Scott Fillmer » technology

5 Reasons Why You Can’t Ignore Facebook Anymore

Scott Fillmer — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 18:07:31 +0000

I have always loved this clip from Friends where Chandler goes in and tries to “quit the gym” Everyone who has ever joined a gym like Gold’s Gym or President’s knows… it’s impossible to quit the gym, but today, it’s even harder to ignore Facebook than it is to quit the gym.

This week I started reading Tim Challies new book called The Next Story: Life and Faith after the Digital Explosion, which talks about how to balance our faith with the explosion of technology. Challies makes a great point to say right off, completely removing ourselves from all forms of technology is not what we are called to do, or as Challies puts it “there is no biblical reason to utterly separate ourselves from them“, but we must be disciplined and discerning.

We cannot run away from digital technology—mobile phones and computers and the Internet and television are likely to be with us in one form or another for some time. Nor would we necessarily want to run away from them. Certainly, not all technology is harmful or dangerous. Is there a way, then, to live virtuously, immersed in this strange new digital reality?

Today, Facebook has made it far more difficult to get away from than it ever was years ago, and I have tried for years to stay far far away from Facebook. The short of it is, if you are in business, work for a non-profit organization, or are part of any organized group at all, it’s almost impossible for you not to have a presence on Facebook. And if you don’t, your organization, peers, co-workers, and friends, do, and they will be exchanging ideas, planing meetings, and discussing the overall day to day business of the “group” whether you are there or not.

It’s not that you personally have to be in the know on every single piece of information that goes on in your organization, but where meetings and information use to be exchanged face to face, they now can (and are) easily take place between private Facebook groups and even the new Facebook messaging system. If you are not on Facebook, you are out of the loop at this point. They may not be a big deal to you at all, but it’s more than finding out who went where on vacation, it’s impacting the world within your sphere of influence.

Reasons You Can’t Ignore Facebook Anymore

Facebook is Where EVERYONE Connects Now

This is basically everything Facebook has going for them in a nut shell, with 600 million people on Facebook, there is no other single organization that has more people connected and has a bigger area of influence. Yes there are far more than 600 million people in the world, but that is the single largest collection of people in one single organized area, and Facebook really hasn’t scratched the surface yet of what they can do, especially in China.

Facebook has been embraced collectively by people and groups all across the world that never agree about anything, everyone from churches to commercial organizations, to government entities, to even the Vatican.

You’re Kids Are or Will Be on Facebook

Even if you don’t let your kids on Facebook yet, eventually they are going to go to college or get a job, and chances are they will end on Facebook, mainly because that’s where all their friends are. You don’t have to use Facebook to spy on your children but not knowing how it works or what Facebook is all about leaves you on the outside looking in. There are a thousand other things that go along with this but I’ll leave those points to someone who knows more about the subject at hand.

It’s a Buy-in Method for Group Communications

Your church, non-profit, charity, company, softball team, any group of like minded people can and will meet on Facebook. I have spent several years trying to find a better communications method that didn’t include Facebook and, while there were many great options, buy in was difficult outside of Facebook. No one wants to learn a new system and keep up with something new when they are already on Facebook.

Someone Else Will Speak For Your Organization

This is one of the biggest reasons to me. If you are not on Facebook as a company or organization, you are leaving a huge void that is going to be filled by someone, and probably not someone your organization has invested hours and hours in, like yourself, developing that organizational DNA. Eventually someone will make the “abc group” that represents your organization, and everyone on Facebook will join in and develop your presence for you. This is never a good idea. Your organizations has probably spent an enormous amount of time and energy into developing a specific marketing and organizational plan, why leave your business to the untrained masses where they can run wild with your image or passions, especially when it’s free?

There Will Never Again Be a World Without Facebook

We are not going to wake up one day in a world before Facebook. It is best to learn and understand how Facebook functions and use it to our advantage than to ignore the single largest organization of people on the planet. This is an organization that started in February of 2004. It isn’t even 10 years old yet and it has 600 million users! It’s not a fad, it’s not a passing gimmick, it’s a privately held company, estimated to be worth over $50 billion.

I spent years trying to just ignore the Facebook monster, but in the end, it goes back to my first point, it’s where everyone is. I have thought about pulling the Facebook plug and deleting my account many times but there are many people I communicate with on a weekly basis that only communicate through Facebook. Some people are ok with just not communicating, but if part of your job includes “communication” of any kind, I don’t see how you operate without Facebook, even if it’s just a user ID.

So there it is, my Facebook rundown. This really only scratches the surface of what is Facebook. I can’t imagine the influence Facebook with have in another 5 years when they have 2-3 billion users. As with all technology, there are things about Facebook that aren’t cool, and aspects that enable great connectivity with other people. Learn how to use Facebook, understand the privacy issues that go along with being on Facebook, but don’t ignore Facebook because you don’t understand it.

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Top 10 Best Apps for the iPhone or iPad iOS 4.3

Scott Fillmer — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 13:58:05 +0000

Since the new iPad2 and the Apple iOS 4.3 was released last week I have had several people at church ask what “Christian” apps I would recommend for their iPad or iPhone, and I finally just decided to do a blog post about it. Since there really was only one app I would call a “Christian” app that applies to a lot of people that I would highly recommend (YouVersion), I have included an overall top ten I would recommend for people just starting to use an iPad or iPhone instead.

This list can easily apply to anyone wanting to get a lot of good use out of their new iPad, I say that above only to show that this app list is from a Christian perspective on currently available apps and I would consider all of these safe to download, and would also provide some productive value in your daily use of these two devices.

If you are new to the iPad or iPhone App Store then these might be a good place to start. For those who have been around the iPad for a while now these may seem old news, but I still like to evaluate the apps I use periodically to determine if they are still worth keeping. Most of these below I have used now for more than a year. I tend to find a good app and stick with it while the developers continue to improve it’s performance and features.

I will have an in depth review of a few of the apps listed below in upcoming blog posts, it was just too long to list right here. In the mean time, here is the brief overview of each of the top 10, plus four extras that almost made the cut:

Top Ten Best iPad / iPhone Apps

YouVersion – Bible app

Rating, 9/10 :: Best bible app available, period. It’s free, has tons of translations and is constantly updated. Most heavily developed app (possibly ever), has both iPad and iPhone formatted versions, and you can download some translations for offline reading. Access to live events, post to Twitter, Facebook, SMS, and email, loaded with features and still be developed. The best of the best. Price, free. (app info)

Official Twitter app – Social Networking

Rating, 8/10 :: If you are on twitter this is the first (but not only) app to have. Price, free. (app info)

Facebook – Social Networking

Rating, 4/10 :: Still included because of it’s siginificance but no official iPad app available, only iPhone app, which is awesome. Still, you can bookmark the Safari homepage but surely Zuck is working on an iPad exclusive app for Facebook. After almost a year, we still only have impostors available. (app info)

MaxJournal – Journaling or Diary

Rating, 6/10 :: Best journaling app available for iPad (no iPhone) but has room for improvement. If you’re not a big fan of MaxJournal, try iJournal for $4.99 with a higher rating but has less features. MaxJournal has far more features and options like fonts, import-export abilities (though somewhat limited), and the ability to create multiple journals. Price, $3.99 (app info)

UPDATE: According to the developer they are possibly handing off this app to someone else, best to keep an eye on development if you are a heavy users of this app. Hopefully they will work it out. Another option (a few here too) is to use MacJournal from Mariner, which has a long running desktop app to sync with. They then added an iPad/iPhone app, so it’s not just a mobile app developed, it’s full fledged. The reviews are all over the map but I have used MacJournal Desktop app for years and love it.

Amazon’s Kindle app – eBook Reader

Rating, 8/10 :: Best eBook app reader, recommended over iBooks, Nook, and several others. I picked Amazon’s Kindle app over all the others for 3 reasons; (1) total books available, (2) price of available books, and (3) features. In depth review coming soon. Another GREAT feature of Amazon’s Kindle app is that you can access your highlights and bookmarks via the cloud at https://kindle.amazon.com/, that alone got me to switch from iBooks. Price, free. (app info)

The Daily – Daily News and Current Events

Rating, 8/10 :: New to the app store but has great content, always updated, highly interactive. This is the future of newspapers or online news in general. Complete review available, see Pros and Cons of The Daily app for iPad. Price $9.99/Mth or $40/year (app info)

USA Today – Daily News and Current Events

Rating, 9/10 :: Best overall rounded source for news with a dedicated app for the iPad. Not as feature or design rich as The Daily but more in depth news and constantly updated. Price, free. (app info)

Pandora – Music

Rating, 9/10 :: Best music streaming app available, at least until Spotify can get out of the UK and over to us here in the United States. If you like music I would highly recommend the paid version at $35/year, you get commercial free music with higher bit rates. Price, free. (app info)

Evernote – Notes/Archiving of All Kinds

Rating, 8/10 :: Best app for saving and archiving notes of all kinds, syncs across all platforms including a desktop app. This is the archival app, scan, scrape, email, text right into a cloud based note program that integrates with a host of other apps and programs. They offer a free service but once again I recommend the premium version of their service (app is free) as they give you much more for a small price. Price, free. (app info)

Netflix – Movies

Rating, 7/10 :: Online steaming movie app for both iPhone and iPad. Title selection needs improvement but it’s getting better every month. Most new releases are delayed and not all titles are available for streaming, some you still have to get the DVD mailed to you. Netflix has led the way in movie streaming and I suspect delays in titles or other issues like that are not their doing but the movie industry. Price, app is free but service will cost $7.99 per month. (app info)

Other Apps That Almost Made the Cut

QR Code Reader – many free apps available, reads QR codes placed in magazines and on products
Official NASA app – see review at Space Shuttle Discovery’s Last Launch and the iPad NASA App HD
Noteshelf – great note writing app, like a notebook on your ipad (app info)
Accuweather – best weather app for it’s radar maps and forecast (app info)

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The iPad 2 and Actually Waiting in Line :: Friday Feet

Scott Fillmer — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 01:39:21 +0000

Yes, for the first time ever, I (and Deborah) actually stood in line for an Apple product release. We weren’t even planning to do so but yesterday on a strange set of circumstances, I sold both my iPad and Deborah’s iPad within a few minutes and couldn’t give them to the new owners until we picked up the new one. I have a host of reasons for upgrading this particular device at this particular time but I will save those for an actual iPad 2 review in a later post.

In short, the iPad really is a revolutionary device that has changed computing for good (and for the good). The time I spend on my computer gets less and less all the time because of the iPad, which is great, but the number of books I have read over the last year more than paid for the iPad (books which cost $14.99 to buy at the store cost $1.99 on the Amazon Kindle app). Those are just two reasons among many, I’ll follow that up with a review some day.

All in all in our little town there were about 60 or so people in line for the 15 iPad’s Apple decided Best Buy should have. We got to talk to and get to know several people over a few hours, and take a break from our normal routine, which was nice. All of the consumerism issues aside, I have addressed those many times before, like Apple and AT&T Set Another Round of Innovation in iPhone 4, it was a fun afternoon, and today, is my Friday Feet.

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The iPod Touch in the Hands of an Expert

Tumble — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 19:56:36 +0000

This photo of the day was taken a few days ago, there was just something about the concentration involved here that caught my attention. I love all the different messages you can take out of the shot as well, less the email of course.

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The Internet is The Church’s New Drug of Choice

Scott Fillmer — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:36:46 +0000

The Internet can be many things to many people. Can it be the drug of choice today or is that to harsh a term to describe what we as a society have done with the Internet?

Most of the time we have a negative connotation associated with a “drug”, but drugs can be just as positive as negative, especially when one company has promoted their product as the “wonder drug” of all time. One legal definition puts it like this:

Some governments define the term drug by law. In the United States, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act definition of “drug” includes “articles intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in man or other animals” and “articles (other than food) intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of man or other animals.

This is one of those random blog posts I couldn’t decide if I wanted to dive into or not, but I am going to do it anyway. I started writing this several weeks ago but it culminated this week with a conversation I had with the worship leader (photo shown above) here and moved into the finer point of Calvinism (if only we actually had time to just sit and discuss these things). And that is… what is the Internet doing to fellowship and how does it change how we read Hebrews 10:25 (in context) that says: “25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another€”and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

If you are reading my blog and are not a Believer, then insert “social skills or socializing” in place of fellowship, but for the rest of us, what does it mean to move our worship and other networking (i.e. fellowship) to the Internet? This is what I envision when we combine the greatness of the Internet with the Bride of Christ. Something totally awesome if I can still use that phrase, but how careful are we to not be slowly creating a generation of Internet only Believers that don’t know how to, want to, or even care anything about fellowship?

The ultimate online church campus right now is lifechurch.tv but this week I was really excited to watch the initial launch of the iCampus for NewSpring as posted on ChurchCrunch (read NewSpring Church Launches iCampus BETA). I was so excited to see NewSpring launch a full blown service that I could sit here in my office and watch Sunday evening from a church in Greenville I have never been to (but will in about a month) and feel like I was part of the service, but was I really part of the service?

The questions that ran through my mind when talking to other about where the church is going through technology goes something like this:

What about those Believers who really don’t like to fellowship in the first place, or worse, highly dislike it? To say “they should” is what I would equate to saying a gay Christian just shouldn’t be gay (from Anne’s post Why is being gay a sin?). Can we look at the issue seriously and not just say “because the Bible said so”. I know that, but that often doesn’t change a person’s behavior or attitude.
How do we fulfill Hebrews 10:25 online? Can we fulfill Hebrews 10:25 through only online means?
Can we effectively fellowship with others online? I have gotten to know quite a few people online I have never met in person?
What about those church-a-phobics (that would be the opposite of church-a-holics)? How do you get people in the building when they highly dislike (hate) the thought of “going to church” but will engage online?
What intentional steps do we take to move from online fellowship to discipleship? Are we being intentional about the steps we take to pull people to our online venues in the name of Christ?

These are just a few, but serious questions to me, and quite personal. I have asked myself these and many other questions for many many years and I will continue to try to find where technology fits into God’s kingdom. It is not just something the church can ignore, or misuse. In some respects, it is the future of the Church. Thoughts?

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Can Technology Yield a Better Prayer Life?

Scott Fillmer — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 01:31:22 +0000

In short, I would say, no. There are so many things technology can do, especially with networks like Twitter, Facebook, Digg, and all the others we know and love, but I am not sure if prayer is one of them when you look at the traditional definition of prayer, communicating with God. There are sites like WeTheChurch that use technology with a basis of prayer, but aren’t they ultimately communicating with other readers about what they have already communicated with God?

How about Twitter. Prayer, praying, and pray are all pretty active on Twitter and show in the graph from Twitterscoop.

Another one I like to look at is Google trends. Anything that is technology certainly has Google’s mark on it somewhere. But this is a stretch, most of this is talking about prayer, not actually in the act of praying. The graph looks much different if we compare it with two terms most popular in the world, prayer, money, and sex.

Prayer is a conversation or communicating between us and God, right? If so, that means (for purposes of this post) that all created technology is basically a means of communication between people. It may be between our wallet and the bank or the TV station to satellite to our living rooms, but more times than not, it seems to be a means of communication between ourselves. We could stretch it and look at things like the movie Contact, or the SETI Institute (which does employ about 150 scientists) but so far we have been unable to use technology to communicate directly with God.

I have been going through a book given to me by the author called Six Prayers God Always Answers (I love the tag line, “Results May Vary”) and in one passage she talks about what constitutes prayer.

It seems our prayers well up around the things we love–a child, a spouce’s beauty, our own lives… then consider these expressions:

“God, help me. I’ll never do it again.”
“God, are you there?”
“Save me, God”
“Please God”

People thoughtlessly invoke the name of God into the mundane (“Oh my God!”) and the profane (“Jesus Christ”). Believers are offended–convinced it is disrespectful, even blasphemous. Nonbelievers toss it up to a slip of the tongue… but what if these were really prayers? … Could Jesus see these outburtsts as a cry of a wounded brother or sister? How do we know what is in the heart of those who utter such words? Do we even know our own hearts? God is the judge of these prayers.

This passage has nothing to do with technology in prayer, but it opened up my thinking a bit to what we here on earth consider to be prayer, so why can’t we use technology in prayer. We use all kinds of technology in church and prayer is a big part of church so they must come together at some point.

What do you do that you consider to be prayer. In one of the shorter verses of the Bible we read in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NASB) “pray without ceasing” or even shorter in the NIV 17 “pray continually”, so there has to be more than just the Sunday version of the Lord’s Prayer to be able to achieve this command. What is so great about prayer is that we can pray anywhere, anytime, in a ton a different ways.

We can certainly use technology to bring us to prayer with God, like writing a blog post or in a journal, (many prayers were/are written down) but they don’t communicate directly with God alone, because prayer comes from the heart.

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The Church Body and the Internet, Part 2

Scott's Misc — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 12:02:55 +0000

This is a continuation of, The Church Body and the Internet, Part 1, on my blog discussion on the importance of the Church as a whole and how it uses the Internet. What is amazing is how fast things change. The text below was for the most part written around the same time that part 1 was written, and that was only about a month ago.

Since then, changes in the way churches are using the Internet are showing up all over the place. Most recently, Twitter Church was incredible to watch. Not saying it is for all churches, but wow, these guys tried something just to see its results (see Twitter Church Hurdles?), without actually knowing what they would be ahead of time.

According to the poll taken at Church Marketing Sucks on the event (see Twittering Church Poll Results), a good percentage of people said it was a waste of time. Great, even if everyone said it was, at least they tried something different. Interesting to note that a good percentage also didn’t know what Twitter actually was, so they would probably consider it a waste of time (and I do think there is a Twitter learning curve as well)

Importance of Effective Internet Use

Starting back in the early 1990′s I stressed to a very large church, what I felt was the importance of an effective presence of Christ on the Internet, through the church, and it was largely dismissed (although I know the term Internet Minister was largely unheard of then). We do know that in this world, where the church is absent, Satan will quickly fill in the gaps, and the Internet can certainly be one of those places.

As the Internet intertwines itself more and more into our very existence I believe it is important for the church not to be absent and left wondering how did Satan get such a strong hold on something that effects everything we do and everyone living in an even semi-modern society.

Hopefully “the church” will have (and I think they do) technologically advanced, knowledgeable parishioners that can discern God’s will and are able to reach out to those Believers and non-Believers alike through the Internet. Not to shy away from it because it is something not totally understood, or a place where Satan can obviously take a hold of the mind if we allow him to do so.

Some of these ways can include blogging, flickr, use of Twitter, (follow me here if you are on Twitter), or even some new music. Groups like Third Day and Robbie Seay Band, among probably 1,000 others, are leading people to Christ, and… they are real bands.

Share Your Story and Testimony With Others

I know over the years my wife and I have met (and hopefully ministered to in some way) thousands and thousands of people whom we have never met face to face, in countries we could never visit. Like our church has said in the Fluid series, everyone has their own “my story”, and I have found that sometimes, they are far more willing to share it with someone over the Internet than they ever would be in person.

One only has to look as far as the explosion of the social networking sites to see that people want to reach out to someone and connect to other people that understand their needs on a personal level. We all know, that someone is Christ, and hopefully the church’s presence will be felt wherever there is a need, even if that need is through the Internet.

How Does Your Church Use Technology?

So, what ways does your church use or embrace technology? Does it at all? There are so many different ways and methods that there are countless ways we, the church body, can use the tools we have today, to expand our reach for Christ.

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The Church Body and the Internet, Part 1

Scott's Misc — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 23:38:25 +0000

The question about interactions between the Church and the Internet came up recently so I wanted to touch on a few basics of this topic. I am going to post several parts to this topic over the next month or two, so I consider this to be an introduction to the topic itself, not a conclusion.

Of course I am going to touch on the importance of a website, social networking sites and their effect, content the Internet contains that may keep us in line or cause us to fall short, the list can go on forever I think, but I will try to stay focused.

Living on the Internet

For the last 15 years my wife and I have earned our living through the Internet in one form or another, so when one discusses the church and the Internet today, it touches on a basis for something I am extremely familiar with and a place I generally spend most of my days through work, and as with most today, many other things from paying bills, entertainment, and overall general information.

I recently wrote a short piece on the importance of a church to have a website, called Does a Church Need a Website? After writing that post, is now acts as a spring board for this topic, so it was kind of strange for me to hear a message directly speaking about the Internet and the church a few weeks ago.

Does The Church Use the Internet Effectively?

I have watched the growth and changes the Internet has gone through, since the early 90′s, from a Believers perspective, and I did then, and do today, think it is one of the most underutilized areas of the church, and a place for enormous witness potential that lies in wait.

By underutilized, I don’t mean having or not having a website that shows worship times and directions. I mean having a witnessing presence to meet and address the needs of individuals on a personal level, the way it is described through Acts 1:7, a local, national, and worldwide reach, in a way and medium that is used and understood by our society. A way that probably each generation of Believers and potential Believers to come will be far more familiar with than your average baby boomer (nothing against them).

* Acts 1:7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Yes, there are many who come to Believe through traditional methods, and all those are important, but one can not ignore the Internet as a great channel to reach others. It doesn’t have to be someone around the world. It can be, but you can reach out to local people as well. There are many that are comfortable communicating through the Internet today that will not respond to traditional means for one reason or another.

Communication is the Anchor Today

I think it is important for us as a church body to recognize this, use the resources available, train the personnel, and actively communicate with people in a manner that anyone under about 40 would expect. This is not just email (and this is important), but through facebook, youtube, twitter, blogs, and whatever communication method is being actively used.

It doesn’t mean we are to engage in unethical behaviors, or compromise our beliefs in any way. What it does mean is that we should reply to emails, actively seek out those ways that Believers and possible Believers communicate in today’s world, and be ready to engage people in ways The Church may be neglecting.

Of course, you always have to look for some worldly examples (since we do actually live in the world right now), but where none are perfect, there are some that have an Internet presence that come to mind, like Ragamuffin Soul, check out his latest post, The Little Church Down The Block, and maybe Stuff Christians Like (for something a little off topic I guess), with his running list of truths (see latest #186. You down with O.P.P.? Whoops, I meant G.O.D.)

There are countless others, those are just two that come immediately to mind when I think of Believers using the internet for God’s Glory. Stay tuned for part 2, coming soon. What about it? What ways does your church communicate in today’s electronic world?

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Does a Church Really Need a Website?

Scott's Misc — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:58:04 +0000

I have been working with church websites since I first became a believer around 1995 and offered to do website work for a large church in Birmingham.

Of course, this was long before churches decided that having a web presence was just as important for them as it was for the local civic center, and the websites that I worked on and helped start back then were nothing compared to what can be offered by a local church today.

A website for a church is important, and its importance shouldn’t be ignored by the congregation or the administration. The baby-boomers may be reaching retirement age, but they use computers now too, and if you want to attract a younger generation of worshipers and potential believers to your church, a website is a must (in my opinion).

An Internet Home is Important for Churches Too

If you have a church, you better have a website too. Even the smallest churches with no budget should be able to find a presence online to take care of all the various tasks that a website can do for a church. Recently I came across an article from Vandelay Design, called 50 of the Best Church Website Designs that shows just how far church website designs have come, and how important they now are in the tech and digital world we live in.

At bare minimum, it can remind visitors what your specific doctrine is, what time the services are, and what you should expect from the worship service and members. When we thought about visiting a new local church in town, the first thing we did was check out their website, read up on everything they had to say on their church, what they believe, who they are and of course when they worship. We visited 3 weeks later based on what we read.

More Than Just Worship Times

A website for a church can be more than just worship times and directions on how to get there. Many churches now offer real time audio and archived sermon messages, blogs on specific topics within the church, and even live simulcasting of their services. All of this is great, but, having a presence is more than just showing the world how pretty everything is.

Coming up, I will explore the details of how the church and the Internet can exist together and reach out to those members and non-members in meaningful ways. It is important to touch the lives of people for Christ in ways that help and sustain, not just put up a sign of when to show up.