Media Outreach

As you are checking out this blog, you’ll notice that we have added a new feature that allows you to share the information and encouragement you receive. Let’s say you are reading an interesting post about church planting. Although you might be a seasoned pastor in a 40 year old church, who does not need tips on planting a church, chances are you know of someone who is in this season of church life. It is for situations like this that we have included the “ShareThis” widget on each and every post!

Now you can simply click on the link, choose the format you want to share with and follow the steps accordingly. This is a great resource that allows you to take useful and encouraging information you find on MediaOutreach and spread it to other people you know.

The list of possible outlets is quite long and should cover most of your needs. Some of them are probably more familiar to you than others. Here is a list of the major ones, what they are and what they do:

• Facebook – This is a social networking site which allows you to find friends and acquaintances that you want to keep updated through text and images about your life, as well as learn updates about their life.
• Digg/Delicious – These two services are similar in nature. Users can submit articles or posts or videos that they find interesting, as people read and vote on them they can determine their popularity. It basically lets readers decide the top “news” stories rather than editors.
• Twitter – This is a place where friends and family can follow you as you give one sentence updates about anything from what you had for breakfast or a cool book you are reading. You can also choose people, companies, or teams to follow and get their quick updates as well.
• StumbleUpon – This allows you to vote on the quality of a website. You also set up your preferences, so that through this system your searches will lead to not only relevant content but sites that people with similar preferences to you enjoyed.
• LinkedIn – Rather than a social networking site, this is a professional networking site. By creating a profile about your professional experience, you are connected with individuals and companies. These connections are ultimately there to assist you in achieving your professional goals.

Besides these, there are many more options to allow you to fully utilize the online potential of sharing information. Visitors to your website may want to utilize these or other sites to share with their friends about your ministry. To learn how to make this easy for them, check out this month’s Best Practices article.

By utilizing these elements, you can enhance your online presence and spread information and encouragement to others. You can share with us other online social networking tools that you have found effective. Also, if you have heard of others but are unsure what they are or how they work, ask us in the comment section, and we will clarify for you!

pic by lizawashere