Social Media
November 23rd, 2010 by Matt Haff
I understand that some sites are too big to handle the customer service requests which causes the need for FAQ pages and help forums…but what happens when you can’t be helped by either of those? Facebook is one of those huge monsters that is too good for customer service. I say “too good” because you can never be too big. If a service becomes too big for customer service then it’s no longer a service.
I recently made the huge mistake of merging a Facebook Fan Page with a Facebook Places Page… The result, a new layout that only shows our updates, there is now a map of where we are located, and people can check-in to our location. So what’s the problem? We now don’t have as much control as we did before, our wall only shows our stuff instead of showing everybody. Our map shows an incorrect location. There is NO way to revert back to the old style.
What does Facebook say about it? Nothing, because there is no way to communicate with them, no way to fix the problem. Because of this they now have a very upset customer (me) and I have gone from singing Facebook praises to cursing them every time I look at that page.
Social Media
August 9th, 2010 by Matt Haff
Facebook is a hot topic for churches that want to have a presence in social media, followed closely by Twitter and YouTube. We all know what Facebook is and that if you want to build community it’s a great tool to use. What most churches DON’T know is how to use Facebook to effectively reach our audience. At 12Stone we’re working on developing a strategy and setting up our Facebook communities to be successful but we don’t have it completely figured out yet.
While I do have some pretty good ideas about what an effective Facebook community looks like, there is another church out there that is already doing an outstanding job…Lifechurch.tv. As I’m creating a strategy for 12Stone I look at what Lifechurch is doing on their Facebook communities. They’ve made individual fan pages for each campus that they have, they’ve created custom HTML welcome pages and info pages.
You can checkout what they’re doing here: http://www.facebook.com/lifechurchtv
An Event Apart, Church Online, Marketing, Ministry 2.0, Social Media, Web Design
June 19th, 2010 by Matt Haff
Catalyst
Many of you have probably heard of Catalyst but have you ever attended? I know it’s not about web or social media, or online video, or anything that I normally discuss on here… It’s about leadership, moving the church forward, igniting a revolution, building great leaders. I believe it is important that we instill leadership values into ourselves and our team. It also helps to have a vision as a whole of where the church is going. This is why at 12Stone® Church we get tickets for our entire staff, and I do think that it has an effect on how we work together.
An Event Apart
I haven’t been able to attend one yet but I’m hoping to sign on for the one in San Diego this year. Every year since they started I’ve wanted to go but haven’t had the money. It is one of the most expensive events for web developers, designers, etc. This is one of the more advanced conferences so if you’re just starting off this probably isn’t the one for you. But if you’ve been in the game for a few years and want to push yourself…this is where you want to be. Become a fan of them on Facebook and get an additional $100 off with discount code: AEAFBAEA
An Event Apart is an intensely educational two-day learning session for passionate practitioners of standards-based web design. If you care about code as well as content, usability as well as design, An Event Apart is the conference you’ve been waiting for. Your conference pass includes admission to all fourteen sessions at the two-day conference; breakfast, hot lunch, and snacks on both days; access to the opening night party; and a bag of swag.
M2Live
I had the opportunity to attend M2Live last year and it was a very affordable conference with great speakers such as John Saddington, Tony Steward, Jason Reynolds and more! The event is based around web, communications, social media, etc.
If you are a church leader or volunteer interested in learning how to develop an effective social media strategy, create a more appealing and usable church website, or would like to grow your ministry using web technology, M2LIVE Orlando is the event for you!
Ministry 2.0, Social Media
April 12th, 2010 by Matt Haff
Free M2LIVE Webcast to Feature 8BIT Founder, John Saddington
The name may be a bit different, but the intent is still the same – to grow the Kingdom by embracing new media. M2LIVE.org (formerly Ministry 2.0) will host its inaugural webcast on April 14, 2010 at 11 a.m. (EDT), featuring 8BIT founder and North Point Ministries’ creative web director, John Saddington. Saddington will be discussing church social media strategy development.
The first in a series of FREE webcasts, the M2LIVE webcast will feature insight from many of today’s brightest church web evangelists. While presenters will have opportunity to share their message, the format will allow you ample time to ask questions and engage the presenter. To access the webcast, visit M2LIVE.org live on April 14th at 11:00 a.m. (EDT). Each webcast will last about one hour.
M2LIVE.org is a grassroots effort allowing believers of all backgrounds to come together to celebrate Christ, while sharing and learning from one another. A series of web-based and live hands-on workshops, M2LIVE is designed for church leaders and volunteers interested in enhancing their ministry using the latest in web and social media technology. Learn more at M2LIVE.org.
