gdp's Comments

Media Outreach : Best Practices - Custom Facebook Pages

Fri, 14 May 2010 14:33:11 +0000

Well, I just created the graphics using Photoshop, then exported the HTML code and cleaned it up a bit. You could use a program like Dreamweaver to help you program the page, then copy the source code into the Static FBML application on Facebook. On a side note, I just finished the custom page for faithHighway as well. You can see that one here (although converting the programming to div's instead of tables because the way it renders is a tad goofy): www.facebook.com/faithHighway?v=app_4949752878

Media Outreach : Best Practices - Event Overload

Wed, 12 May 2010 17:47:04 +0000

Hi Pat- The first question I would ask is what system are you using? Google calendar? faithHighway? EventU?

Media Outreach : Best Practices- Church Computer Hardware

Thu, 6 May 2010 19:44:01 +0000

Eric- I am a PC guy (mostly due to financial reason). My uncle got me a killer computer for my high school graduation that I was able to build a video editing suite onto during school (I majored in radio/tv communication). I think for most people, Adobe Premiere & After Effects on a good quality PC work just fine. If you are trying to get your Indy Production into Sundance, they you should probably get Final Cut Pro and a Mac. ;)

Media Outreach : Best Practices- Church Computer Hardware

Thu, 6 May 2010 19:42:02 +0000

John- that's exactly what I'm talking about. Doesn't need to be fancy, just get the job done. I think I'd start wanting to pull my hair out using a 6 year old computer, but I understand computers can be an investment. Luckily, in this day and age, you can score a decent PC new for a few hundred dollars that would probably blow the current machine out of the water. But then again, if it ain't broke, don't fix it! :)

Media Outreach : Best Practices- Church Computer Hardware

Wed, 5 May 2010 20:19:11 +0000

Right on. That's a great idea! Something you didn't put in your comment I was curious- do you have Mac or PC machines since you are both working with media? I know it's a sin to use a PC to do design right? I mean, I don't even know why they make Photoshop outside of the Mac environment! :)

Media Outreach : Mobile Web sites…Does your church have one?

Thu, 4 Feb 2010 15:43:08 +0000

Eric- One big thing we found when creating our mobile sites was to include this code: http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007-07-12/make-web... This will auto format it on a lot of devices for you with ease! Good luck!

Media Outreach : Top Terms used in Facebook Statuses in 2009

Wed, 3 Feb 2010 17:16:44 +0000

I read this a while ago on Wikipedia about Pokes. I thought it was good info: The poke feature is intended to be a "nudge" to attract the attention of another user. Whether poking someone is inappropriate is pretty much impossible to know. Many facebook users use this feature to attract attention or say "hello" to their friends.[16] A previous version of Facebook's FAQ gave additional insight into the origin of the feature, stating: "When we created the poke, we thought it would be cool to have a feature without any specific purpose. People interpret the poke in many different ways, and we encourage you to come up with your own meanings." There are several applications on Facebook which extend the idea of the poke feature by allowing users to perform other actions to their friends (such as "kick" or "wave to"). People often reciprocate pokes back and forth until one side gives up, an event known as a "Poke War"

Media Outreach : The Q- What should my mobile site do?

Wed, 3 Feb 2010 17:13:39 +0000

Thanks for commenting Eric! Yeah, I know, I know... But $20 is $20, right? I may eventually get around to it, it's just a long line on a list of things to do. If I can make do with this mic though, it gives me time to keep my hands in other little projects like helping develop mobile sites for our customers and a couple other neat projects in the pipeline soon to be released! I will take it under advisement and let the "big guy" know they should buy me better recording equipment! :)

Media Outreach : First Impressions: Poor content and navigation yield a D

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:21:51 +0000

That's a great question Justin. And as an answer, I would say it's not really clear. There's not much on the homepage by the way of content that would be very meaningful to Google. But your question got me thinking.... What if this design, as is, had great, meaningful content... for Google... not the end user. Does that really matter? Maybe it's philosophical, but it's kinda like a tree falling in the woods... Just because Google thinks your site is great in the rankings, does that mean it's going to be effective to bring people to your church or communicate the information to your members effectively? Hmmmm, I smell a blog post coming....

Media Outreach : And the winner of the 1st day of Christmas Giveaway is....

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 22:54:07 +0000

w00t! Can't wait until tomorrow to give more stuff away!!!! LOVE IT!

Media Outreach : The Q: How can I recruit more volunteers?

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:50:05 +0000

Thanks Eric! I actually was a radio/TV production major in college, so I definitely agree it would be helpful! Maybe I can ask faithHighway for Christmas for one!!! Thanks for the comment! Are you a pastor at a church? How do y'all manage your volunteers?

Media Outreach : The Q: Where do I begin with Social Media?

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:31:57 +0000

Great question! Of course, every church is different, but in general, I do see great benefit in leading your congregation into using social media. Here's why: 1. Even if your congregation isn't there yet, they will be. The MediaOutreach team had a really interesting discussion yesterday about George Barna's book "Revolution". Basically, he predicted many of the trends we are now seeing in social media. Like it or not, it's here to stay and as time goes by, more and more people will adopt it. I feel it's time for the church to be on the front of this wave, not trying to play catch up. Lead your congregation there now, be a thought leader now, don't fall into a perception that you are just jumping on the bandwagon after everyone showed up. 2. By leading your congregation there, potential visitors will find a way to connect with you when they see you're online using social media if they use social media. It's just about closing the back door. 3. Your congregation is online. You may not know it, but your potential congregation is online. Experts including Barna estimate as many as half of all "church-goers" will be strictly online church-goers by 2025. Let's reach them now!!! What do you think? Do you pastor a church? Have you guys done anything at your church to reach your members with social media?

Media Outreach : The Q: How can I make my content look awesome?

Wed, 2 Sep 2009 19:05:26 +0000

Hey Harry! I'd be happy to show you a couple of my favorites. http://www.occonline.ca/ - These guys have a great balance of images and text and the formatting is very consistent. http://www.calvarylufkin.org/ - This is a great example of balanced, clean content that is very to the point. http://www.valley-church.com/ -A great example of using titles, headers and images to supplement content. Hope that helps!

Media Outreach : Vote for the Top Ten Tweeps!

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:17:05 +0000

I second the Tony Morgan vote! That guy has some great insights!

Media Outreach : Identity Theft

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:32:23 +0000

Great post! It's good to be reminded that we need to 1)be aware of who we are and 2) constantly and consistently communicate it in everything we do! Branding is so important to the church! Great insight!

Media Outreach : Best Practices: Image Placement within Content

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:11:21 +0000

I would absolutely include an image on a short blog post! Part of having a nicely laid out page with balance and visual appeal would be to add images to your posts. It may not help you with search engine rankings, but your readers will appreciate having something visual to latch on to. It will also help with recall if you're skimming the blog later for a certain post. Our minds tend to associate with imagery, not text, so people will be able to find it more easily.

And if you're anything like me, you can also use them to inject some extra personality or humor into your posts! Hope that helps!