Twittering?

By now you have probably at least heard of the social network called Twitter.  If you have ever updated your Facebook status, you can use Twitter. It simply asks the question, “What are you doing?“.   You can read more about it in this post from Greg, as well as check out this brief video which explains Twitter in Plain English.

Twitter is being used by some great church leaders and ministries across the world. One of the interesting things about technology is the way it tends to ‘flatten the earth’ when it comes to communications. You have unprecedented access to people who you never could have just a decade ago.  You can see why Mark Batterson, Lead Pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C., likes Twitter here, here, and here.

Fellowship Student Ministries now has a Twitter account as well.  We will be using this account for quick updates, announcements and other communications of interest to UNITED events and Life Groups.  I strongly encourage you to give Twitter a try. Even if you don’t want to sign up for Twitter yourself, you can still follow FSM by sending the following text message to 40404 ‘follow fsmunited‘  (only drop the quotes).  This will allow you to receive text messages about FSM without joining Twitter.

Here are some good resources to help you understand and get started with Twitter:

• Getting to Know Twitter FAQ’s
  
• Official Twitter Commands
• Using Twitter on your Phone
• Newbies Guide to Twitter

Oh yea, you can also follow Ryan on Twitter also!

Get Connected!

Thanks to Greg Davis, my blog now has integration with Facebook via a new feature called “Facebook Connect“.  By connecting your Facebook profile with my blog, you can have trusted and authenticated social interaction, that you control the settings for.

By clicking the “Connect with Facebook” button on the right-hand side of the blog, you’ll have to authorize (“connect”) your Facebook profile with this site.  You only have to do this once, then future visits to my site you’ll already be logged in via your Facebook account.

If you read this blog via a newsreader or via email subscriptions, please visit the site and “connect“.  Other interactive features that this provides is the ability to easily share an interesting post with your friends on Facebook as well as the ability to automatically share comments you leave on a posted article into your Facebook news feed (you can turn that off if you like).

The beauty of social media is the ability and ease to connect with each other. Facebook Connect allows sites like this one to extend that integration and connection even beyond the boundaries of Facebook itself.  Give it a try and let me know what you think!  (Try connecting and leaving a comment on this post).