Tag: blog

  • Blogging Etiquette

    The last two years has brought a dramatic shift on the axis of the blogging community. With the wide adoption of social media consumption there are a lot fewer daily bloggers and a lot more micro-bloggers.

    The net result is a world full of newbies posting things online.

    With this huge shift comes a need to re-educate folks on etiquette.

    1. Observe the basic rules of the online world. Understand that there is no privacy. And anything you post can/will be used against you in the court of public opinion.
    2. Properly cite your sources. Provide a link to your source. If you are quoting a blogger, mention their name and link their name to the blog post your are quoting. (At the very least, link to their Facebook or Twitter account.) Make sure you spell their name correctly… I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been quoted on a site with my name spelled incorrectly. How rude.
    3. Understand the relationship between blogger and reader is reciprocal. The blogger gives you something to read and think about. If you take the time to read it, the reader should either respond with a comment, “like” the post so your friends can see you like it, retweet it, bookmark it, or share it on your favorite RSS reader.
    4. Give credit where credit is due. Were you inspired to write something from another blogger? Than give a hat tip in your post. (You see this as HT to name. It’s also fine to say, “Adam McLane recently wrote about ____.”) Bloggers know what they’ve written about recently. Trust me, it’s rude to see people using your ideas without giving you credit.
    5. Be careful when using proper nouns. That may sound silly, but you have to be conscious that your online rant may impact someone’s online reputation. (Or business or organization) I’m not saying it’s rude to call someone out… just be careful about it.
    6. Don’t steal images. Just because you found something on Google images or Flickr doesn’t mean it is free for you to use!
    • Use your own images.
    • Create your own.
    • Use images published under a Creative Commons license, properly cited and linking back, from Flickr. (Share and share alike. If you use CC images, make sure to post some as well!) Just make sure to read the usage rights… typically using an image for commercial purposes is a no-no.
    • Buy stock photography from iStockphoto or something similar.

    Just like in a sport– there aren’t always dramatic consequences when you breach etiquette. But there are social ramifications! Trust me, people are watching what you do online. They are making judgements about your abilities and character. Just like you try to act polite and use proper etiquette in the physical world… you are responsible for your own actions online.

    Have an etiquette question? Leave a comment and I will add to the list as needed.

  • Encourage One Another

  • Facebook Morphs Blogging Again

    adam-head-09-100px-squareBlogging, by very nature, is a fluid art. Just a few years ago I thought I was pretty slick because I could journal on my computer using Microsoft Word. Flash forward a few years, to around 2000, and I learned that I could take those Word documents and convert them to webpages. It was cumbersome and I didn’t do it very often… but it was awesome. Then Blogger.com took “the web log” out of the hands of the HTML king and made blogging accessible to just about anyone willing to give it a shot. I was fasinated that I could link to friends blogs and that we could leave comments for one anothers posts. A few years later, 2005-2006 and Typepad and WordPress suddenly made it possible for blogs to live on their own domain easily.

    In 2007-2008, blogging became all about search and syndication. I started seeing my stats level off while I could tell my reach greatly extended. RSS (really simple syndication) made my content portable and SEO (search engine optimization) got my blog noticed high in Google search results.

    facebook2009 has seen blogging morph again. Facebook’s power in the adult demographic has brought blog syndication to a whole new level. Now my posts appear on my Facebook friend’s timeline, so a whole new audience of people has been added to the pool of people who read my blog. When they comment that ends up on their friends timeline, which greatly expands the pool of people reading and commenting on my stuff. (Though there isn’t yet a matrix for this so that’s a bit frustrating.) In the past few months I’ve run into tons of people who read my blog and I have no idea who they are or how they got here… but it’s awesome!

    More noticeably, in the past few months I’ve noticed a steep uptick in folks who read my blog posts exclusively on Facebook and comment there as well. Often times, I’m left with a post which generates two separate conversations. Which is really cool! On top of that, Twitter has further expanded my blogs discussion and reach. While there is some overlap, Twitter is mostly a different audience for my content.

    Wagon_WheelGoing forward, adammclane.com is now and will continue to be the hub of my online presence. It feeds RSS, search results, Facebook, and Twitter. I think of the personal blog as the engine that powers everything else. That said, my recommendation for beginners has begun to morph. You can certainly do the same thing with a WordPress.com blog (free) or even a Facebook account.

    And since I know about 75% of the people who are reading this post will never make it to adammclane.com, here are some ways we can connect. We can be Facebook friends. You can follow me on Twitter. We can pool links on delicious. You can be a contact on Flickr. You can subscribe to my blog via RSS. But you can’t be my Myspace friend. That’s so 2005.

  • How Not to Be a Jerk

    jerk-city

    I’ve noticed a crazy pattern. Help me understand it.

    Cause: A Christian leader will say or blog or tweet or Facebook something over-the-top. Hey, it happens. The way things are these days, an unfiltered moment can easily get recorded.

    Effect: Someone calls them on it. Maybe it’s a blog post or maybe it’s just a comment that says something like, “Um, that’s whack!”

    Cause: That blog post, comment, or tweet draws even more attention to the original outlandish thing.

    Effect: The once tiny statement, in context or out of context, starts getting mentioned to that leaders often enough where they think they have to respond. Maybe his co-workers mention it to him or maybe he’s gotten some emails or phone calls about it or maybe his statement ends up on a big name blog with a headline, “Christian leader thinks ______.”

    [Pause] This is where a critical choice is made. The leader, who now feels exposed, has to chose what to do next. The smartest thing to do is to either apologize for the stupid statement or at a minimum just move on. About 90% of people do this. But lately a new option has taken on popularity. The original offender goes on the offensive against the person who has called them out. It’s like a train wreck from here on out! [unpause]

    Cause: The Christian leader rallies his troops (friends, fans, staff) to defend him. It sounds noble, but it’s really throwing gasoline onto a smoldering fire. By taking a victims position these troops are poised to stand up and cry foul. Here comes the Christianese.

    Effect: The person who originally mentioned the statement is blind-sided by tons of comments and emails demanding that he stop attacking this leader. Typically, without a leg to stand on, these troops will go the politically correct angle and say, “Who are you to call this persons integrity into question” or “do you think this is glorifying to God to defame ____?” In effect, two wrongs don’t make a right. The person who called out the leader is now put on the defensive simply for bringing up that the leader said something outlandish.

    Cause: The Christian leader uses his platform (blog, Facebook, Twitter account, or even pulpit) to joke about how he has haters. Maybe he even makes fun of the person who brought it up in the first place? His aim in doing this is deflect the impact of his original offensive remark by pointing out how the person who called him out is a worse sinner than he is.

    Effect: The community of people who have observed this entire exchange are left with less respect for Christian leaders.

    My point? If you say something stupid, just acknowledge it, apologize for it, and move on. Taking it this far is buying a ticket for Jerk City. I really think that leaders who pursue the steps after the [pause] are just insecure in their position. In other words, you don’t see people who have been in visible positions for a long time getting tangled up in this sort of thing. They’ve learned that the best response is just to recognize their mistake and apologize as soon as possible.

    For the record, I’ve been on every side of this story! I just hope I’m growing up enough to buy a lot fewer tickets to Jerk City.

  • Is Twitter Killing Blogs?

    The youth ministry world has seen a decline in the quantity and quality of youth ministry blogs. I don’t have any research to back that statement up, but as a person who spends his life blogging the world of youth ministry I can say that I find it harder and harder to find great blog posts about youth ministry. The known bloggers have gotten better, and there are plenty of youth groups who have a blog as their groups website. But by and large I find it harder and harder to find the middle of the road youth worker who is just blogging about day-to-day challenges.

    The flip side is that I see a huge increase in the number of Facebook users and Twitter users in the youth ministry world.

    – Does this represent a change from the personal website to mass microblogging?

    – Is it that blogging, as a fad, is fading?

    – Is it that I’m just stuck up and I don’t see some new bloggers out there who are doing a great job?

    – Or has Twitter provided a more immediate outlet for youth workers to connect? Is it just faster and easier?

    p.s. If you’re not already a friend of mine on Facebook or following me on Twitter consider yourselves invited.

  • Off to Pittsburgh

    As I write this I am in the San Diego airport on my way to my second NYWC as a YS staffer. It’s still pretty cool! Yes, I am going to NYWC as a YS staff person… how cool is that? Yes, the travel away from family end of things stinks… but I still count myself as one of the luckiest men alive to have this job.

    For the next 5 days I get to do what my soul aches to do… tell youth workers from all over that their work is important to the Kingdom. Here on my blog you’ve witnessed my recent deconstruction of some of the things I don’t like about church. This is because I love the church enough to want to see her adapt to the world we live in to reach the people of this day.

    I’ve got a lot to do so I can make no promises about keeping up on my blog. As I write this I’m working on about 4 other hot projects. Everything from booking future episodes of the YS podcast to trying to figure out why Bluehost bricked our websites earlier today. Of course, once things kick off on Friday you’ll be able to catch all the action at our live blog page… but that’s not really the same, is it?

    So, if I miss a few posts it’s only because God is doing amazing things in my midst. To sound extra important, “I’m busy doing the King’s business.”

    I’m fully aware of what I’ve given up in order to do this gig. For some reason hanging out with thousands of youth workers reminds me that I’m not a full time youth pastor any more. And so I invite your questions. Those of you who gave up their “Pastor Adam” for this… what do you want to know about my work in Pittsburgh this weekend? Ask anything and I’ll be as transparent as I’ve always been.

  • My blog ate my posts!

    Super quick note regarding missing posts. I don’t know what happened. They were there this morning, lots and lots of comments. Tonight I saw they were gone.

    I was able to report them just now… they were all back dated a bit to try to get them in the right place.

    As for the comments, sadly they are all in the database but not linked to the right post and therefore won’t show up. I am really sad about that because there were so many great thoughts!

    This is total behind the scenes stuff. But I’ll be moving my personal and friend’s blogs to another host soon.

  • YS Video Podcast

    Here’s a project that I help lead. We just launched our new weekly podcast at YS. I know the majority of my blog readers are not youth workers… so this may give you a tiny insight into my new gig.

    Also check out the YS Blog. I help put that together as well.

  • What am I working on?

    Here’s a quick rundown of the things I’m up to over at YS.

    #1 I post regularly at the new YS blog.  Here are 3 posts you should check out. Big vision for Cabot. Youth Workers Who Twitter. Carrie Clausen and Her Youth Group. I’m loving the blog. It’s really a fun way to connect people together.

    #2 The big 3 of social networking. I spend some time each day talking with people on Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. If you want to friend us, follow us, or join our group just click on the links. 

    #3 Custom social networks for our events. This is very unique to YS. We’ve created full-blown custom social networks for people coming to our flagship event, National Youth Workers Convention. Here’s the one for folks headed to Sacramento in October. So far there are a total of seven websites associated with NYWC this fall. I’m helping the YS convention get web-o-riffic in a hurry. 

    #4 Relaunching the podcast. Starting very soon is a brand new format to the YS podcast. I’ll bring some of the flavor of the YMX podcast to YS as well as some other cool features. Keep an eye on this page. We’ve got the first few episodes ready to go… great content in the new format!

    #5 YMX stuff. Since YS purchased YMX back in June things have changed only slightly. Seriously, I think the only thing that got changed was the privacy policy and about us pages. The first change is coming soon as YMX will host the next generation of the website, YM Women. There will be a special section of the website dedicated to women in youth ministry. I think this is a cool compliment to the HERstory conference that meets at NYWC. Looking forward to YMX going to “generation two” of its existence.

    #6 Experimental stuff. Just think of my office as Area 51 for YS. OK, not really. But I’m always playing with new ideas and seeing what will work or not work on the social media front. When I first started I talked to the internet team about “Adam’s sandbox.” I said, “Just give me some place I can create things, try out things, play with ideas and strategies, and basically do things with no fear of failure.” So I’ve got room to do that! I love knowing that everything I try has to be safe enough to succeed. Think of a lot of what I do as Google Labs. Some experiments make it past beta testing and some don’t. 

    What about you? What are you up to at the job these days?

  • Top Five Posts of July

    #1 Goodbye Creepy Guy (here’s why)

    #2 Shutting Down Missingmoney.com

    #3 3 Lies of Church Growth Experts

    #4 $200 Asterisk for the iPhone 3G

    #5 Vision, Goal, and Mission Statements

    The power of google. That’s why most of those top 5 are there. People are searching for something that brings them here…. welcome! And it’s also worth noting that you’ve helped me get one of the highest vote tally’s at this contest. Thanks for reading this month. I can’t wait to journey the next 30 days of my life. It’s gonna be great.