Catholic Tech Talk

The Parish Website is becoming more and more common.  Most parishioners think the parish needs one, and most Pastors want one.  I’m a firm believer that every parish should have a website.  It’s my firm belief that the parish website’s purpose is to serve as a community hub and 24/7 extension of your parish office. […]

So Google+ Pages went live this past week.  Someone in your parish office or a parishioner might even suggested that your parish set one up.  Then the thought comes to your mind, “Well, we have that Facebook page they told us we should get; why do we need another one somewhere else?”  Good question, and […]

As most know, Google+ launched a while ago and one thing I have particularly loved about it is the strong Catholic user presence on the service.  Up until yesterday the service lacked the ability for organizations and brands to have their own “page” like Facebook Pages.  So the announcement yesterday was very welcome news.  I […]

Facebook pages can have great uses for our parishes, and any Facebook user has probably ‘Liked’ a page or two.  As ‘Admins’ of those pages we know we need to get those ‘Likes’ right?  And building the number of those ‘Likes’ is paramount often times for us too.  But have you ever wondered why someone […]

Yes, I’m an Android user.  One of the first things I looked for was Catholic Apps for Android and found several, but we’ll focus on two here. The first is Catholic One by Aycka Soft.  This free app provides users with: Daily readings Prayers Rosary Access to the NAB Bible (when online only) Aycka Soft has been […]

If you weren’t aware, October has been National Anti-Bullying Month.   When I hear the word “bully”, it sometimes seems harmless.  I picture that kid on the movie A Christmas Story.  The truth is that it’s not harmless.  In recent years it’s even been taken to another level with technology to what is now called […]

This past year I read a great book by Jennifer Haigh called “Faith”.   The story begins in Boston in the 50’s and I remember this one little part standing out to me.  The Mother in the story gets her rosary, sits next to an open window in her apartment, and participates in a group […]

I checked in at Google+ this morning and was surprised to see a user post that he just deactivated his Facebook account.  The question that immediately came up for me, “Why would he do that?”  As online social networking is evolving many are left wondering which one to use or use multiple services.  The other […]

As the conversation continues about technology and the Church, those advocating it’s uses encounter a lot of objections.  The objections interestingly seem to be pretty consistent.  It came up again last night in a phone conversation and today online, and a question has been going through my mind for a while now . . . […]

I’m sure there are Pastors out there getting the constant barrage of “we gotta be on Facebook”, “we gotta be on Twitter”, “we gotta get a better website”, so forth and so on.  I’m also sure that many Pastors are also similarly asking “Why?” which is where the conversation is often taking a “nose-dive”.  I […]

If you’ve stopped into Facebook within the past week or turned on the news, you’ve probably seen and heard about big changes to the service format and features.  You’ve probably seen opinions that range from extreme displeasure to not knowing what to think.  It seems strange that a free internet service causes such huge stirs […]

There’s been a lot of good discussion on Google+ lately in regards to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Catholics over the last week. Craig Berry then came out with a great post “Catholic SEO: A Failing Grade?”  When it comes to how search engines and discovery works on the internet a lot of people get […]

How important is SEO to your web strategy?

“Back in the day” (well, just back in the early days of the web), remember screen names?  You know.  Those wacky “handles” we came up with that allowed use to participate freely in early social platforms without any one knowing our true identity.  We were “redcaper145365” (my apologies to the person who may have actually/still […]

As a manager for over 17 years, numbers have a great deal of importance to me.  The biggest lesson I’ve learned in regards to interpreting data is that numbers “tell a story” and they are a key means to “hearing” your customers.  The great thing about the internet is that a lot of data is […]

Yup, it’s that time of year again . . . Back To School.  Parents are gathering supplies and getting ready for that first day (if it hasn’t already come like here in Florida).  And this year, students may have something different in the backpacks . . . a tablet or ereader.  Many are still trying […]

One of the great things about the iPad has been to truly bring print media such as magazines into the digital world without losing all of the great formatting we enjoy with them.  Now you can get great Catholic magazines this way on your iPad.  As a Florida resident and parishioner in the Diocese of […]

You may have been seeing these wacky-looking little images popping up everywhere.  If you don’t know what they are, they are called QR Codes.  Simply put, a QR Code is an image one can scan with their smartphone that directs the phone for a number of different purposes.  Some of these directions can be: – […]