In celebration of the newly released ProPresenter version 4, I wanted to take a few minutes and introduce everyone to the incredibly powerful and user-friendly lyric presentation software that’s being used in churches and ministries around the nation. However, in order to understand the ease of use and power behind ProPresenter, it’s important to know what the alternative could be or has been, and how ProPresenter has solved many of the problems of the past.

Printouts, dual computer systems, and a ton of mistakes. . .

For the past seven years I’ve been involved in lyric presentations for worship in some way, shape, or form. I started in the early 2000’s helping with XLT, a weekly prayer gathering for teenagers from parishes all over the Diocese. Way back then (when AOL was still cool) we were using Microsoft Powerpoint. At that time, Powerpoint hadn’t begun to utilize ‘Presenter Mode’ yet and when you were in the middle of a presentation, you weren’t able to see forward or back to know what lyric slide was coming next. This made operating the presentation and being accurate nearly impossible. Not only would you have to know each song being sung inside and out, but you’d have to be familiar enough with the lyric slides to know how much of the next line, verse, chorus, etc. was on the next slide. Timing was difficult and mistakes were abundant.

Before I came on to help, the initial solution for this problem was to save a final copy of the full presentation and print out all of the slides in Powerpoint. There was also a master excel spreadsheet – in alphabetical order – with the corresponding slide numbers that would need to be referenced initially and then the first slide number inputted to jump to that slide. The only way to know which slide you were on was to number them in a color just lighter than the background and to reference that against the book-sized printout of slides to know what was coming next. For the tools given to them, the guys running the lyrics presentation did an excellent job. That being said, it was a cumbersome and frustrating process that allowed for very little flexibility to include or delete any of the slides during the presentation. We finally upgraded our process about six months later. Instead of printouts and spreadsheets, we included a second laptop that had an identical lyric presentation file saved to it. Instead of cross-referencing the spreadsheet and following along on the printout, we were able to use the secondary computer as a guide for the primary. This increased accuracy and timing, but it didn’t fix everything. This continued to be our mode of operation for the next couple of years, but we weren’t able to progress much further using Powerpoint as our main presentation software.

A breath of fresh air.

Many of you are most likely familiar with the Passion movement in the Christian church (and if you’re not, check out www.268generation.com for details). If you’re familiar with the Passion movement and the Passion conferences, then you’re most likely also aware of their progressive and technically advanced worship presentations. Many ministries follow the lead of Passion in ministry and worship presentation – including several that I’ve been a part of. In 2006, I was able to attend one of their conferences in Nashville and was introduced to ProPresenter and ProVideoPlayer by Renewed Vision and in 2007, it became the primary presentation software for the Matt Maher band. Impressed by it’s quick learning curve, multiple features, and powerful performance, we immediately knew that it would become the fore runner of worship presentations around the country and were excited to get to know the program.

Over the past 3 years, I’ve used ProPresenter on over 500 occasions, in both small (20 people) and large (100,000+ people) formats, and for concerts, talks, presentations and more. ProPresenter is incredibly versatile and has virtually endless possibilities. With that being said, let’s take a look at a few of the key features:

Getting Started

*Note: For the sake of this blog, I’ll be referencing ProPresenter 3, but if you’re interested in what’s new about ProPresenter 4, check it out here.*

Getting to know the user interface is the biggest change from a Powerpoint or Keynote type platform. Because ProPresenter is used solely as a lyric presenter, the interface doesn’t have different views, just different frames with the varying parts of the program.

As you can see, the layout is quite different. In the top left is the Program Screen. Across the top half is the Foreground Element window and below that the Background Element window. It is important to think of these two windows as layers in your presentation. The foreground element will ALWAYS be layered over your background element. Lyrics will always be in the foreground and the background is reserved for pictures, videos, or graphic loops to liven up the presentation.

Click to Enlarge

Following the windows clockwise, you’ll see a notifications window where messages can be typed in at any time and shown at any time if necessary. *Note: this message will ALWAYS supersede the other elements. If lyrics are being presented, the notification message will layer over the top anyway.* Above the notifications is the Playlist Window and above that is the Lyrics Library. As song are added into your library, you can drag and drop them into a playlist to create a specific list of songs to pick from. Much like a playlist on iTunes, this creates a filtered list of songs to select from, keeping you from having to search through the entire library to find your songs.

To Be Continued

I could continue to open up and explain ProPresenter, but the truth is there’s just TOO much for one post! Next time We’ll focus on the process necessary to open the program, load the library, load the background elements, and create playlists. If you’d like to follow along, I believe you can still demo Version 3 through Renewed Vision’s website: http://www.renewedvision.com/downloads/ProPresenter3.5.5.dmg. The demo is fully functional, with the exception of a watermark that exists on the Program screen. This will go away if you decide to purchase the software. Also available for download is the brand new version 4 here: http://www.renewedvision.com/downloads/ProPresenter4_b3479.dmg.

Related posts:

1. Introducing: Audio/Video/Production Blogs!
2. Readers Poll: What Software Are You Using?
3. An Interview with a Pro: Jayme Braun – Audio Engineer

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?

Hello readers and friends,

It’s been a few weeks since I last surfaced here at NMM.com. Please, forgive me. It’s been a CRAZY hectic time in my life (my wife and I bought a house, I’ve been knee deep in work for the Cardinals even though its the off-season, school is back in session, various other design projects are stacking up on my plate, etc…sigh… that’s alot!). I am VERY excited to be back with you and am also excited to bring you the newest installment to my contribution to the new media ministry blogisphere.

Drum roll please!….

Oh, that’s right. You probably already read the title! Welcome to the Audio/Visual & Production side of my blogs!

I’ve got some great segments in store. Everything from quick lessons, and video tutorials… interviews with guests who lead in the industry of Christian music and presentations (on the production side of course. No interviews with Chris Tomlin YET), as well as reference guides and some tips from my experience over the past 5 years, there will be PLENTY to talk about.

I’m excited to share this part of my life and most especially the passion I have for creating quality and memorable moments in ministry settings that can be achieved through A/V & Production skills. Please check back often over the next few weeks. Loads of new content/interviews/information will be coming your way.

I need YOUR help.

Leave me a comment. Or have the guy/gal who volunteers to run the sound board at your church for your service or mass… have him/her leave a comment. I want to know what you all need help with, would like to hear about, or have recommended to you. Comments are a great help in preparing topics and blogs that fit the need of you – our most important readers.

Thanks again and God’s peace.

Related posts:

1. An Interview with a Pro: Jayme Braun – Audio Engineer
2. Gain Reader Suggestions: Use Skribit
3. Lyric Presentation for Worship: The Series!

Some of you out there may be avid bible readers, others may casually browse it, and some of you might be so intimidated that you haven’t started because you just don’t know where to begin. If you fall into one of these categories, I want to introduce you today to a really cool new tool to help you, no matter which category you’re in – YouVersion. There are a variety of ways to go about reading the Bible, and YouVersion.com offers 21 plans to choose from in order to help you. You can read the Bible through chronologically, a combination of Old and New Testament readings each day, or a variety of other methods.

I also think YouVersion represents the future of online Bible apps in the sense that it involves and encourages community interaction. As you study, you can make notes and share them with others in a social networking feature they include on the site. But the coolest part of the site is that they have spent a lot of time developing versions to all you to access YouVersion on your iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Java, and/or Mobile Web.

I came across YouVersion recently and here is how simple it is for me to read it on my iPhone:

So I invite you to check out YouVersion.com. I’m sure you’re going to enjoy it.

Related posts:

1. Handle Information Overload: Diigo
2. Connect through Text: Part I

What Is It?

The Yoostar System is a collection of the following pieces:

• A High-Resolution Camera.
• A camera stand and multiple camera clips.
• Green Screen Stand.
• Green Screen
• Remote

Combining all of these great tools allows you to be green-screened into your choice of old movies, to deliver the greatest lines alongside some of the greatest actors. The Yoostar isn’t just a camera, it comes with the necessary editing software and a six by six foot green screen (in its own collapsible nylon bag) that you can put up behind you.  Then, when you film yourself, you can be entered into the picture right alongside the greats.

How Good Is It?

While we weren’t able to get our hands on a test unit to try out ourselves, we’ve spent some time reading a variety of reviews around the Interwebs to get people’s opinions to see if this product is really worth the money. At $169.99, it’s not cheap. However, Amazon.com has a few of them available used from $125 to help save you some money.

The Yoostar video camera puts out crisp, high-resolution video. Although the video quality suffers when uploaded online, the original copies left for playback on your computer easily beat what most webcams produce. The camera also has no trouble picking up voices with a built-in microphones. In fact, you may find yourself turning down your mic volume when you speak louder than those who co-star with you. (I’m looking at you John Belushi).

Despite the high quality of the camera, it does have one major downside: The Yoostar camera can only be used with the Yoostar software. It has been tested with Skype on Windows-based machines and on Macs, but Skype apparently refuses to recognize the camera. It may only need additional drivers (which may come in the future), but at this point, I can see it being very frustrating to have a high-resolution webcam that’s not compatible with any other software.

Videos

The YooStar comes with 14 video clips preloaded on it.

• The Godfather
• Field of Dreams
• Some Like It Hot
• Forrest Gump
• Rocky
• Sabrina
• Blues Brothers
• Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
• Animal House
• Back to School
• Saw II
• Up in Smoke
• Coming to America
• Sesame Street

Thousands of scenes from new and old videos can be purcahsed additionally from the Yoostar website for roughly $1 per scene.

The Verdict

The price is the breaking point for many, especially for those of us in ministry with tiny budgets. At $169.99 the Yoostar system isn’t exactly cheap, but the hardware is definitely worth the price. The quality green screen, stand and camera alone are worth $169.99. Sadly, since the camera isn’t able to be used with other programs, there’s a lot of wasted potential. If you think you’ll get lots of mileage out of the Yoostar systems capabilities, don’t think twice about purchasing it. On the other hand, if you think your mileage may vary and aren’t sure about making the jump, just keep in mind that it does bring a great green screen set-up that can be used for your own home movies. At $169.99, the Yoostar system isn’t cheap, but it’s still making you an offer that’s tough to refuse. Ask a few parents to see if they’ll throw in $25 to help you purchase it. It sure would make a great piece to help promote your ministry events, or even to get kids to come.

Related posts:

1. Friday Showcase: Catholic Youth Ministry
2. Utilize Video in Your Ministry
3. Lyric Presentation for Worship: The Series!

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

Free Theme vs. Premium Theme

There are literally tens of thousands of WordPress themes out there that have been developed for distribution. Some WordPress themes are available for free while others, Premium Themes, are available for purchase. Obviously, most ministries have tight budgets and may opt for the free themes. However, if you’re one that plans on customizing the theme even in a little bit to make it fit your style, I would recommend going with the Premium themes. They all have support forums and message boards to help you in every step of the way, and can even help you fix something if you mess up.

Premium Theme Vendors

There are literally hundreds of Premium Vendors out there. These are a few sites that I have used in my own business and have seen really great results from. Note that for budget-constrained ministries, ThemeForest sells the cheapest of the Premium Themes, starting at around $20.

Free Theme Vendors

Here is a list of a variety of free WordPress themes to hopefully get you started. If you happen to find one not listed here, please let us know in the comments.

• WordPress.org
• WordPress Themes Base
• Smashing Magazine
• WP Skins
• Theme Splice
• Top WP Themes
• ThemeLab
• Fresheezy

Installing a Theme

Once you’ve acquired your WordPress theme, you have to install it in the WordPress Backend. Installing a theme is very easy in WordPress. Just follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to Appearance

Considering the tips that we gave you above, download the theme files. In your WordPress dashboard, navigate to the Appearance tab, and then the Add New Themes page under that.

2. Browse for the Theme

At the top of the Add New Themes page, you will see a link to an Upload page. Click and you will be taken to this page.

3. Upload the Theme

To upload your theme, all you have to do is click browse, and then navigate to the .zip file of the theme that you want to use. Click Install Now.

4. Activate the Theme

The next page you will see is the progress of the theme uploading. Once it is finish, click Activate Theme, and voila, you are done!

If you run into any troubles or have questions, please don’t hesitate to ask in the comments below or to get in touch with me directly via the Contact Page.

Related posts:

1. Where Do I Start? – Why Use Wordpress
2. Where Do I Start? – Picking a Host
3. Where Do I Start? – Publishing Your Website

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

As ministers, we’re always on the lookout for new ideas. However, in our quest for information and new resources, often we find ourselves surrounded with far more information than we could possibly ever absorb, let alone use. The same stands with the Sprint website – sure, it’s really cool in how they built it, yet it’s not practical information at all. This is what I call the Information Overload.

In the resources we find, whether it be online, in a video, in a book or somewhere else, much of what is being offered is good, sound advice. Here’s the problem: it’s good advice, if only one had the time to put it all into practice.

What Are We To Do?

You want your ministry to be successful. You want to work efficiently. You want to offer the best to those who you minister to that you possibly can. But, there’s no way that you can absorb, let alone follow, all of the various resources and pieces of advice that are currently available.

In fact, it’s all too easy to be overwhelmed by the information explosion that surrounds us today, both in and out of ministry. You don’t have to let the information overload leave you with a defeated feeling. There are ways to manage information to your advantage. One tool that we’re going to explain today is called Diigo.

Diigo is a free application and community that is designed to help manage the information that we find online. It can also be used for collaboration. In this post, we’ll examine how ministers can use Diigo. We’ll also explain how to get started with Diigo and provide some tips. Hopefully, you’ll be able to see the value of Diigo in your daily use to help you avoid the Information Overload in your ministry.

What is Diigo?

Diigo is a free Firefox add-on that has been around for a while. I would describe Diigo as a cross between a social networking site and a research tool.

If you’re a web worker, especially one who uses the Internet for research or who regularly collaborates with other ministers, this tool could become an invaluable part of your work routine.

Diigo itself promotes three uses for itself: research information, share information, and collaborate.

Some of the capabilities of Diigo include:

• Bookmark and tag web pages
• Highlight words or portions of a web page
• Keep sticky notes with a bookmarked web page
• Organize bookmarks by tags
• Search through your bookmarks
• Connect and discuss bookmarked pages with other Diigo users
• Automatically tweet bookmarked sites
• Retrieve information through iPhone app

Once you join, you can download the toolbar and mark web pages as you browse.

Now that we’ve explained what Diigo is, let’s move on and explain how to create a Diigo account.

How to Create Your Account

To create a Diigo account you simply need to:

• Choose a Username
• Enter your first and last name
• Enter your email
• Select a password

Once you have created and activated your account, you need to install the Diigo toolbar. After you restart Firefox, the toolbar appears above your browser window. You can use the toolbar to bookmark information any time that your browser window is open.

Now that you have an active Diigo account and a toolbar, let’s try some bookmarking.

A Trial Run with Diigo

After you download and install the toolbar, give the application a try. I just quickly added our website as a bookmark for demonstration. To bookmark a site, simply click the bookmark option on the Diigo toolbar.

The dialog box that appears each time you bookmark a post makes it easy to tag and comment on the post.

After you book and comment on a variety of posts, you are able to go back and view the sites that you have bookmarked as well as sort them by keyword.

After only a short time, you can quickly find a plethora of resources that you will have bookmarked. The great thing about Diigo is the simple way in which you can sort through these bookmarks by searching for keywords to show only those bookmarked URLs that meet the tagged criteria that you searched for.

Don’t Forget to Fill Out Your Profile

To get the most out of Diigo, be sure to fill out your profile. Include your work experience and your industry. Diigo also allows you to automatically include links to your other social media profiles.

One drawback that I saw was that, as far as I can tell, you can’t really link to your own blog by name. I linked to my blog under the category of My Other. The My Other category also seems to be limited to a single link.

Once you have a profile that can be viewed by others, you are ready to start connecting with other users.

Connecting With Others

After you have been using Diigo for a while, it is likely that you will want to connect with other users so that you can share information. There are three ways to connect to people on Diigo:

• Search the users by the tags, site, URL, profile information, language, or industry
• Import friends from your email address book
• Invite friends by sending them an email invitation

I found this task to be a bit cumbersome. Personally, I would have liked to a way to automatically import friends or followers from Facebook or Twitter.

Now that we’ve made some connections through Diigo, let’s take a look at some tips.

Diigo Tips

If you’ve been following the steps in this post, you should now have an active Diigo account.

When using Diigo, you should keep the following in mind:

• Your online brand — Any social site that you participate in online becomes a part of your online brand. Customers and potential customers will be able to search on your name or possibly company name and discover what you have posted here.
• Your participation — Like any social media site, you will only get from Diigo what you put into it. If you consistently bookmark and tag URLs as you run across them you should have a useful and sortable base of information in no time.

I’m still a new user to Diigo, but I’ll continue experimenting with it over the next few weeks. I’m hopeful that it will allow me to better organize (and therefore, better use) the huge quantity of information that passes before my eyes each day.

Some Other Bookmarking Sites

There are several other bookmarking sites available. You may wish to consider one of the following:

• del.icio.us
• Reddit.com
• Mixx

We haven’t tried these particular platforms personally, but they have a good reputation online. If you do try them, let us know what you think.

Share Your Own Experiences with Diigo

We’ve explained what Diigo is and shown you how to set up your account. Now it’s your turn to share.

Have you tried using Diigo to manage online information? Are you a current Diigo user? Or do you use other social bookmarking sites?

Share your tips and ideas in the comments.

Connect with New Media Ministry

New Media Ministry is now on Diigo. If you would like to connect with us and see which resources we share, feel free to add us as a friend – http://www.diigo.com/profile/newmediaministry

Related posts:

1. Introducing: Audio/Video/Production Blogs!
2. Where Do I Start? – Picking the Perfect Theme

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

Getting Started

Today I’m going to walk you through preparing to register a domain name as well as some tips to keep in mind when coming up with the most effective domain name. I’ve been buying domain names for about five years now and have probably bought close to one hundred or so. I’ve used a variety of domain name registrars to buy these domains, but time-and-time again I have found myself going back to GoDaddy. GoDaddy not only always seems to be one of the cheapest registrars, but they are also offer a wide variety of very reliable products such as hosting and email services that could be very beneficial in your ministry.

Preparation

Domain Names, also known as URL’s, are the real estate of the 21st Century. Domains are being bought and sold left and right, and often for big profits. So you need to treat your domain name purchase like you’re purchasing a type of real estate – know what is available at what price, and have flexibility and options.

However, most people have a hard time understanding the difference between a domain name, and hosting. I think the best way to explain the differences is to continue with the real estate theme: Hosting is like the parcel of land you purchase. It’s where all of the parts of your house sit, from the concrete foundation and crawlspace that no one sees to the Sheetrock and siding that people will see, it all sits on your parcel of land, your host. A Domain however is the street address that people use as a point of reference to find your parcel of land, or in this case your website. You use a GPS by typing in an address and then get directions based on that address. The same is true online, you type in a domain or search terms in Google to find a particular website, or parcel of land.

Now that we’ve cleared up the difference between hosting and domains, you need to begin by seeing if your desired domain, address,  is available, all of the main domain name registrars have a tool already built for you. I recommend heading over to GoDaddy and using their “Start Your Domain Search Here” tool.

All you have to do is type in the URL that you wish to find the availability of with your desired extension, and then press Go! It’s that easy. GoDaddy will also automatically provide a list of alternative extensions, as well as their availability.

As an added bonus, the guys over at FatWallet have put together a nice list of Coupon Codes to use during checkout to get some great deals. .COM domains starting at $7.49! Visit FatWallet for more info.

Quick Tips for Choosing Your Domain Name

Related posts:

1. Where Do I Start? – Picking a Host
2. Where Do I Start? – Publishing Your Website
3. Where Do I Start? – Picking Your Site’s Backend