Common Paradox Tech Blog

Tumblr, one of the simplest blogging platforms around, is doing really well. Situated between Wordpress, which requires a bit more effort to create and organize content, and Twitter, which requires almost no effort but also doesn’t offer many features, Tumblr is the perfect tool for users who want to have a blog with photos, videos, and other content embedded, but simply hasn’t got the time or the will to struggle with a complex blogging platform.

How is this working out for them? Well, according to the neat infographic which they’ve sent us (see below), their traffic and user base is growing fast, and they’ve recently hit some major milestones.

Compared to Twitter, Tumblr is still a small dot on the radar, but it’s definitely growing fast enough to make an impact. The Tumblr team isn’t slacking on the features, either; they recently added the option to add static pages to your blog, as well as dead simple, direct video uploads.

Last but not least, Tumblr plans to launch two revenue generating features next month. Details are scarce (all we know is they’ll be powered by the widget, pictured below, but with constant talk of Twitter’s revenue generating plans (which are still completely open to interpretation), it’ll be interesting to see how Tumblr plans to tackle the issue. Its success (or lack thereof) might pave the way for microblogging networks (although Tumblr arguably stands in the middle, between blogging and microblogging), an area traditionally devoid of revenue.

Reviews: Tumblr, Twitter

Tags: blog, blogging, tumblr

Mark Suster is a Partner at GRP Partners, a Venture Capital firm in Los Angeles. He blogs at Both Sides of the Table and can be found on Twitter at @msuster.

I’m often asked by entrepreneurs and business owners whether it is worth blogging, and if so, what they should blog about. On the first question, the answer is obvious to me — you must blog as an entrepreneur.

In this post I’ll cover why you need to blog, how to determine what to blog about, and finding your blog’s voice.

Why You Must Blog

I believe that blogging in your business is vital to creating a public personae and making your company more accessible. In an era where companies like Zappos have differentiated themselves based on service, it is important to be public and accessible.

My industry of venture capital, for example, has been shrouded in secrecy for 30 years, making the process of raising funds opaque for most entrepreneurs. When I started my first company in 1999, there were almost no public sources of venture capital fund raising information. Years later I discovered the blog of VC Brad Feld, then later VentureHacks, and Fred Wilson’s technology & VC blog, each of which clarified and demystified the venture capital process.

So when I started blogging, I mainly viewed it as “earned media,” or a chance to let entrepreneurs get to know me by sharing my thoughts online with complete transparency; a concept that is repeatable for any business.

In less than a year I’ve attracted a large monthly following of readers who come to my blog to discuss how to build startups, how to raise money, and to get my thoughts on technology markets. By publicly sharing my thoughts, I’ve been able to engage in online discussions with people all over the world, and though it was an unintended consequence, my deal flow has gone up dramatically. In other words, blogging can be a valuable networking tool and help the bottom line.

What Should You Blog About?

Start by defining the audience with whom you want to have a relationship. Presumably they are your customers, partners, suppliers and your broader industry as a whole. You should think about what kind of information they would find valuable. You should also try to talk about something that is differentiated from what other blogs in your field cover, even if your approach is just slightly different or new.

Make sure the topic is something that you’ll have a passion for writing about on a regular basis. If you’re not going to keep up with your blog, you shouldn’t start one in the first place. It’s a commitment, believe me. If you pick a topic that relates to your customers, but you’re not that passionate about it, then you may have a bigger problem on your hands!

The Right and Wrong Way to Blog

Let me give some examples of the right and wrong approach to blogging.

Right: I always liked the Mint.com blog. Even in the early days when they were relatively unknown, they blogged about personal finance. They talked about how to manage credit and balance your bank account — obvious topics for a startup focused on managing personal money. They were able to take a leadership role in talking about managing your money in a way that supported their brand and created a community around their product.

Wrong: A friend of mine has a company in the personal finance space also. His blog was all about how to run a startup and raise venture capital. He was outrageous, brash and crass in his style, and I told him so. I said, “Your goal isn’t to be the cool kid in the venture capital circles. Your job is to build a great company and you’ll be a hero in entrepreneurial circles as a result of your success. Speak to your customers — that is what a blog is for.”

Finding Your Blog’s Voice

So you know you need to blog, and you’re convinced you ought to write about something you’re passionate about and that speaks to your customers. How can you create something that people will want to come and read every day?

1. Be authentic

The thing that kills most blogs, in my view, is when you can tell that the writer is just going through the motions. You need to find a “voice” that is authentically yours. People will get used to your style and your style will become your signature.

2. Be transparent

The “old school” way of getting media attention was to submit press releases. These were artificially crafted documents that were filled with glowing reviews of your company. In short, they felt fake. The best way to establish your voice is to be transparent.

Be willing to talk like a human being. Be willing to show feelings and a point of view. Let your inner self come out rather than your “inner bullet point.” Don’t use too much lingo. Don’t feel like your prose has to sound like it was crafted by a university professor. Just speak!

3. Get inside your readers’ minds

I give this advice often and in many scenarios, including public speaking. When people speak to many audiences, they sometimes get into a canned routine. They give the same presentation no matter which crowd they’re addressing. The key is that each time you present, you need to think about who is in the audience and what they want to hear. The same is true for blogging.

On my blog, my audience is made of startup entrepreneurs and probably other VCs. When I write I try to be mindful of who these people are, the knowledge I assume they have, and what I believe they want to know.

4. Solicit feedback

I ask people what they want to read about. I regularly ask for feedback on what I’m writing. When people give me good suggestions, I try to cover those topics.

When community members write awesome comments, I’ll sometimes write a post about what they said to highlight them and their contributions. In my opinion, the best way to build an audience over time is to engage with them and to highlight those that really contribute positively to you.

5. Don’t be offensive or take big public risks

I sometimes read blogs that get extreme. I read a blog once that jokingly suggested “offering your angels cocaine if that would get them to invest.” It was intended to be funny. It wasn’t. And comments like this run the risk of offending people. This was a blog about personal finance, and I found the comment totally irresponsible and at odds with the brand image the blogger was trying to project.

I read a blog yesterday where the author was trying to make fun of a negative comment he got on his product. The blogger highlighted him and called him “retarded,” which I, and I’m sure many others, find offensive. There’s no upside to this type of comment, but there’s a big downside. My esteem for him went down.

Further, unless your company revolves around taking stands on controversial issues, it’s best to leave your political commentary at home. Statements like these stand to upset or anger half of your potential customers no matter what side you take.

6. Have fun

This may be obvious, but if writing a blog becomes a chore for you it will show. Try to make your writing fun and it will be easier to stick to. It will also reflect in your voice.

Happy blogging!

More blogging resources from Mashable:

- 14 Fantastic Free WordPress Themes

- HOW TO: Build a More Beautiful Blog

- How the Resort Industry is Using Social Media

- Why Brands are Becoming Media

- 4 Elements of a Successful Business Web Presence

- How Social Media Helps One Small Business Connect with Fans

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, johnnyscriv

[Image Credit: Kristina B]

Reviews: iStockphoto

Tags: blog, blogging, business, entrepreneurship, how to, small business, social media

Brian Solis is a principal at new media agency FutureWorks, and author of the upcoming book, Engage. You can connect with him on Twitter or Facebook.

One of the greatest challenges I encounter today is not the willingness of a brand to engage, but its ability to create. When blueprinting a social media strategy, enthusiasm and support typically derails when examining the resources and commitment required to produce regular content.

Indeed, we are programing the social web around our brand hub, which requires a consistent flow of engaging and relevant social objects. Social objects are the catalysts for conversations — online and in real life — and they affect behavior within their respective societies.

They are our tweets, our

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

What’s the most important piece of your business’s web presence? Your website, of course.

Creating a website requires a good deal of thought; it’s important to plan what information you want on the site, what the layout will look like, and how you’ll connect each piece together.

Think of your website as your hub; it’s what people will see when they look for you. Here are four elements of a successful business web presence that can help ensure that your first impression is a good one.

Before We Begin

Your very first step should be to define the goals of your website. Most businesses should have at least three: to create an online presence, to differentiate your business, and to capture leads.

1. Creating an online presence is the most basic reason for building a website. This means building a site that includes your business information, highlights what makes you special, and gives consumers a way to contact you.

2. Making your business stand out takes a more advanced strategy. Maintaining a blog that portrays your thoughts and insights can help your website stand out and help consumers better understand your business.

3. A good business website can be used to capture potential leads. As the site grows it becomes a community for customers and potential consumers. Connect with potential consumers and find a way to continue marketing to them. Your website can be the elevator pitch and your connection the long sell.

The Website

With our goals in mind, we can begin to explore specific elements of a strong website.

The homepage will generally be the initial point of contact with your consumers. A good homepage will answer the questions “What do you do?” and “Why should I trust you?” Consumers will make a split-second decision on whether they’ll stay to learn more or go to a competitor. Don’t lose them at the start.

An “About” page can further reinforce the trust factor. Explain exactly what your company does, in-depth. I want to know who you are, why you do what you do, and what makes you special. This page should make an impact and impress your consumers.

Finally, create a “Contact” page. This page should clearly explain to your customers how to get in contact with you. Make sure it outlines your address, phone number, email address, and any other way someone can reach you. You might even want to include a Google Map with directions to your store or office.

These three pages create a basic online presence, but not much more. If you want to set your business apart from everyone else, the best way to do that is to create a company blog.

The Blog

For some reason, many business owners shy away from blogs. What they don’t realize is that most business “News” sections are blogs. “Blog” simply defines any continually updated news or content section of a site. In fact, this is technically a post on a blog.

So why is a blog important? For one, it shows that you know what you’re talking about. It helps you identify yourself as an expert or unique. Secondly, a blog is constantly updated. It gives readers a reason to come back to your site. The more contact you have with your consumers, the more likely they are to buy from you.

Also, consumers have become savvier and will search out information. They want more than a simple explanation of what your product does. They want to know how to use your product, examples of interesting things people are doing, and how you can make their life easier.

After you have a site with information and a blog that is ever-growing, you’ll begin to experience a growth in site traffic. It would be a shame to ignore these potential customers. Which leads us to our next step; lead capture.

The Newsletter

It’s here that we begin building leads from your website’s visitors.

The first and most important element is a newsletter form. I use Aweber to handle my own personal newsletter sign ups and delivery. I just write the actual newsletter and format it.

There are a number of other services you can use too such as MailChimp and ConstantContact; it simply depends on what you want. Do your research and choose a program you like. The newsletter cost quickly pays for itself. Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to generate sales.

Getting consumers to sign up for your email list means you no longer have to wait for them to come to you, you can go to them. You can offer your core consumers specials and keep them up to date on new products or changes.

Social Media Accounts

Another option for capturing leads is social media. Microblogs and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter can help you connect with and contact those within your core community. For this strategy to work, your blog should serve as a central hub. The hub sends consumers to your respective social media profiles to build the connection.

Businesses with a Facebook Fan page can include a Fan box on the site to make it an easy process to fan the business page. If you have an active Twitter account, consider adding the “Follow Me on Twitter” button. These two elements can help turn a one-time reader into a connected consumer.

When you’re building an online presence, the most important aspect is your website. It’s your hub and your first impression. Are you using the right elements to maximize your website’s effectiveness?

More business resources from Mashable:

- Social Media Marketing: How Pepsi Got It Right

- HOW TO: Implement a Social Media Business Strategy

- HOW TO: Choose a News Reader for Keeping Tabs on Your Industry

- The 10 Stages of Social Media Business Integration

- HOW TO: Measure Social Media ROI

- HOW TO: Use Social Media to Connect with Other Entrepreneurs

Imagea courtesy of iStockphoto, geopaul, WendellFranks, melhi

Tags: blog, blogging, business, entrepreneurship, List, Lists, small business, social media, social networks, web

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

Customers of Seattle-based bag manufacturer Tom Bihn are as passionate about the product as the company’s 22-person staff.

The company’s namesake has been designing and making bags for more than 20 years. He always has a sketchbook, regularly works on up to 10 designs at once and always sews the prototype of the new product himself, according to the company’s Web site.

Tom Bihn has a Seattle factory showroom/retail store that is open to the public one day per month. Otherwise, the bags are available exclusively through its Web site. The company’s social media presence is rich with customer experience about their products and photos of bag-toting fanatics all over the world.

What makes Tom Bihn’s social media efforts successful? Among the keys are product passion and that the social media networks are updated regularly. Engagement is going on among members on these platforms, not simply the company broadcasting promotional messages. Each social media platform has unique Tom Bihn content that doesn’t overlap with the other platforms the company is on, yet at the same time, they’re integrated and linked to each other.

“All of us at Tom Bihn are fortunate to work for a company that makes truly innovative and high quality bags — bags that we are proud to stand behind, bags that we use ourselves,” said Darcy Gray, vice president at Tom Bihn, in an email interview. “While Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, our blog and the Tom Bihn Forums give us an endless variety of ways to communicate who we are to our customers, we don’t think those efforts would resonate if we weren’t so excited about our company and what we do.”

Gray manages the Tom Bihn Facebook Fan Page, forums, blogs, Flickr and Twitter. She said updating them is a lot of fun and works on them whenever she checks her iPhone. Yash Khemani, a longtime customer and friend, is the master behind the Tom Bihn channel partner videos on YouTube.

She said engaging directly with customers began with the TomBihn.com forums.

“In 2006, it occurred to us that our customers and potential customers could get significant value from talking with each other as opposed to just with us. They could share their experiences of their Tom Bihn bags, offer advice for selecting the right bag to new customers, and post reviews/pictures of their experiences with their bags,” she said.

She said the company’s success on social media starts with their bags and that social media tools have given them more powerful ways to connect.

“Anytime a company is given more ways to directly communicate with customers, it’s an opportunity for growth. Tom Bihn designs all of our bags himself. Interest in a particular type of bag might encourage him in a certain direction,” Gray said.

For example, Bihn is in the process of designing, among other things, a personal carry-on travel bag and a camera insert. If we see a lot of interest in the Tom Bihn forums and on Facebook in the camera insert, it might influence the company to release that product first.

“We’re still who we’ve always been, doing what we’ve always done, we’re just able to be closer to the pulse of our customer base,” she said.

Engagement Began With Forums

TomBihn.com’s user forums have been active since 2006 and have 1,823 members. Threads range from 30 to more than 700. Topics include company news, reviews, pictures and video and travel news. The company curates forum posts such as those of photos on its blog.

Blog Is Central Hub

The company’s lively blog is a mainstream hub of the latest company information. It features everything from e-mail reviews from customers with photos to timeline rundowns on new product launches to hints on new products that are top secret, but coming soon.

A-Ha Moments On Flickr

The Tom Bihn Flickr group has 278 items posted and more than 115 members. The stream isn’t just photos of people wearing their bags while traveling or at the airport. Informative photos show how much can fit inside a bag (and weight) and how items look once they’re in the bag. What’s also interesting are the user comments. Someone commented on a photo in the Flickr group that they had been looking everywhere for a photo of that exact bag and wanted to know if the bag was still available. Another person chimed in that they were also looking for that same bag.

Two-Way Enagement On Facebook

Tom Bihn’s Facebook fan page has more than 500 members. There are posts to the wall a few times a week by both fans and the company. Gray posts status updates such as photos and links to new products, reviews as well as shipping deals. One post even calls for fans to submit questions they would like to ask Tom Bihn himself for an upcoming e-mail newsletter. The company also incorporates its blog posts and YouTube Channel videos into the fan page.

Demo Videos On YouTube

Tom Bihn has had its own Channel partner page since 2006. The page has received nearly 20,000 total upload views. Videos are uploaded about every two weeks and most clips have several hundred views. The videos are thorough demonstrations of a bag’s features — often by Tom Bihn himself. They cover topics including what he uses a particular bag for, items he fits in which compartments, accessories he uses with it and what the bag is made of.

Tweets Are Content Mix

Tom Bihn’s Twitter account @tombihn is a well-branded Twitter profile page with the company logo, photos of products and contact information. There’s a good mix of retweets, company mentions on Twitter, thank you messages for customers who visited its factory showroom, announcements of new product updates, and even travel regulation notices from the Transportation Safety Administration. Tweets also incorporate links and photos from the company’s blog.

Gray said that seeing Tweets (like these below) makes them realize that this feedback might have never made their way to them if email or phone was the only way of communication with their customers.

“You can’t go wrong with a @tombihn,” a Twitter user said.

Another tweet: “Rains like today in Chicago make me happy I have a good @tombihn bag, I’m soaked, but the computer is nice and dry.”

More business resources from Mashable:

- Social Media Marketing: How Pepsi Got It Right

- 5 Ways Small Businesses Can Avoid Social Media Panic

- HOW TO: Take Advantage of Social Media in Your E-mail Marketing

- HOW TO: Implement a Social Media Business Strategy

- The 10 Stages of Social Media Business Integration

- HOW TO: Use Social Media to Connect with Other Entrepreneurs

Reviews: Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube

Tags: blog, blogging, business, facebook, fashion, flickr, forums, MARKETING, online marketing, small business, social media, social networks, twitter, youtube

This series is supported by Webdesigner Depot, a popular web design blog covering tutorials, design trends, blogging and inspirational posts. You can visit WDD at webdesignerdepot.com and follow WDD on Twitter @designerdepot.

Whether you’re blogging for business or pleasure, now is the time to take your little corner of the web to the next level. Social media makes your blog more visible and valuable than ever, and the amount of resources available to beautify and streamline your blog is enormous, and ever growing.

The best part is, you don’t have to be a designer or a programmer to create a great looking blog, but you should know where to find the right resources, and how to align your blog’s design with its purpose.

Learn Some HTML

We all wish the web was 100% drag and drop, but we’re not quite there yet. You can get away with pushing the knobs and levers on the back-end for a while, but you may never get your blog to look exactly how you envision it without knowing a little bit of HTML.

A basic understanding of the web’s nuts and bolts will allow you to make custom design tweaks, fix template problems, and format your posts more precisely. Rest assured, there’s no need to sign up for classes. Everything you need to know about the web is right here on the web.

A great place to start is W3Schools, a site that provides great free tutorials on web development. The HTML tutorial covers exactly the core basics you should know. While you won’t need to code your new blog design from the ground up, understanding how tags, text formatting, and embedding work will be extremely valuable when you want to start customizing the pre-built boxes and widgets on your site.

Blog customization is an experimental, learn-by-doing process. With a little bit of coding knowledge, a wealth of options will be open to you. If there’s something you’d like to achieve, or something that’s not quite working in your template, a Google Search can be your best friend. Chances are, someone else has had the same problem, and posted an answer or code snippet on the web that you can use.

Find the Right Template

The world of blog design has come of age, and the web is bursting with beautiful, free design resources that are easy to plug right into your platform of choice. There’s no need to settle for simple color scheme changes or built-in layouts. Brilliant designers are sharing their custom-built templates on the web in droves.

Here are a few resources that you can browse in your search for the perfect design. Not sure which platform to set up your blog on? Hopefully some of the designs cataloged on these sites will inspire you in one direction or another.

Wordpress

WordPress Theme Directory

Free WordPress Themes

Blogger

Deluxe Templates

btemplates.com

Tumblr

Tumblr Theme Garden

Posterous

Posterous Themes

Note that Tumblr themes are also compatible with Posterous.

Layout

Shopping for your template can be a lot of fun, but as you start narrowing down your top choices, it’s time to ask yourself: What is the purpose of my blog, and how can the design facilitate it?

Think about utility and user experience when choosing your layout.

Will you be embedding lots of YouTube videos or large graphic elements in your posts? Then perhaps a one or two column template, with lots of horizontal space, is your best bet.

Are you planning to display a lot of content side by side, with links to other posts and advertising? Consider a three column template.

The key to good blog design is to strike a balance between content and clutter. You want to present yourself artfully, without being distracting.

One Column

Simple and straightforward, a one column blog is all about the posts, with no sidebars or other distractions. If the most important content on your blog is always at the very top, a one column layout might be a great choice.

Blue Basic (WordPress)

Terminal Flashback (Tumblr)

Two Column

The blogging standard these days, two column layouts leave plenty of real estate for your content, but also a lot for sidebars full of links, contact info, and other information your readers might find useful.

356 Days of Astronomy (WordPress)

Futura (Tumblr)

Three Column

Use three columns if you plan to spread lots of content, links, and ads out onto your page. But, be wary of clutter. Be sure to choose a three column layout with ample spacing and breathing room for content.

Typography (Blogger)

Majestic (Blogger)

Outside the Box

For something a little more interesting, break out of the column mold and consider some unique layouts like these.

Art In My Coffee (Tumblr)

Gondaba (Tumblr)

Be a Layout Sleuth

Have you stumbled upon a blog design that you’ve absolutely fallen in love with? It’s possibly a template that you might be able to use for your own blog. If so, there are a few ways to figure out where it came from, and how to get it.

Many templates are free under a Creative Commons license, and as such, include a link back to the source or designer. Scroll to the very bottom of the blog’s home page and look for a template attribution. There you may find the name of the theme, a link where to find it, and the platform on which the blog is hosted (WordPress, Blogger, etc.).

If there’s no attribution on the page itself, a little detective work can help. On the blog’s home page, use your browser to view the source code. There may be clues, including the blog platform, attribution notes about the template, and possibly a URL where you can find it. Use the “Find” function (Control + F in Windows, Apple + F on a Mac) to search for key words like Theme, Template, Tumblr, or WordPress to find any clues in the code.

Of course not all templates are free. Some are custom built, or purchased from designers, and won’t necessarily have attributions.

Make It Your Own

Now that you’ve implemented your beautiful new blog template, it looks exactly like the 3,000 other users who have downloaded the same one.

Use your blog’s back-end bells and whistles, in combination with your new HTML knowledge, to add your own brand to the design. The first thing you can do is add a simple logo or moniker in the header of your blog.

Find the box, widget, or code at the top of your blog that contains the template graphic, and replace it with your own. Be sure to keep the size and shape of the image consistent with the template to avoid layout issues. The key to making it ‘fit’ into your new design is to use complimentary colors and fonts.

Sample the color(s) from your new design and input it into Color Scheme Designer 3, a great tool that will generate complimentary and tertiary colors you can use for headers and additional graphic elements.

If you’re not a designer, simple is better. Let your new template do the talking, and keep your header image clean and basic. Looking for a great logo font to express your blog’s content? Check out 1001 Free Fonts and FontSquirrel for some great looking freebies.

For the Non-Designer: Go Minimalist

If you’re not design-minded, but in the market for a slick looking blog that you can manage aesthetically, think simple. Minimalist themes often use neutral colors, clean layouts, and lots of white space, making them ideal for easy customization.

Don’t fret over color schemes and texture cohesion. Simply pop your logo into a good minimalist theme and let the white space speak for itself. Check out these examples.

Shalom*Typo (WordPress)

Wu Wei (WordPress)

Expi (Blogger)

Need More Inspiration?

The blogosphere is jam packed with extraordinary designs — clever, functional, and just plain gorgeous. Even if you’re already set with your own new layout, it’s always fun to just kick back and enjoy the creative work of others. Here are some more designs that may get your ideas and creativity churning.

Work Awesome

App Boy

Paul Giacherio

Have any more tips on building a more beautiful blog? Be sure to share them in the comments below.

Series supported by Web Designer Depot

Webdesigner Depot is one of the most popular web design blogs in the world. It covers tutorials, design trends, blogging as well as inspirational posts. It’s run by Walter Apai, a web designer from Vancouver, Canada. The blog is a great resource for both beginners and advanced designers looking to expand and improve their knowledge. The site is visited by Fortune 500 companies and is used as a reference by many design schools. Visited by almost 2 million readers per month, WDD is a prime resource for both graphic and web designers. Visit WDD at webdesignerdepot.com. Follow on Twitter: twitter.com/designerdepot. Subscribe to RSS feed: webdesignerdepot.com/rss.htm.

More design resources from Mashable:

- HOW TO: Create Custom Backgrounds for Twitter, YouTube, & MySpace

- Oprah’s Designer Nate Berkus Tackles Twitter Backgrounds

- A Guide to Mobile Web Design Tips and Tricks

- 85+ of the Best Twitterers Designers Should Follow

- 100 Great Resources for Design Inspiration

- 5 Ways Social Media Changed Fashion in 2009

- 20 Creative Apps For Your iPhone

Tags: blog, blogger, blogger templates, blogging, design, layout, posterous, templates, themes, tumblr, tumblr themes, web design, web design tips series, Wordpress, wordpress themes

Pope Benedict XVI has a message for priests of the Catholic Church: they must proclaim the gospel by not only having a website, but by blogging and utilizing new web communication tools.

The 265th Pope of the Catholic Church has been an unexpectedly strong proponent of social media. Last year, he launched a YouTube channel, and six months ago, he released Facebook and iPhone apps to spread the Church’s message. It looks like that he hopes Catholic priests will follow his digital example.

In his message, the Pope acknowledges that priests face new challenges due to cultural shifts that have brought the conversation online. Thus, priests must do more than just take the Word of the gospel to the web.

Here’s a small excerpt from the entire message from the Pope:

“The spread of multimedia communications and its rich “menu of options” might make us think it sufficient simply to be present on the Web, or to see it only as a space to be filled. Yet priests can rightly be expected to be present in the world of digital communications as faithful witnesses to the Gospel, exercising their proper role as leaders of communities which increasingly express themselves with the different “voices” provided by the digital marketplace. Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis.”

We have to give the Pope high marks for his push to make the Church more effective in the digital realm. While the Pope is not on Twitter, his Pope2you initiative is definitely a step in the right direction. He clearly knows that reaching young believers requires going to the places where they spend their time and converse. More and more, that is social media.

[via: Yahoo News and The Next Web]

Reviews: Twitter

Tags: blog, Catholic, catholic church, new media, pope, religion, social media, trending

It’s official, one of the funniest blogs out there, Sleep Talkin’ Man, has become a bonafide viral sensation, with more than a half a million visitors, nearly 20,000 Facebook fans and more than 10,000 Twitter followers to its name. It’s official: We all know the secrets that you keep when you’re talking in your sleep, dude.

The blog, which was launched by London-dweller Karen Slavick-Lennard nearly a year ago, features the ramblings of her husband, Adam, a mild-mannered Brit who totally Mr. Hydes-out when he starts snoozing. Karen sets up a recorder upon going to bed in order to catch the pearls that fall form her honey’s lips, many of which are laden with four-letter words and condemnations of lentils.

Karen and Adam recently made an appearance on British talk show This Morning, where they revealed that the sleep-talking began in February of last year after a period of great stress. After life started to settle down, Adam started chattering.

In terms of viral blogs, this is genuinely one of the funniest out there, mostly because it’s honest, strange and entirely unique. I personally have a soft spot for the blog because my father is a rampant sleep-talker. Once he fell asleep on the couch during a movie and uttered the phrase: “Wax ‘em down with WD-40 and send ‘em down the bobsled hill.” But enough about Papa Ehrlich, here’s some gems from the one and only Sleep Talkin’ Man:

“Of course the zombie loved me. She gave me her heart. Mmmmm-hmmm. And her hand in marriage.”

“Vegetarians will be the first to go. That’s my plan. Vegans haven’t got a hope. ‘I eat air, I’m so healthy…’ Bollocks!”

“Vampire penguins? Zombie guinea pigs? We’re done for…. done for.”

“I’d rather peel off my skin and bathe my weeping raw flesh in a bath of vinegar than spend any time with you. But that’s just my opinion. Don’t take it personally.”

“Shhhhhhhhh. shhhhhhhhh. I’m telling you: your voice, my ears. A bad combination.”

“Lentils are evil. Pure f**king oozing evil. Take them away from me.”

Tags: blog, humor, Meme, social media

Is emailing the new blogging?

It was with a bit of apprehension that I clicked on the link in my email box to check out the personal site that Posterous, an online archive of notes both yellow and multimedia, had automatically created for me. First off, they got the name all wrong. I won’t tell you what it is, for fear that an unsavory party might sign me up for all sorts of interesting email lists, but just know that I hadn’t exactly intended for random letters to be a part of my brand-new domain.

But that’s Posterous. To its credit, this microblogger’s dream might not get the name right the first time around, but the customized blogging platform it creates for you–based on a photo, note, MP3, or other file you email into the service–isn’t set in stone. And I far prefer this method to the opposite: Signing up for multiple accounts just to be able to quickly host and share files with others.

That last scenario is really the best-case usage scenario for Posterous. For while you can "claim" a site that the service creates on your behalf by signing up for an official Posterous account (which grants you, among other features, the ability to redo the name of the site’s xxx.posterous.com subdomain), Posterous is the perfect platform for quick-and-dirty multimedia hits.

Need a fast image gallery for a ton of files? Just email them over to Posterous. Need a place to host some test videos?  Posterous. Want to let your friends listen to a track or two from an album you enjoy?  Posterous… and a secondary email account so the RIAA doesn’t come a-callin’.

I jest, but don’t let my humor distract from Posterous’ powerful blogging features. There are simply too many neat little tricks and tidbits to list them all–including an auto-posting feature that automatically notifies a number of other social media services about your latest update, tags, privacy locks, iTunes-friendly podcasting feeds, and a fancy bookmarklet for commenting on other rich media elements.

At its core, Posterous is all about email. When you want to update your blog with an insightful comment related to something downloadable, just email it in to Posterous. The service recognizes your address automatically and will post said content directly to the primary blog you’re specified. You can add private blogs via email, post to your other Posterous-based sites via emailing customized subdomains, and even specify the exact social networking sites that get an automatic update via the very email address you send your files to.

Every Thursday, Maximum PC picks a new Web App as its favorite of the week. Have a Web App that you can’t live without? Twitter David Murphy @acererak with your latest suggestions.

I don’t envy Dieter’s introduction to the 3rd Annual Smartphone Round Robin — reviewing the iPhone 3GS for PreCentral.net. He’s had to review various generations of iPhone more than a few times already, both for TiPb and for the last two Round Robins. While other platforms offer skads of devices in all form of factors, [...]

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iPhone Review from PreCentral.net’s Dieter, Smartphone Round Robin