female, etc. My hunch, is that the majority of donaters tended to age from 13-30.

If for some reason you haven’t seen these messages going around and want to get involved, here are two main efforts that you can support:

1.  Text “haiti” to 90999

This will send a $10 donation to the Red Cross, through an effort backed by the U.S. State Department. Funds will go to support American Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti.

2. Text “Yele” to 501501

This will automatically donate $5 to the Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund. Yele is “a grassroots movement that builds global awareness for Haiti while helping to transform the country through programs in education, sports, the arts and environment.”

Utilize in Your Ministries

After seeing this phenomenon, I was curious to find out what types of services are out there that allow you to fundraise via texting. The guys over at MediaSalt sent a Tweet out earlier today to a post they wrote highlighting what they claimed to be the best company, mGive. mGive is also the company that the Red Cross is utilizing to handle their fundraising.

Fundraising Ideas

Earlier today, Chris wrote a post about the importance and need to connect through texting. One of the main roles that you play as a minister is finding a way to fund all of the ideas and activities that you would like to do to help teens grow in their faith. mGive is a wonderful tool to help you in this daily struggle.

I encourage you to give fundraising though texting a try. Use it to raise money for your next retreat or to help buy things for your youth group. Encourage people to make a small $5 donation via their cell phones. Donations are made by using your mobile phone’s text messaging service and the charge is automatically added to their monthly phone bill. Not only will you build a nice list of supporters phone numbers, but you can potentially raise a lot of money. There are a lot of people out there who would be happy to donate something so small as $5 or $10.

If you do give it a shot, come back and let us know how you did. Did it work for you? If not, why not?

Related posts:

1. Why Should I Invest Time and Money?
2. Connect through Text: Part I

Text Messaging

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.

There is no doubt that text messaging is the communications wave of the future. Any parent can tell you that if they call their teen, they are more likely to get a text message back then an answer or return call.

It is not all that different for adults. While adults are less likely to have a drawn out conversation through text, many would say they would prefer to respond to simple phone calls through text or email.

Do a little case study of your own.

• Pick five adults and five teens, call each of them and leave a message asking for a return call.
• Then pick five more teens and five more adults and text them the same message asking for a response.
• Record the times you called or text messaged, and then record their response time.

I’d love to hear what response times you got. My guess would be that you will get a response at least ten times faster through text and that at least a few of the “phone call group” would text back rather then call you.

I have learned as a youth minister that I am waisting my time to call a bunch of teens to invite them to something or get the word out about an event, and even just to chat. My time is much better spent sending them a quick text or a message on facebook.

Utilizing Texting for Ministry

So, as a person involved in ministry at the parish level, or even on a national level – how do you take advantage of this technology and leverage it to help as you evangelize those in your ministry?

Use your own phone?

Sure you could use your own phone, but that means you either have to add members manually each time you text or you have to keep everyone in your ministry as a contact in your cell phone. Some do this and they are fine with it. This will work best if you have a good smartphone or a phone that can categorize your contacts in an efficient way. Still though, depending on your phone it can get mundane trying to send out your message. You also have to watch out for sending limits, some phone carriers limit the number of texts that can be sent at one time.

Streamline using a service

If you want to get serious about communicating effectively with people involved in your ministry then you need to look at options that will help you be efficient. There are numerous options out there for “text messaging services” or “broadcast SMS services”. These are online services that you can subscribe to to send out your text messages to groups – whether its ten people or 10,000 people all at one time. This is by far the best way to maximize your reach and streamline your messaging. Using a service such as this will allow you to not only communicate with those already in your reach but to expand. If you are finding that texting has worked great with your teens, what if you took this to your parish as an idea to do for the entire community?

Using a service will allow you to effectively connect with groups large or small and give you an easy way to allow people to subscribe to your updates.

Ideas for Utilizing Text in Ministry

There are no doubt numerous ways to utilize text messaging as an evangelization tool. Here are a few ideas to get your mind rolling:

• As a fast and easy way to update your community about upcoming events, or last minute changes.
• Start a prayer chain that allows community members to text their requests which can then be forwarded to the prayer chain in an instant.
• Remind parishioners about a special collection, or a Holy day of Obligation, or a parish fundraiser.
• Remind your teens about upcoming youth group events, or invite them out to a spontaneous dinner.
• Share scripture quotes or inspiring messages on a regular basis to help your community grow closer to Christ.
• Start a text service sharing inspiring quotes from great writers. People can subscribe to your service and you can set a regular schedule for sending them out.
• Send prayer reminders to attendees on a retreat the week after to help them keep going in their journey and remind them of the great weekend.
• Run contests or games using text messaging with your youth group. You can do a “fastest texter” contest on a bus trip, or a text only trivia game. (If you are using a service this is very easy and a great way to get them used to using your customized number that you will receive from your SMS service)
• Use your personalized number as your contact for teens instead of your personal phone. Many Diocese and Churches have made it a policy that youth ministers and volunteers are not allowed to use personal cell phones to contact youth due to their safe environment policies. If you are using a service you would be able to use the number you are given as a way for teens to text you while keeping in the policies of your church.

Who do we recommend?

Okay, so of course now you’re probably Googling “broadcast SMS” to find a good service and you are probably overwhelmed by the choices and the prices. We have done the research and have found what we think is the best SMS service for your ministry buck.

TATANGO

No, I didn’t just stutter, it is called Tatango, and it is a very easy to use Broadcast SMS interface that I personally use in my ministry. In my next post I am going to walk you through Tatango and show you why I think it is such a great service. In the meantime, if you don’t feel like waiting you can check it out for yourself. There are no contracts and you can try it out for free if you’d like or pay for one month and cancel if you do not like it. Or come back tomorrow to read more before you buy. (You can read part II here)

The guys here at www.newmediaministry.com have secured a 15% discount just for our readers. Click here to sign up and simply enter the code “L84OTQCK” at check out to receive your discount.

UPDATE: A fellow youth minister asked me if this Tatango thing was legit, he is concerned with entering his teens information and then suddenly they start getting spammed. This is a very valid concern. I can assure you that Tatango does not give out your list. I also can assure you that your text will be professional looking and your subscribers will be impressed. To prove it to you I’d like you to text NEWMEDIA to 68398 and wait for my reply text. Or you can click this link below, enter your info and I’ll text you back to show you how it looks.

Related posts:

1. Connect Thru Text: Part II
2. Raise Money via Texting
3. Learning How to Communicate Your Message In a Very Loud World

And that’s the REAL issue – staying competitive in your approach considering the vast amount of media intake the average person consumes on a daily basis. Here are a few statistics from a recent study at Ball State University:

• About 30 percent of the observed waking day was spent with media as the sole activity versus 20.8 percent for work activity, while an additional 39 percent of the day was spent with media while involved in some other activity.
• While television is still by far the dominant medium in terms of the time average Americans spend daily with media at 240.9 minutes, the computer has emerged as the second most significant media device at about 120 minutes.
• About 30 percent of all media time is spent exposed to more than one medium at a time
• Use of the Web, e-mail and phones is substantially higher on Fridays than any other day of the week.

Your audience of teens, young adults, and (yes even parents) are inundated daily by media. Television, the Internet, and cell phones dictate the schedules, experiences, and thought processes of the people of God. Look at the statistics! 69 percent of the day is spent involved in some type of media and at least 2 hours a day is spent on the Internet. Whether or not we like to admit it, it is essential to “live in the world, but not of it.” As of 2010, this means learning how to talk to your audience through mediums that they’re using 70 percent of the time.

Here at New Media Ministry, our goal is to shed some light on the ever-growing and ever-changing world of digital media and how it can be utilized to spread the Gospel and teachings of the Church. We will be breaking open Social Media networking, the use of web applications like WordPress, and the need for good design aesthetics in order to promote ministry and new opportunities.

We look forward to getting to know you and we are excited to share in the journey of NewMediaMinistry.com. Come back soon!

Related posts:

1. Why Should I Invest Time and Money?
2. Connect through Text: Part I
3. Creating Hype for Your Ministry