- Recent
- Popular
- Tags (0)
- Subscribers (1)
- The real reason Twitter beat the snot out of PownceDecember 10 2008
-
Twitter gives our mundane lives meaning, that’s why it beat the snot out of a more ‘feature-rich’ Pownce.
To prove my point, let’s rewind about a year and a half ago to Tamar Weinberg’s comparison entitled ‘Twitter vs. Pownce: Who Pwns?‘ Dutifully she does what many of us do while shopping for software, cars, and food processors - she compares and scores the features of one product against another to a conclusion that reads:Pownce 5, Twitter 3. Pownce wins!
There’s only one problem with that approach, while features may sell a product, it is ultimately functionality that sustains a product; software or otherwise.
Which is why I think Scoble succinctly hits the nail on the head while unwittingly predicting Pownce’s demise in his Twitter vs. Pownce post also from early July 2007:
“But, anyway, I still like Twitter the best. Why? No complications. It does only one thing. I find that on my cell phone I go back to Twitter before I go back to any of the others. It’s lightweight.”
Put another way, when it comes to microblogging, Twitter has it all over Pownce because it makes it easy to do the one thing we all want from microblogging - making the mundane instances of our lives meaningful, while learning new things about our friends without coming off like a stalker.
Disagree as some “new media marketeers” might, the reason we like Twitter is the same reason we fell in love with Blogger, it got out of the way and let us opine reflectively about how our cats would join us in contemplating the lint in our navels.
For example, why anyone would follow my own Twitter page is beyond me, yet some find the fact that I fertilize my lawn in December and enjoy smash-mouth football entertaining and interesting.
And like blogging, Twitter easily allows our friends and relatives to quickly comment at their convenience - only with the excellent 140 character excuse for not engaging in exposition and detailed explanations.
All this while providing others context about ourselves that may not come out in our blogs, lectures, books and top-rated podcasts. This latter point is nicely explained in this 2:25 YouTube video from the good folks at the CommonCraft Show aptly entitled ‘Twitter in Plain English.’
- Working with the Wordpress theme Vigilance 1.16December 1 2008
-
I’ve been a bit dissatisfied with the HealYourChurchWebsite look-n-feel since early this summer. After a lengthy search of various WordPress themes, I’ve settled on Vigilance 1.16. Here are some of the reasons why along with some of the things I discovered and/or did to make it more suitable to my tastes.
What I was looking for:
I was looking for a 3 column theme that had a clean look, was configurable, and wouldn’t put be behind the 8-ball with later versions of WordPress.I also wanted to avoid one of these themes offered by various and emerging “clubs” as they tend to focus more on ad revenue generation than providing one’s users with the ability to get things done.
In my case, my users want to get these things done:
- aggregate my posts with ease
- find stuff to help with and/or addresses specific issues
- quickly and easily link and/or copy the title or content on their blogs
- print my posts and read them offline and/or nail them to the door of their church
Some other themes I considered were:
- 5 things we can learn from my 7:40 AM Thanksgiving wake-up callNovember 27 2008
-
I believe it was the slam of a large piece of plywood falling 2 some-odd stories onto other lumber that rudely awoke me at 7:40 AM this Thanksgiving morning. An no, I couldn’t go back to sleep as the hum of a noisy air compressor placed precisely next to the property line driving the pneumatic hammers were equally annoying. That was the scene at my home this holiday.
trash heap at 5244 levering mill rd, apex, nc
D&G Builders of Fuquay Varina proceeded to work on a new house.
A house next door being constructed on behalf of PenfieldHomes.com.
And after a few emails and phone calls to a project manager of construction who informed me that “Mexicans don’t celebrate Thanksgiving like us …”
So after telling said project manger that I didn’
- Study reminds us why we’re always fixing our pastor’s PCsNovember 17 2008
-
“According to Pew, almost half of adults said they needed someone to help them set up or learn how to use their gadgets. Once they finally get them going, however, things aren’t all smooth sailing—44 percent of adults with home Internet connections reported service failure sometime in the last 12 months.”
With apologies to Ars Technica’s Jacqui Cheng for so shamelessly ripping her pithy headline “Study reminds us why we’re always fixing our parents’ PCs” - I only do so because she’s so on target to point out the relevance of a recent Pew Internet & American Life Project report entitled “When Technology Fails.”
So Dean What’s your point? Glad you asked …
Just a quick reminder that any technology we introduce into the operations of our church and/or charitable organization is going to have an infrastructure cost. Here are some specifics from the aforementioned PEW, that though specific to a home setup, translate easily enough to the IT operations of our own religions institutions:
- 44% of those with home internet access say their connection failed to work properly for them a
- 5 things more things about Christian spam email bombing runsNovember 13 2008
-
Ever get that annoying email from a church, friend, and/or family member who ‘accidentally‘ sent a rant to everyone in their address book and/or a group-related email directory? With the recent election, my wife and I have been getting more than our fair share.
And while I’ve written about how to address ‘Christian SPAM‘ in the recent past, I wanted to share with you my most recent response to what I sub-categorize as Christian SPAM email bombing runs (CSEBRs):
- - - § - - -
Hi {name withheld to protect the guilty};
Next time we get together, make sure I spend about 5 minutes on my laptop showing you 5 cool — and free — things about the web that don’t rock like it’s 1995. For example:
