Tech Tips for Catholics

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,

On the occasion of the 45th World Day of Social Communications, I would like to share some reflections that are motivated by a phenomenon characteristic of our age: the emergence of the internet as a network for communication. It is an ever more commonly held opinion that, just as the Industrial Revolution in its day brought about a profound transformation in society by the modifications it introduced into the cycles of production and the lives of workers, so today the radical changes taking place in communications are guiding significant cultural and social developments. The new technologies are not only changing the way we communicate, but communication itself, so much so that it could be said that we are living through a period of vast cultural transformation. This means of spreading information and knowledge is giving birth to a new way of learning and thinking, with unprecedented opportunities for establishing relationships and building fellowship.
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We’ve been a huge fan of flockNote over the past couple years, but changes are coming (I get nervous when my favorite social networks make “improvements” — Have you seen MyChurch.org lately?).  This week, Matthew Warner sent out an e-mail to all members of the flockNote community, giving us a peek of what’s to come.  There will be a lot of new features, a sleeker look, and an easier way to organize your groups, just to name a few.

On the downside, there will be a fee to create/administrate a Network, but on the flip-side, this will get rid of advertisement clutter, support the volume of all the new features, and improve the quality of flockNote.  And membership to the Network will always be free for your group members (parishioners/members/subscribers of a created group or “feed”).  Please read more about this fee here.  (Word on the street is that leaders already using flockNote may get a special discount for signing up ; )

Matthew has invested a ton of time to enhance the features of this already invaluable tool for the church. I don’t know how he finds the hours in a day to do everything that he does.  On top of programming wonderful applications like: TweetCatholic.com and QuoteCatholic.com, Matthew has his extremely enjoyable-to-read blogs, Fallible Blogma, and is a contributor for the National Catholic Register blogs.  Matthew is a very humble guy and someday I hope to meet him in person.

Here are the TOP 10 new features coming to flockNote:

1. Own Your Network. Each parish/diocese/organization can now create their own “Network.” This is similar to the current “parish page,” except that admins for the Network now have total control over all lists (previously called “feeds”) created for the page. Each Network can send as many notes as they like – and can also keep track of basic Network stats to monitor subscriber count, Network growth and more.

2. Easily Add Members. Admins will now have the ability to add, organize and remove people from their FlockNote lists. Subscribers will still be able to subsequently opt-out of a particular list, but leaders will be able to add new members without having to wait for them to subscribe themselves.

3. Gather Parishioner Contact Info. Admins for a list will now have access to each subscriber’s contact info. This allows parish leaders to use FlockNote as an “information gathering tool” for parishioners (for registration or otherwise) and gives parishioners an easy way to keep their contact info up-to-date. We will also be creating other helpful parish tools in the near future (like call sheets, attendance rosters, mailing labels, a parish directory, etc.)

4. Embed the FlockNote in Your Parish Website. Networks will now be able to embed the entire FlockNote experience into their own website. Parishioners will be able to register for FlockNote, subscribe to parish lists, login, edit subscriptions, view and respond to notes (including polls and event RSVPs), browse, etc. – all on their parish website, without ever having to visit FlockNote.com directly. This adds more value to the parish website, while also making it easier for parishioners to engage.

5. Expanded Subscription/Registration Options. Members can now easily subscribe to lists via email, txt message, Twitter DM, Facebook, RSS feed or the website. Also, our new “rapid registration tool” provides a quick and easy interface for group leaders to let members register and subscribe right there at a meeting in real-time.

6. Easier Import/Export. It will be even simpler to import existing mailing lists directly into FlockNote. Likewise, Networks and Lists will also be able to export all of their subscriber data to a .csv file that they can then import into their parish database to sync up with current records.

7. New “Note Types,” including Polls, Events and Scheduled Notes. In addition to creating normal notes, users can now send polls (with graphical voting and results) and event invitations (with RSVP counts and event information, similar to Evite). Users will also be able to schedule notes in advance. So instead of having to send notes immediately, admins can set their scheduled notes at the beginning of the week or month to go out at later specified times.

8. Easily Connect with Other Online Communication Tools. When sending a new note, users will have the option to also have that note update their Facebook fan page status, post it to their wall and/or update their Twitter status. You can also sync your FlockNote list with your RSS feed.

9. Easily access other Catholic resources. We will continue to offer other valuable Catholic resources through FlockNote, free for all users. This includes the Daily Readings, Daily Catholic quote, Catholic news, Catholic blogs, etc.

10. Facebook and mobile apps. Coming soon will be a fully functional Facebook application, an iPhone application and a mobile version of flockNote.com made to be easy to use in mobile browsers.

These top 10 features are just the beginning. Look for the new FlockNote early this summer and feel free to contact Matthew Warner personally with any questions.

Below are some related links to flockNote:

• What is flockNote Beta?
• Get Yourself some flockNote Flair!
• flockNote in the News

Last year or so, I attended the Media & Faith Conference at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio.  The conference featured several well known freelance authors and journalists, a television news anchor, independent video producers, podcasters, bloggers, and students and faculty from surrounding Christian colleges.

These are the only pictures that half turned out from this fun-filled event! I had boughten a cheep B&W throw-away-camera at a gas station on the way there, because I realized that I had forgotten our digital at home : (

I really enjoyed this conference and getting to meet so many new friends. It was also really cool hangin’ out with all the SQPN people!  There were many non-SQPN speakers that were also excellent. Sherry Kennedy Brownrigg and Michael Kreidler were of my favorites.  I also got to hang out with my cousin Ross, who is a graduate of Steubie U, and spent some time in Prayer & Adoration too!

Me & Fr. Roderick Vonhögen of SQPN.com

George Leite of the Catholic Rockers Podcast, Dr. Paul Camarata of The SaintCast, Myself of The Perseverance Podcast, and Fr. Bill Kessler of TechnoPriest.

Me with Jennifer & Greg Willits of the Rosary Army Podcast. If I would have known they were smiling so nicely, I wouldn’t have thrown two thumbs up (which were cropped out of the picture)! Hints why my smile is such a weird looking one : )

Some friends I met from Lancaster, PA!

I finally got around to posting some of the talks from this conference onto the world wide web.  Here is the opening talk by Fr. Roderick.  You can view this talk in its entirety here.

There used to be some of the other talks on uStream, however they have since been taken down, which is kind of sad. I did some searching on YouTube, but the only video that I was able to find was this video by Susan Bailey.

Here is the list of talks that were taken down from uStream: The closing talk with Rosary Army and the open-forum with a pannel from SQPN. “Web 2.0: Challenges and Opportunities” presented by Eugene Gan, David Schaefer, Ruth Lang, Wally Metts. “To Liturgy…and Beyond: Boldly Bringing Catholic Music to the People” presented by Susan Bailey and George Leite. Friday Evening Opening Talk by Fr. Roderick Verhogen.

If anyone has this footage posted somewhere else online, let me know!  I’d love to link to it.

Over at UniversityParent.com, there is a terrific article entitled Social Media Do’s and Don’ts for College Students.  The facts and ideas presented in this column are important to review with your children of any age who may be using Social Media.  Around our house, my kids are constantly reminded that their Facebook pages are their “online resumes” — future college choices, employers, and even their own parents will be closely watching their online activities and judging their characters as a result.

The information in this article is also pertinent to adults of any age who are active online.  Think twice before you type, post a photo or video, or hit “send”.

This post is courtesy of the Productivity @ Home Blog.

The topic of giving up social networking for Lent has come up quite a bit.  I have been pondering the idea for about a week-and-a-half now.  I normally give up pop (that’s soda for you whom are living outside the Ohio limits ; )  Friends keep asking me what I am giving up for Lent and before I can reply they say, “Don’t tell me you are giving up pop again” (in that tone of voice too).  “I think you should give up Twitter,” one friend uttered.  To be honest, I didn’t like the sound of it, but upon further prayer and reflection, I have come to the conclusion that this would be the best thing for me to give up this Lent.

So for those like Lindsey Turrentine, the author of “How to give up Facebook for Lent and keep your friends” (who is not even Catholic) and myself, here are some Lenten avatars that you are welcome to use.

I will continue posting to the blog, but other than that, I’ll be focusing on Scripture study and Prayer this Lent.

Below are some related links to this topic:

• Poll Question: “Are you giving up social-networking for Lent?” [current results]
• Giving up Facebook for Lent? Read this first!
• Discerning Our Fasts

Season 5 is closely upon us!  And  if you are as excited as I am, then you might want to check out this very cool widget!

Flip Title is a site where you can easily generate upside down text.  You can use this generated text in a couple of different ways:

• IM screen names
• Put it in your profiles like MySpace, Bebo, Hi5, Facebook, Youtube
• Create strong passwords
• Encrypt your download links to prevent leechers
• Freak your friends

Now, I think this is somewhat annoying if you are using this to micro-blog, but I kind of like the idea of using it to create strong passwords, encrypt download links, and to freak out your friends : )

Enjoy!

Like the different divisions within the Protestant Reformation, some of the social networking identities are “throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” for the sake of “unity.”

Both MyChurch.org and MySpace have been making changes to be more like Facebook (or so it seems).  Facebook is making changes to try and distance itself from the copy-cats (or so it seems).  Then MyChurch.org goes and tries to copy the changes that Facebook is making (or so it seems).

MySpace has managed to implement some of Facebook’s features pretty well.  I just hope they don’t go even further and try to copy facbook’s latest changes.  This is what MyChurch.org is dong and it will probably backfire on them.  I wonder, how many less people are logging onto Facebook since the new changes?  The only time I log onto Facebook anymore is to check a post someone has left on my wall or to view my friends’ pictures.  MyChurch.org is headed that direction.  I find myself using MySpace more than I previously had been.

MyChurch had some neat things that set them apart from other social networking sites and these are some of the things they are getting throwing out.  It just doesn’t make sense to me.

4marks.com, which is similar to Facebook, has not made the switch to the new Facebook format yet.  Who knows, they may become my new social networking home.  I do like their built-in poll feature.  I stumbled upon 4marks a long time ago, but you had to pay a monthly fee to use many of its features.  They have since opened it up and you can now use these features free of charge.

I would be interested to hear what features our readers like about their favorite social networking sites and what they dislike.  Click here to take part in the discussion.

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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 past weekend I attended the first ever PodCamp Ohio.  It was great!  I learned some new stuff and, had I not had this stupid head-cold, probably made some new friends. While at the event, I heard a lot of chatter about Ping.fm, which is a new service that makes it simple to update your many social networks.

Now one of the other things that I learned while at PodCamp Ohio, in the “Orchestrating a Viral Explosion” session, was how to drive “talk” about your online program/application by making it “invite only”.  To suggest that a person is part of an elite.  Gmail is a perfect example of a company that tried this tactic and found it to be quite successful.  This is why Ping.fm is requiring a “beta key code” to join.  Notice that on their login page they give you a hint that it is pretty easy to acquire this important key code. All you need to do is simply contact them and ask for one.  So, does this type of product campaign work?  I’m blogging about, so I would have to say that in many cases it does.  Go get your beta code and see what Ping.fm is all about!