Is Posterous the future of blogging and social media?

I recently started experimenting with Posterous. I use it as a way of sharing twitter pictures and videos. It’s really quick & easy to use and it’s a tidy & attractive spot to store things. Here’s my posterous account: davemiers.posterous.com

davemiers.posterous.com

Having now used it for a couple of weeks, I think it’s much more than just a place to store pics. While I’d probably still recommend WordPress (free or self-hosted) as a more flexible and comprehensive platform for blogging, Posterous is a really good way to do quick and simple blogging. Read more below…

Continue reading “Is Posterous the future of blogging and social media?”

Windows 7 Super Cheap, It’s Not Cheating!

Microsoft have some sweet deals on software for students. They now have their new operation system, Windows 7, available as an upgrade for only $49.95. Check out www.itsnotcheating.com.au for some action. (It’s called www.theultimatesteal.com in the US and it’s $29.99US – click on the icon in the top right corner for other countries)

pic from http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1168889

I’m currently using Vista, I don’t really have a problem with it – it takes a bit of time to boot, but other than that – it does the job! Anyone updated yet? Is it worth it?

Don’t be mastered by Twitter

Graham Stanton wrote a great post today about some of the dangers he’s found since using twitter. He paraphrases 1 Corinthians 6:12 – ‘Twitter is permissible, and may even be beneficial; but I will not be mastered by anything’ and then outlines his strategies for not being mastered by twitter. Here are his four points:

don't be mastered by twitter

4. Missing what’s happening because I’m telling other people what’s happening
3. Being constantly occupied with thinking I should be tweeting something profound
2. Mistaking Twitter for the Bread of Life
1. Living my life for the praise of men

Go read them in full

The picture above is from Portwiture – it grabs the most frequent words from your twitter feed and matches them with a relevant (and random) picture from flickr. (h/t church crunch)

Social Media Revolution

Check out this video about social media. It’s aim is to show that “Social Media isn’t a fad, it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate.” Fascinating stuff.

They source Socialnomics for all the stats. My favourite quote: “Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web” – this is a good thing… I think.

(h/t communicate Jesus)

Free Video Teaching for Churches

“High-quality video teaching for churches everywhere… for free!” That’s the claim from videoteaching.com – a website recently launched by LifeChurch.tv. I hope that it will be a useful resource for preaching Jesus. Check out the about page. What do you think?

www.videoteaching.com

They have 14 preachers providing sermons from their church to share on the site: 4 of them I know and like; a whole bunch I don’t know well enough to comment; and then there’s some who are a bit sketchy. Here’s the full list:

  • Mark Batterson
  • Francis Chan
  • Wayne Cordeiro
  • Mark Driscoll
  • Jentzen Franklin
  • Steven Furtick
  • Scotty Gibbons
  • Craig Groeschel
  • Brian Houston
  • Clayton King
  • John Lindell
  • Perry Noble
  • Dino Rizzo
  • Paul Scanlon

YouTube + Twitter + Facebook = YouTwitFace

“In the year 3000, YouTube, Twitter & Facebook will merge into 1 super time-wasting site called YouTwitFace.” – Conan O’Brien (h/t Hayesy via tweetski). It’s easy to waste time online! True dat. There’s even been a bit of a trend in some tech-embracing churches to encourage twittering during the sermon. Last week, Josh Harris wrote a good counter piece on why he’d be discouraging his congregation from tweeting during the sermon and John Piper, likewise, had some good gear on the “difference between communion with God and commenting on communion with God.” Wise words of caution.

don't be a twitface

Here’s some more gold from Piper on why and how he will be tweeting:

I see two kinds of response to social Internet media like blogging, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and others.

One says: These media tend to shorten attention spans, weaken discursive reasoning, lure people away from Scripture and prayer, disembody relationships, feed the fires of narcissism, cater to the craving for attention, fill the world with drivel, shrink the soul’s capacity for greatness, and make us second-handers who comment on life when we ought to be living it. So boycott them and write books (not blogs) about the problem.

The other response says: Yes, there is truth in all of that, but instead of boycotting, try to fill these media with as much provocative, reasonable, Bible-saturated, prayerful, relational, Christ-exalting, truth-driven, serious, creative pointers to true greatness as you can.

Read the rest

His response to social media reminds me of my #2 reason for blogging.

Don’t be a twitface.