The news is so unfortunate, but true. Google Reader will be no more and so by this summer, if you want to continue using RSS feeds, you will need to find an alternative. Many of you have said you like Feedly. I cannot agree more, in fact I wrote an article on Feedly two months before the announcement and how much I loved their iOS application.
The unfortunate part is that at the current experience, no alternative can give you the exact same experience that Google Reader does, here’s why.
WordPress is a great platform for so many different reasons, including its power as a framework and flexibility with different themes and plugins that can take one website structure, be utilized by millions of different people, and each experience is both unique and great. You already know that we love Standard Theme by the 8bit team, but we have never formally come out with what plugins we use for this site.
Before we get into the plugins, let me reiterate for those that do not know my stance. Plugins are great, but can cause a lot of problems if not used sparingly. Each plugin you use requires database calls, hooks into the WordPress theme, and sometimes unnecessary clutter, so be picky about what you use. Too many plugins can cause your site to run slowly or even crash it and deliver it dead on arrival. I personally subscribe to a minimalist approach with plugins, only using the ones I absolutely need and I would urge you to have that same precaution.
Bloggers have a story to share, pastors have a message to get to the world, and ministries have an urgency to let souls hear the Gospel. We all have something that we need people to read online and this glorious tension comes with trying to get people to see your content. Unfortunately, some people are misguided into believing that the best option is to spam, even if they do not feel like it is spamming or we should be willing to make an exception because your message is just too good to miss. (Reality check, it’s not) So here are three tips to re-echo from the video on bloggers and spammers.
I have been mulling over this idea of whether I should keep the 78P Facebook Page or not for quite some time now and I decided to settle it once and for all with my friend Dustin Stout from dustn.tv. He has his own opinions on Facebook and recently went through the process of deleting his page, so I wanted to get some insight from him on why he did it and if I should too.
While the video tells of what ended up happening, the article below shares why I came to this decision.
This year is the year of growing into the brand as last year was a strong year of simply establishing who we were, networking to get the name out, and creating some great content for 78P and the other blogging friends that we love. It should also be noted that these are all of our goals for the blog, including how we will use social media as well as network with other bloggers and viewers. We want to take the finest parts of our blog that have the greatest potential for growth and so we are putting all of our eggs in this basket.
Each week, we scour the web for great articles on youth ministry, social media, and blogging and offer the best of them to you. Here is what we have found to be good reads this week. If you find something you like, let us know what and leave them a comment on their blog.
This is a season of change for 78P as we addressed already. We have been hyping this eBook on Google+ for the past month and we are excited to finally release it to you. The hope is that this will become a great resource for you to use to start your church social media strategy or take what you have and improve it.
This will not be some ordinary, static eBook, but something we are going to experiment with you. Here is a short excerpt of our vision for the eBook:
