Tag: facebook

  • Facebook Land Grab

    FaceBook-256x256Last night’s chaos on Facebook was a fascinating display of “why not to be afraid of internet rumors.” Millions of people anxiously waited online staring at facebook.com/username/ hoping that they could register their name as a vanity URL. I participated in a lively chat on Mashable last night, there was a lot of anxiety, silliness, and even some worry leading up to the big moment. Would the site crash? Would people be able to get their URLs?

    I’m a social media junkie and I needed to make sure that I was a part of it. Plus, I needed to make sure I secured two page names for YS that were eligible.

    Think about the rules for a second and you’ll realize why it was silly to be in a panic:

    – Each individual could name their account one URL. Most people are going to take their name or their Twitter handle or a knickname. Since the URL isn’t transferrable (like website names are) and you can’t ever change it. Unless your name is really popular you don’t have much to worry about.

    – Pages with more than 1,000 fans could name their eligible fan page one URL. Think about it. That’s a lot of fans. (Probably 1% of pages) What do you think they are going to select? The name of their group/company/band or say… facebook.com/Kroger.

    – Any trademark holder was invited to come early and protect their trademarks. This was done to prevent individuals from naming their accounts facebook.com/Lakers

    – Behind the scenes Facebook handled URLs and redirects for major companies, bloggers, and celebrities. This prevented people from squatting on accounts for people like Ashton Kutcher, Miley Cyrus, and CNN.

    Of course that doesn’t mean there isn’t some controversy out there. Over then next few weeks some awesome squatting will come to light. My favorite one so far is facebook.com/Barack. Well done Tomas, well done. Certainly there will be some squatting. But since the URL can’t be sold, transfered or even gifted… there really isn’t a benefit to squatting on someone’s URL.

    For those of us who live in an “under 1000 fans” world, the next land grab is 6/28. That’s when Facebook opens up vanity URLs to groups, causes, and smaller pages. There wasn’t much chaos created last night. The real damage comes 6/28.

  • Adam’s Rules for Twitter

    twitter-rules

    You’ve seen my rules for blogging. With many people using the social media 360—  blogging, Facebook, and Twitter simultaneously– I thought it would be helpful to share my Twitter rules. These guide my use of the site and I think would act as a good primer for those getting into it.

    Rule #1: Don’t forget the question. The primary use of Twitter is to tell people what you are doing. It’s easy to get lost in conversation and treat Twitter like a chat room. With that in mind I try not to @reply the same person back and forth in conversation. I am quick to take the conversation to a phone call, email, or direct message. The power of Twitter is seeing that all of our lives are fascinatingly mundane. Focus on that and you’ll be fine.

    Rule #2: It’s not about the numbers. There’s a lot of locker room-styled comparisons going on with who has the biggest following. Just like in real life, it’s not size that’s important. (See rule #1) If you are interesting to people you will attract a larger following. Joining a website that promises 10,000 followers or endlessly participating in #followfriday in hopes that you’ll add just 3 more followers is only going to make your use of Twitter less enjoyable and you more annoying to follow. I allow anyone to follow me. But for my personal account I only follow back who I want to follow back. I read every profile when someone follows me… and I follow back just those whom look interesting. For business accounts I follow everyone back who follows those accounts.

    Rule #3: Don’t follow then unfollow just to build a following. Follow only who you want to follow. It is rude to follow someone so they will follow you back only to then go and unfollow them. That’s rude. I can’t tell you how many people do that to me. And they probably think I’m rude because I don’t play along.

    Rule #4: Retweet, @reply, and compliment often. It’s good form to reply to every @reply. On my personal account, I do my best to @reply to everyone who @replies to me. Remember, Twitter can be a fun place for networking, idea sharing, and community. Be aware that @replies help your followers meet and get to know one another.

    Rule #5: Pimp your content, but pimp it lightly. In the early days of Twitter there was backlash when you’d post links to your blog or other content. I don’t think it’s a big deal to Tweet links to your content, just do it lightly. (Mention it once, then move on.) Then again, if all you use Twitter for is posting links to your content… that won’t be interesting enough to draw a following.

    Rule #6: Keep private stuff private. Avoid the social fax paux of over-sharing on Twitter. No one wants to know that you are taking a dump, getting drunk with friends, or just made out with your girlfriend. Sharing where you are eating, who you are out with, or TwitPic’s of your best friend passed out while taking a dump… perfectly fine though. That’s for the public interest.

    Rule #7: It’s OK to have multiple accounts. I know people who have public accounts and private accounts. I have personal accounts, work accounts, and special interest accounts. All of this is fine. It helps people follow only the stuff that they actually want.

    Rule #8: Hashtags are for tracking stuff. It’s OK to use them just for fun or sarcasm. I do it all the time. But if you aren’t at an event or a concert and you use their hashtag just because everyone else is, you look stupid. Even if you are at the event make sure you only tag tweets that are relevant to the event.

    Rule #9: Don’t be a whore. I teach people how to tactfully self-promote themselves. I think that is fine. But don’t sell your account for marketing tweets and don’t use twitter to enter marketing promotions. Since Twitter won’t do anything about this and has allowed bots to create squatting accounts, this is why I think Twitter is the next Myspace.

  • Signs of Health

    workinprogressmalletI’ve been open about my struggles to find a healthy work pace. I’m not sure why but I have an innate tendency to want to be plugged into work 24/7. This isn’t new… I’ve been this way since high school. I remember stopping in on the little restaurant I worked at on my nights off just to see how things were going. That habit has pretty much continued up through today! I always want to know how things are going.

    Full time ministry just made it worse. After all, checking email or making a phone call to a student on your day off is ministry and how can that be bad? Jesus wouldn’t want them to have to wait… would he? With all due respect, the staff at the church just loved the fact that Adam was always available, always game, always willing to answer the call. My work in churches took some horrible tendencies and labeled them as reliable.

    When I started at YS a year ago I dealt with a bit of culture shock. I would send e-mails on Friday night that wouldn’t get read until Monday. I would stay late and have co-workers tell me to go home. I’d respond to emails at 10 or 11 PM and get made fun of. It was actually frustrating at first. It took me some time to recognize that I wasn’t seeing a lack of dedication… I was encountering healthy work habits.

    It’s taken me a long time to begin to break some of these habits. It’s taken this long to wake up to the reality that it was me who needed to change my habits. In the past few months I’ve thought a ton about the idea of sustainability and pace. Reality is that I have a natural tendency to want to increase the pace at the cost of my personal health and the relationships with my family. The pace at which I desire to work simply isn’t sustainable. In the past few months I’ve constantly been telling myself, “Slow down.”

    The last two weekends have been great signs of health.

    – Never checked work email.

    – No responding to Facebook messages that were work related.

    – Didn’t check up on all of the websites, stats, numbers… OK, I did that once or twice. (Dangit!)

    – Spent excessive amounts of time with family and friends.

    – Said “no” to things that were outside of my goals/responsibilities right now.

    – Was not the first one to arrive nor the last one to leave the office at all last week.

    I still have a long, long way to go in establishing healthy and sustainable habits. But these are signs of health. It’s like after you start working out… it takes a few weeks until you start to feel the difference. And I hope the people in my life who are most important are starting to feel the difference.

    What about you? What are some boundaries you have established that help you have a sustainable work pace?

  • Top 5 iPhone Apps I Use

    As they say, my dock is full. Kristen and I have been iPhone users for a couple of months now. So far we love it! One unintended consequence of using iPhone is that our monthly cell phone bill actually went down. Never expected that.

    Like most users, I actually use the phone part of the iPhone very little. That said, I use the iPod and wireless device parts all day. As of right now, here are the 5 apps I use the most.

    tweetieTweetie. I should clarify. Up until last night my most used app was Twitterfon. But Twitterfon was stupid and decided to drop a bunch of ads on their latest upgrade. I hate silent upgrades that dump in ads. I mean, I get it that they need revenue and all, but don’t ruin an app to do it! Anyway, Tweetie is a great Twitter app. It allows me to manage all my various accounts.

    yelp-icon100x100Yelp. I already use Yelp to post quick reviews of stuff as well as read up on places I want to visit. Now when I’m on the go I can use Yelp’s community driven review sites to chose places to eat… and even find addresses to places that are hard to find. (I like stuff that’s way off the beaten path!)

    mint-iphone-iconMint. Kristen and I use Mint to track all of our finances. So having a Mint iPhone app is a total bonus. This allows me to keep an eye on our accounts, spending, budget, and investments anywhere I am. If you are a an iPhone user but don’t use Mint… you should really think about checking it out. It is pretty powerful.

    google-reader-iphoneGoogle Reader. Technically, I don’t think this is an app. But if you bookmark it in Safari it becomes this sweet little app on your dock. I use Google Reader all day, everyday for my job. So being able to scan through endless vanity searches, twitter searches, and of course blog posts is essential. I love being able to read, share, and comment on stuff no matter where I am. As a few friends have pointed out… they can tell when I’m on the trolley because I’m sharing a lot!

    facebook-iconFacebook. What social media person wouldn’t love to have a mobile Facebook that is, in some ways, better than the web version? I love posting pictures and changing my status with my iPhone. So much less clutter.

    A few people have asked me to put together a list of apps for youth ministry. Give me a few weeks and I’ll definitely be posting about that.

  • 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.

  • 5 Reasons I Love Social Networking

    The last 12 months has seen a major shift in how people view social networking. A year ago most adults (who weren’t in youth ministry) said the word “Myspace” with a suspicious scowl. If they used it they kept it on the downlow.

    Now everyone has Facebook. (150 million users and growing every second; it would be one of the largest countries in the world by population.) Now, most everyone is jumping on Twitter and getting completely addicted to that. The swarm of humanity has taken what was done in the margins and brought it to the mainstream. It’s a beautiful thing!

    As a person who “lives online” through my work, I thought I would share 5 things I love about social networking.

    1. Meeting new people. I’m pretty brave so I’ve taken to joining meet-up groups and showing up to meet people who share a special interest. It’s really not as creepy or as weird as I thought it’d be.

    2. Learning stuff about people I already know. The “25 random things” meme on Facebook has reached legend status. I’ve been tagged on that thing probably 50 times and I don’t mind reading them all.

    3. Reconnecting with long lost friends. Sure, there is the occasional misfire as a person who was a jerk to you in 8th grade friend requests you or wants to follow you on Twitter. But over all, I’ve had amazing reconnections.

    4. Getting exposed to the good stuff. This is especially true on Twitter! If there is anything new and noteworthy, social networking sites are all over it way, way before it hits the mainstream media. I suppose that’s both good and bad as there is such a thing as being too current on stuff. Also, a danger to this is that it’s hard sometimes to distinguish right away what is actually newsworthy.

    5. Instant feedback. Who needs focus groups anymore? I can pop an idea on Twitter of my Facebook status and get 25-50 responses right away.

    What about you? What are things you love about social networking?

  • A Few Ways to Connect with Me

    Maybe you’re ready to take this relationship to the next level? Let’s say you come to Adam McLane’s site every day. And you’re thinking to yourself… “Adam, I dig what you have to say. What are some ways you can check out what else I do online?” Here are a few ways I suggest you do that.

    #1 Subscribe to my RSS feed. This will make sure you get every post delivered to your RSS reader, iGoogle homepage, or even by email.

    #2 Subscribe to the YS Podcast. You’ll see my pretty face each week on the weekly show that I host. Sure, it isn’t much… but it’s just enough Adam McLane to not feel like a total stalker. Don’t use iTunes? Subscribe via YouTube.

    #3 Join my delicious network. Now we’re getting serious. (Rounding 2nd base!) Each day I bookmark all sorts of things. Blog posts, news stories, adolescent research studies, new websites, and all manner of web goodness. Like the links in the YS newsletters? This is like the full monty of that.

    #4 Check out my shared items on Google Reader. These are blogs that I read on a daily basis and posts that I think are worth sharing. In other words, let me filter through the lame stuff for you.

    #5 Follow me on Twitter. If you’re curious what I’m up to 10-20 times per day, I post to this micro-blogging site in 140 characters or less.

    #6 Be my friend on Facebook. You won’t find me on Myspace anymore. I haven’t deleted my account, but I never ever go there. You will find me a lot on Facebook. Me likey Facebook.

    #7 Of course you can get to know Kristen too. It’s like getting to know our family 360 degrees. Kristen blogs a lot about family life, recipes, contests, and kids books.

    #8 Check out some of our new projects. Kristen and I have started some projects under the umbrella of McLane Creative. Our first project is a collaborative site giving real-world reviews of things to do in San Diego, called Beyond the Zoo.

    #9 Meet me in person. I know, that’s not a Web 2.0 way to get to know me. (What is wrong with me?) But it’s completely practical. If you’re ever in the San Diego area I’d love to get together for a cup of coffee and meet face-to-face. Drop me an email.

  • Giving Thanks


    My family isn’t one that will likely go around the table and share what they are thankful for. But that doesn’t mean I am lacking gratitude this Thanksgiving. Here’s a few things I’m especially thankful for.

    #1 I am thankful for my red hot smokin’ wife, who is a stone cold fox, and two kids, Walker and Texas Ranger. (Oh wait, that’s Ricky Bobby…) I am thankful for Kristen, Megan, and Paul. They bring immense, intense, wild, fight-club-worthy joy to my life.
    #2 I am thankful for all things San Diego. From our neighborhood, to our new church family, to my friends at YS, to the beachy goodness, to all things Mexican food and sushi.
    #3 I am thankful for getting to invest in the lives of so many youth workers around the globe. Marko expressed this much better than I could, check out this video.
    #4 I am thankful for Youtube, who just started offering widescreen video and all the fun I will have with that.
    #5 I am thankful for Steve and all my friends at Apple Computer, I’m glad I finally saw the light.
    #6 I am thankful for Snickers. Dang they are good.
    #7 I am thankful for Facebook and all of the old friends I’ve reconnected with.
    #8 I am thankful for Andy Marin. I praise God that He has raised up a man willing to stand in front of 5,000+ people and proclaim himself, “The gayest straight man in America.” I’m happy to call him a friend and I join him in praying that the church would continue to love the GLBT community.
    #9 I’m thankful for Free Speech, that I don’t have to worry about getting sued if I call someone’s ideas stupid.
    #10 I am thankful the thousands of “mmm’s” I heard at NYWC this fall as speaker’s spoke truth into leaders lives.
    #11 I am thankful for the genius feature on iTunes.
    #12 I am thankful for the Chargers, Irish, Wolverines, Spartans, and any other sports team I care about in 2008 sucking so I could concentrate on other things.
    #13 I am thankful for the dress code at YS.
    #14 I am thankful for horchata.
    #15 I am thankful for pretty things, like Gmail’s new themes, sunsets at Ocean Beach, and odd wildlife in our backyard.
    #16 I am thankful for Wii Fit as there is nothing quite like watching your 5 year old do yoga.
    #17 I am thankful for former students. They encourage me, join my crazy conversations, challenge me, and inspire me to keep going as I watch them stumble towards faith.
    #18 I am thankful for a lot of things, big and small this year.

    How about you, what are you thankful for?

  • 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.

  • Oops. A little over technology

    It seems my eagerness to spread the word about the YS podcast may have actually hurt our distribution a little. I think the right word is “counterproductive.”

    With the new format for the podcast I thought it would be helpful to cross-publish it a few places. So you may have seen it pop up on Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, and Blip. This is fine, and the numbers of viewers of the podcast have been great.

    The factors

    1. Blip.tv. Blip is cool because it has a great interface. As a content publisher I love the fact that I can upload a video, it gets published there… then I can select a bunch of places to crosspost. So I upload at blip and it does all the work for me to send it other places. (Facebook, myspace, twitter, and blogs)

    2. iTunes. Unfortunately, one of the places it sends the podcast is iTunes. And since we already use another way to publish podcast to iTunes the double feed gets both banned! (iTunes fixes the problem, but it is embarrassing and ends up making the show harder to find for th 24 hours it takes.)

    The lessons to learn.

    Being overeager sometimes has negative results. My initial reaction to “put it everywhere” had some negative implications.

    Good content will get found. To the core of my web-being I know this to be true. I know that less channels is better for content than more channels. This was just a case of trying to jump ahead of the curve… and in the end it hasn’t worked out.