Catholic Tech Talk

I was listening to the latest This Week in Google today, fascinated by the conversation the panel was having about the recent changes to Google Reader. I was especially surprized when most of the panel said that they don’t use feed readers any more to get content delivered to them but instead rely on Twitter, [...]

Here’s a few thoughts on what the Church can learn from the Netflix/Qwikster debacle. The blog post I mention is available here; Marc Cardaronella replied to it here and I replied to his reply.

Here are some of my thoughts on Google+ after one month. Leave your thoughts in the comment box!

One of the (good) problems about the Church is that she has a lot to say about a lot of things. This is good because the Church is concerned with many things and brings to bear the Gospel message on all facets of human life. It is a problem because wading through all the writings [...]

I’ll get to the bottom line first: Brandon Vogt has edited one of the most important books on Catholics in the online world — not so much because of its ruminations on the Church’s understanding of social communications; not because it shows how to set up a blog or Facebook page (it would quickly be out of date [...]

Picking up from Brad’s excellent post on technology in the Church, I’d like to talk about a communications technology he failed to mention: online meetings. The diocesan office I head started using online meeting software (specifically GoToMeeting) in January of 2009. The immediate impetus was to give some relief to our regional lead principals — some [...]

As I talk with Catholics working in parishes, Catholic schools, and diocesan offices about social media, people often tell me that they don’t “get” Twitter and how it can be used. This is a short video explaining how I personally use Twitter in my work on behalf of the Church.

Twitter was abuzz last week with word that a Chicago parish had warned parishioners against using Facebook, MySpace, and other social media tools. According to the parish bulletin Facebook and other social media violate a person’s privacy as it encourages young people a message to ‘Publicize yourself!’ The problem with this is that one’s pictures, [...]

This weekend I had the opportunity to watch a Twitter meme blossom right before my eyes. On Friday afternoon, in response to a fellow Catholic who had asked “Can someone give me the link to the Catholic Rules For Twitter? I never read it and apparently missed the rule that joking isn’t allowed,” I replied [...]

A few years ago my parish started offering an electronic funds transfer option for Sunday giving: you sign up for the service and a set amount is automatically withdrawn from your checking account every week. No more envelopes! It’s a good system, and I’ve used it to make some one-time gifts, but I’ve resisted going [...]

On March 24 at 7p (CT) I will be offering a follow-up to my previous webinar, Reaching Parishioners with Facebook. This free webinar will focus on constructing a social media strategy for your parish, school, or ministry: You’ve designed the perfect Catholic school web site, set up your parish Facebook page, and got your DRE on [...]

I have a secret weapon I use for our diocesan Facebook page, and it’s Google Alerts. For those who don’t know about it, Google Alerts allows you to set up custom searches in Google and then receive an email whenever a new match occurs. This allows you to discover new content on subjects that interest [...]

Reflecting on Sunday’s big game (go Packers!) and the attendant commercials, I realized that there are some lessons for the Church and how we promote our message in the public square: Don’t be afraid to tag along. Using Twitter during a major even like the Super Bowl is always fun — but Amazon also used [...]

Last November I hosted a breakout session at my diocese’s catechetical conference on “school marketing in the digital age.” I covered the topics you might expect: web sites, social networking tools, etc. But I also spent some time discussing the lowly email. Email tends to get overlooked in favor of text messaging, Facebook, and other [...]

Shortly before Christmas I came across a coupon code for $50 in free advertising from Facebook. I’ve never delved into using ads on social networking sites before, so this seemed like an ideal way to try something new. With Christmas fast approaching, I decided a good use of free advertising would be to invite Facebook [...]

A catechetical colleague recently emailed me to ask about my use of social media — specifically, how much time I spend in social media and do I find it beneficial. Here is my (rambling) response: Yes I think it is beneficial, although I vacillate on just how beneficial. I get something different out of each [...]

At the risk of upsetting a number of good Catholic bloggers (including some friends), I want to talk for a minute about the practice of adding “emphases and comments” to someone else’s work and uploading it as a blog post. [2010-12-10 Author's note - I realize I was unclear here. I'm talking about copying most [...]

A common question I’ve received since my Facebook webinar two weeks ago is: “What is the difference between a group and a page on Facebook? And which should my parish use?” (OK, that’s two questions, but work with me here.) It’s a fair question; on the surface the two seem to be very similar. Both [...]