Fork In The Road Music » twitter

Follow Friday – People I’ve Never Met

Russell Martin — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 12:54:43 +0000

Last week I started a post that expanded on the very popular follow friday idea. Basically I am sharing not only the twitter names of those I follow, but a few reasons why you should follow them too.

This week I want to introduce you to people I have never met. These are some people I follow on twitter, whom I have come to know over the years through their blog posts, twitter updates and facebook conversations. I admire them, who they are and what they are doing. I just haven’t actually seen them in person… but I’d like to.

@mandythompson – Mandy is a songwriter, worship leader and takes some of the best photos posted on instagram that I have ever seen. She took part in the album in a day project where she wrote, recorded and produced 5 songs in a 24 hour period. She shares her thoughts, and songs over on her blog mandythompson.com.

@kemmeyer – Kem is the Communications Director at Granger Community Church. Her book Less Clutter Less Noise is a must read for anyone involved any way in communication. Read her thoughts at her blog Kemmyer.com

@mattlipan – Matt is a pastor, blogger, fellow United Methodist and dad who, as he says is, trying to live at the intersection of culture, theology, people, social media, music, and life in the Midwest. Read his thoughts and posts on his blog mattlipan.blogspot.com

So those are my #followfriday folks for the day. What are yours? Who do you follow that I should follow?

Oh and if you want to follow me you can on twitter.com/rgmmusic or Facebook.com/russellmartinmusic or the new google plus

Featured photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/freefoto/

Follow Friday-Friends

Russell Martin — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 03:04:05 +0000

I love the idea of the Follow Friday on Twitter. If you don’t know, twitter users will post a list of people they follow that you might find interesting, and then include the #FF or #followfriday hashtag. The problem is that I generally do not end up following any of them, because to me they are just a twitter username. So I thought I would expand on the idea a little and share with you some of my favorite twitter users and blog authors, and tell you why I follow them, and why you should to.

@jasonbhuffman - Two things I have in common with Jason are music and baseball. He’s a Ranger’s fan and I love my ‘Stros. We also love working with youth and helping them to use their gifts to lead worship. In fact Jason wrote a book about it. Check out his blog http://www.jasonbhuffman.wordpress.com

@russbo - I met Russ when we worked together at my church. He loves youth, disc golf and duke basketball. He is a great guy and a good friend. He blogs over at http://www.russbowlin.blogspot.com.. check it out.

@expatminister - Josh Hale is one of the most active twitter users I know, and is always sharing links and thoughts about what’s going on in the methodist church, world, and Astros baseball. He share’s his thoughts on his blog http://expatminister.org.

I hope you’ll go check out these guys blogs and follow them on twitter also. Then leave me a link, let me know who I should be following.. and why.

photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/aechempati/

5 Tips to Taming Facebook

Russell Martin — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 05:32:31 +0000

Since I was able to sign up on facebook I have always though it to be a wonderful thing. Over they years I have been able to connect with some old friends, meet some new people, share photos with family and enhance real life relationships.

And yes, while it is a great tool to use, you can have too much of a good thing. Recent conversations have revealed a theme among those I have talked to in regards to their use of facebook.

“I can’t go ten minutes without checking facebook”

“I’m on facebook all the time. It’s on my phone, computer”

“If I get another request to join a mafia, or build a farm, or answer a question, I’ll scream”

“There are too many emails and notifications, I can’t keep up with it all”

For many, facebook has gone from being a blessing, to being a burden.

So what do you do? Well, first of all you can delete your profile, delete your photos and disappear off facebook forever.

But before you do that here are a few suggestions of some other ways you can use it and enjoy it again.

1. Hide Stuff- The next time someone asks you to return their lost cow, or join a mafia, block that application. Hover over the post on your wall, and an “X” will appear in the right hand corner. Click on that “X” and you will have three options: Hide that post, hide that person, and hide all from that application. After a few weeks you’ll begin to clear the clutter from your wall and see only the updates from those you want.

2. Make Lists - Go to your friends page and click “Edit Friends” You will have the option to create friends lists. Create a few lists to group your contacts into. Here are mine:

Family- If they are related this is where the go.

Friends- These are people I would still be in contact with if the internet died and I had to use other means to communicate. Like.. say talking face to face, or on the phone.

Aquaintances - If you are in this group, I know you, I’ve met you, but we really don’t talk or hang out much.

Associates – These are people who I work with on a yearly basis. Includes those in my work place, contacts I use on a regular basis for work related, or music ministry related purposes.

Church- Working at a church, and being in charge of communications I built a group for all my church facebook friends.

You may have more lists, you may have just a few. I know someone who made two lists… 1. People I like, 2. People I added just to be nice.

Then in your newsfeed click most recent, and then select the drop down. You can then choose the friend list you would like to see.

3. Turn Off Notifications- You do not need to get an email or text message every time someone rights on your wall, invites you to join a group or sends you a message. Go to “Account Settings” and then “Notifications” then uncheck a lot of boxes. I unchecked just about everything except when I am tagged in photos and some weekly updates for ads, birthdays etc.

This will allow you to go to facebook when you want to, not have it constantly draw you in.

(You will also need to turn off notifications on your mobile facebook program of choice if installed on your phone)

4. Take a Weekly Break - Consider a facebook free friday, or other day of your choosing. Commit to not use facebook for a complete 24 hour period every week.

5. Separate Personal and Business – When I started with facebook I had one personal page. I used that page as a way to connect with not only personal friends and family, but music ministry contacts from camps and concerts. Every camp I would go to I would accept 50 to 100 friend requests from those I had met. Now some of them, some of you, are great friends, but some only joined to keep up with my music ministry. So I created the Russell Martin music facebook page.

If I had it to do over again I would direct almost everyone to the music facebook page. This would keep my personal facebook much cleaner. If you have a business, or blog, or are part of an organization consider setting up a page for that. That way you can keep your personal site manageable, and those who want to keep up with your business don’t have to see 100 photos of your newborn child, or puppy dogs.

These are just a few of my suggestions. There are so many good things about facebook, but so many ways it can be controlling. Hopefully these tips may help you to keep in touch with those you want, without being overwhelmed.

Do you have a tip on how you have helped tame facebook? Share it in the comments below. Or share it with me on twitter.com/rgmmusic. You can also join my facebook page www.facebook.com/russellmartinmusic

12 Days of Christmas Videos-#10 Digital Story of Christmas

Russell Martin — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 05:57:53 +0000

My friends and church members know I am a big proponent of Social Media. Because of that, when someone comes across a video, blog post, newsletter article or story about the good, or bad of, say, facebook or twitter, I often receive a link in my inbox.
I received this next video through email, facebook and twitter links many, many, times… so I am passing it on to you!

And to those who send me these links, keep it up! Thanks!

Oh, check out the rest of the videos using the related links below!

Splitting My Blog In Two- Simple Church Communication

Russell Martin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 00:34:17 +0000

You write about what you know. When I started Forkintheroadmusic I was basically just leading worship both in churches and out at camps, and retreats. Since that time I have become increasingly interested in how we as a church communicate. Because of that interest I have taken on some communication responsibilities in our church, and for our district. I have also been asked to lead a few workshops dealing with communication in the church.

For a while I tried to combine both of these topics into this blog. As I have continued to write though I have thought about the fact that even though I have interest in both of these areas, my readers probably do not. Readers of the Fork In The Road blog, which talks about worship leading, youth worship teams and my personal music ministry, do not necessarily want to learn about how to create a website, or the differences between a facebook page, or facebook group.

That is the reason I have started simplechurchcommunication.com. The purpose of the site is to provide a place to ask questions, give answers, and share resources about communication.

Help Me Save a Life

Russell Martin — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:27:39 +0000

For the past two years I have been supporting the “Nothing But Nets” campaign. The campaign raises money to provide mosquito nets that protect from Malaria with the goal of wiping out the disease on the continent of Africa.

Between now and Christmas I want to raise enough money to buy 1000 nets. At $10 each that makes a total of $10,000

Wow, you might say that’s a lot of money but think of it this way.

Between now and Christmas is around 45 days. That means if you saved 22 cents per day between now and then you would have $10 for a net.

I figure that I have about 2000 people I am connected to between facebook personal page, fan page and twitter. If only half participated we would reach the goal.

How you can help:

1. Donate: I have created a netraiser team called Fork In the Road. You can help support me by making a secure online donation. Click here to donate.

2. Forward, Retweet, Repost: Send this on to your friends in your social networks. Get them to help.. who knows we could pass 1000 nets easily.

3. Start Your Own Team: Why not start your own effort with your church, youth group, or among your social media friends. It doesn’t matter who raises the money, just that they get raised.
For more information on how YOU can participate in Nothing But Nets, please visit www.NothingButNets.net

Thanks for your support!

Before You Create Your Webpage

Russell Martin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:24:05 +0000

“Do you want people to spend time visiting your church website or visiting your church?” This is the question a wise person asked me when I was talking about upgrading our church website. The question caused me to rethink some of the things I was planning for our site. I am not arguing against having a quality website, however I think there are some questions to be asked, and things to seriously be considered when you are starting a website for your church or non profit organization. Here is a list of questions I came up with:

1. What is your goal? You need to decide what your website will provide. Maybe it will have basic information like dates, times and forms. What ever your reason make sure that you are using the appropriate tool, or site, for the job.

2. How much are you going to spend- You can easily spend $2500 or more to have a beautiful website designed for your group or church. You need to ask yourself whether that money should be spent on your web presence or if it could be put to use in your organization in a better way.

3. What do you need to get your message across? Wait.. first figure out what your message is. Then what do you need to get that message out. Will flash slideshow with pictures be the best format? Would video updates be effective? Do you need to be able to create podcasts?

4. Who is your audience and how do they like to be reached? Don’t just think about who you are communicating with but also consider what ways they communicate. I recently had a member of our church tell me she does not go to our website. When I asked why, she said that she gets our email updates and facebook messages and they all came to her phone. She has no idea what the website looks like, how many hours I spent choosing the right photo or how much money we spent designing it. She gets the information she wants in the best format for her. That’s what’s important.

5. Consider other forms of communication- In this artcile by Fred Zimny he proposes that with services like facebook and twitter, that websites are becoming less important and are being forced to change:

“Over the next few years, we’re going to see official institutional websites become less important. They will cease functioning as the only point of web interaction between businesses and customers and will become merely the official storefront. The main “conversion goal” of these retooled portal sites will be to drive interactions onto the third-party social networking sites.”

It used to be that your goal was to get people to come to your website for interaction with your company. It seems more and more that websites are directing their visitors to their presence on social networking sites like facebook and twitter. Consider the thought that a website cannot be the only online presence your organization has.

6. Will your web presence be mobile?- Look at the number of iphones, blackberry’s, droids and other smartphones that are out there. More and more we access the web on the go. Are you considering how your site will be accessed by these devices?

What questions do you think should be considered before starting a website for your organization?

My Shared Items 11/02/09

Russell Martin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:56:43 +0000

Each week I receive posts from over fifty different blogs. I collect and read them on Google Reader and thought you might benefit from some of the things I am reading. So here are some of my favorites from this week.

In Happy Hallow…. Harvest Festival, Michael Buckingham talks about ways to use Halloween as an opportunity, not a stumbling block. Yes I know it’s a little late, but file it for next year.

One of my favorite new blogs to follow is Michael Hyatt’s Blog. On 10/30 he shared a guest post from Margaret McSweeny on 12 Strategies for Leadership Success.

And finally TechCrunch, Pandora now offers integration with Twitter and Facebook

If you like, you can subscribe directly to my shared items on google reader.

Also if you have a blog to suggest, please put it in the comments below.

Instrumental Reflections Live #1 Haunting Melody

Russell Martin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 01:50:07 +0000

Basically this is how it works. I found a web cam I had bought a few years ago. Then I set up my keyboard, ran it into a small mixer and then into my computer. I then signed up for a ustream account and set up a show called “At the Piano.” From there I just sit down, invite some friends and just play.

Today I asked my friends to give me several notes in a random order. I took the notes in the order given and gave myself the challenge of creating a melody and chords based on the give notes.

Want to know when I play next? Follow me on Twitter and Facebook

Will twitter Replace Email

Russell Martin — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 05:32:53 +0000

Tonight I was watching the weather channel and when the asked for feedback they did not give an email address to send a response to or a number to send a text to. Instead they asked viewers to twitter their responses in. So that got me to thinking. Would twitter replace email? What about text messages?