Tech Tips for Catholic Teens

MyChurch.org is donig a great job of using applications to draw folks to their social networking site.  These include a Facebook app simply named My Church, a MySpace app called Famous Christian Quotes, and they have a couple blog tools as well.

Here are the descriptions of each of these apps that I’ve listed above:

Famous Christian Quotes (MySpace App) ↓


Display Inspirational quotes from famous Christian preachers and leaders on your profile and share them with your friends.

My Church (Facebook App) ↓


Show what ministry, denomination, or church organization you’re a part of. You can also find others on Facebook who are members of your church organization. Stay in touch with your larger church body.

Your Church Calendar on your own Website (Blog or Website Script) ↓


Share your church’s events on your blog, Myspace, or church’s main website.

This Quick Tip is on how to blog using MyChurch.org. Lets begin by describing what a blog is:

A blog, a portmanteau of web log, is a website where entries are written in chronological order and commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

Do you write poetry? Have you recently read a book, seen a movie, or have something you need to get off your chest? Your blog is a perfect place to share your opinions, creativity, or whatever else with others. Some people use their blog as a sort of online diary visible to all (though I do not use my blog in this way). However you want to use your blog is up to you. I’m just here to show you how to post to your blog.

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How to start a blog:

1. Login to your MyChurch.org account using your user name (e-mail address) and password.

2. Click on the “Write” button under your “Home” menu.

3. When the blog entry page loads you should see “Add New Blog Entry” at the top of the page. This is where you can let your thoughts flow. Start with a Title for your blogpost (each time you post a new entry you should give it a good title). After you have typed in the Title then click in the Content box below the Title box and begin to blog.

4. Once you have typed the content of your blog and have given it a title then you have the options of allowing everyone to see your blogpost, letting only your MyChurch friends see your blogpost, giving access only to Church/Group members, or keeping it private so only you can read your blogpost.

5. If you think you have everything correct then hit the “Submit” button and you are now officially a blogger.

Have fun with it. Share your creative side (poems or thoughts on topics that interest you).

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Below are some related Tips for MyChurch.org newbies:

• MyChurch.org QuickTip #1: Setting E-mail Notifications
  
• MyChurch.org QuickTip #2: Personalizing Your Profile

Did you know that you can personalize your profile?

• To tell a little bit about yourself click here.
• To upload photos click here.
• To add your favorite books, music, and/or movies to your profile page.
• To subscribe to my MyChurch blog click here.
  (I just threw that one in there for the fun of it ; )

Below are some related Tips for MyChurch.org newbies:

• MyChurch.org QuickTip #1: Setting E-mail Notifications
  
• MyChurch.org QuickTip #3: Starting a Blog You can Call Your Own (coming soon)

Did you know that you can set when you receive e-mail notifications and when you do not? Just click here and login to your MyChurch.org account to choose your settings. Below is a screen-shot to show the settings page.

Please Note: Be careful which options you deselect. You may not receive important bulletins from your Church or Group if you uncheck the wrong option.

Below are some of the other Tips that I am working on:

• MyChurch.org QuickTip #2: Personalizing Your Profile
• MyChurch.org QuickTip #3: Starting a Blog You can Call Your Own (coming soon)

Over at Pro Blogger, Daniel Scocco has a very good look at the etiquette related to the use of Social Networking sites. Take time to read through the comments, which give added value to the article. If you’re using social networking tools to market your work, you want to make sure you are following these rules rather than driving folks away from you by your online behavior. I witnessed something last week on one of these sites that changed my impression of one of the participants (and not for the better). Good to know the culture of these places before diving in!  What Are The Unspoken Rules of Social Networks?

This post is courtesy of the Productivity @ Home Blog.

About a year ago, I came across MyChurch.org and have found it to be a great tool for our parish community and it has helped us to grow in community.

• What is MyChurch?
  MyChurch is a free community‐buiding site for Christian churches. You can create a profile page for your church and allow members to join and connect through blogs, photos, events, media, bulletins, small groups and more!
• Is MyChurch Safe?
  A dedicated team of staff and pastors review thousands of church submissions each week to make sure church profiles are reserved for Christian churches that follow the Nicene Creed. Your church profile page can be moderated by multiple staff or members and each small group can customize their own level of privacy.
• Connecting with a Purpose
  With an extensive platform of tools, MyChurch allows your community to connect in a unique and fun way throughout the week. It’s like MySpace, but completely centered around your church! Keep members up‐to‐date on announcements and prayer requests with Bulletins. Post single or recurring Events, and allow members to RSVP. Small Groups let members connect around ministries and interests. Share and learn more about each other with Blogs. Upload church Sermons (Homilies) and Media, where members can add comments.

Please Note: Because MyChurch is not strictly a Catholic network, some Catholic parishes are not listed and might need to be added. Do a search for your Church prior to adding it.

Features: In the menu bar, after you have logged in, there are a couple of menu categories.

• The “Home” menu is all about you. You will see submenus such as Main, Write, Subscription, Photos, Friends, Comments, and Mail.
• The “My Church” menu is all about your church and takes you to your church’s MyChurch page, where you can post a bulletin, upload church photos, check out small groups, post an event, or post to the sharing board.
• The next menu I’d like to talk about is the “Explore” menu. This is where you will find public blog posts, reviews, and videos posted by other MyChurch people (keep in mind that not all posters in the explore section are Catholic and some maybe even anti-Catholic, but generally the posts are ecumenical in nature).
• The new menu that they are working on is the “Ministries” menu. Not a lot has happened with this one yet.
• And the last menu is the “Churches” menu where you can search for churches. This is good if you are going on vacation and are looking for a Catholic church near your destination (though I recommend MassTimes.org for a more official search). But you could maybe see what is happening in the parish you will be attending. They also have a pretty cool map feature that is similar to Frappr! Map, only with the different churches in a certain destination.

Well that about sums it up. If you’d like to see a short review I posted on MyChurch about Popple’s “Plaid” CD or a review of the DVD Padre Pio “Miracle Man” you may.

Here is a neat widget by Widgetbox called the Blog Badge.

The Blog Badge is completely customized and allows you to add links to some of the hottest web 2.0 communities: Digg, LinkedIn, Mahalo, Twitter, Mixx, Flickr, Delicious, Pownce, StumbleUpon, eBay, Facebook, MySpace, Wordpress, Blogger and more. You can choose which to show and adding them is easy: simply enter your user ID or the URL to your public profile (based on the form below).

Tip: If you are adding the widget to your MyChurch.org profile then copy the JavaScript code into your profile settings.

On Mondays, Lisa M. Hendey shares her thoughts on Working @ Home.

“The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” - Bernard Russell

One of my favorite podcasters, Fr. Roderick Vonhögen of SQPN.com, has been doing a lot of talking lately about “Facebook Fatigue” and the annoyance of things like constantly being asked to join a wicked Pirates vs. Ninjas battle or accept a mixed drink from a “friend” he’s never met. For big guys like Fr. Roderick who have friends in the four figures, use of Social Networking sites helps advance their agenda but can also lead to a drop in personal productivity.

I love Facebook, Twitter, UStream and all of the other places I gather to network and socialize with friends around the world. But I’m learning to carefully discipline myself when it comes to the use of these new media applications. Since I work at home and no one’s going to bust my chops for playing Scrabulous instead of working, the temptation is always present to just hop over to Twitter and spend half an hour checking in on short blurbs about what my friends are doing. A blog post at Geeks Are Sexy even helps put Twitter friends on Snooze - so others must be caught up in the same time dump I find myself enjoying.

I’m learning to take breaks at scheduled times in my workday to interact with these particular sites and to turn them off when I’m working. They can serve as a reward for getting things done, or can provide a needed respite when my brain feels fried at the end of a long day. How do you manage your social networking time and what tips do you have for keeping your use of these tools productive?

Home-Work for Today:

• Examine your use of social networking sites today, documenting every minute you spend on these sites. If you conclude that the time being spent on them is cutting into your productivity, create a schedule for their usage.

Best of the Blogs:
(recent posts related to today’s topic of Working @ Home)

• 7 Killer Applications for the BlackBerry
• Getting Productive with Facebook Apps

This post is courtesy of the Working @ Home Blog.

This tip is for the MySpace People. MySpace is a great way to hear new music and find friends thru other friends (social networking). But do you wish that you could limit the number of ads? In particular the ads of the half naked women, which could lead to temptation? (Matthew 18:9)

Overview:

• Mozilla Firefox web browser

• AdBlock Plus (add-on)

How to block annoying ads:
Start by clicking the AdBlock Plus link above (assuming you already have Mozilla Firefox installed on your computer). AdBlock is a great add-on which blocks most ads on not only myspace, but on other sites as well. This works well, because you subscribe to a list (free) which is constantly updating itself.

Okay, so you have clicked on the link above and should see a logo that looks like a stop sign with the letters “ABP” inside of it (if you do not see anything about AdBlock Plus then just do a search for it). Click the “Add to Firefox” button and follow the instructions. You should come to a page where it asks you to subscribe to one of the databases; just choose the United States one and you should be good.

Now once you have installed the add-on you should see that stop sign logo at the top right of your browser. Right click on it and scroll down to “Options”. My personal preferences are the following: Check “Show in status bar”, Uncheck “Show in toolbar”, Uncheck “Show tabs on Flash and Java”, and Check “Collapse blocked elements”. Again these are my personal preferences, but you can set your own preferences as you like.

Simple as that!

Now I want to let those who don’t already know that there are alternatives to MySpace! I’m sure most, if not all of you, have heard of Facebook. Facebook is a little different from MySpace in several ways. The security is way, way better on Facebook, but with security comes limitations. MyChurch.org is very similar to MySpace, but is more secure at the same time! I know what you are thinking, “But my friends aren’t on MyChurch.org or even perhaps Facebook.” One option would be to invite them.

What does your social networking profile say about you?
I’ve noticed that some news stations are using these social network sites in their reporting on certain individuals in the news. I have also heard of employers/colleges doing research on current or potential employees/students. So what does your profile say about you? The key is to live out our Christian faith, not just on Sundays, but always. You may never know how God may use you online or offline and who’s life may be changed in Christ through you.

“Now you are the Body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27)

Let us know if you found this tutorial helpful. If you have any questions about this tutorial feel free to contact us. God Bless : )

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