General

Keeping up with news and ideas about new media can be time-consuming.  The number and complexity of new media tools is daunting and there is an overwhelming amount of new media advice being offered online.

Here are a few of the online resources I’ve found that helpful in learning about new media without spending excessive money or time:

• Quick and Dirty Tips from the Digital Marketer. True to its name, this weekly podcast provides advice that is concise, easy-to-understand, and practical.
• Another of my favorite podcasts is Net@Night, which provides a weekly review of news about new media and usually spotlights one or two new tools or products. The episodes are a bit long, but I find it easy to skip those sections in which I’m not interested.
• The blog Faith and Web: A Church Web Diva’s Musings is written by Anna Belle Leiserson, a Unitarian Universalist who has served on the UUA’s General Assembly web team and who is one of the webmasters at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville in Tennessee. Anna Belle’s knowledge of technology and her experience working on her congregation’s website make her blog a valuable and unique resource. She doesn’t post frequently, but the archives provide plenty of material.
• When I was first learning about blogging several years ago, ProBlogger was one of my go-to websites for advice. Looking at it right now, it seems very crowded with advertisements and posts about blog monetization. But the general, introductory posts may still be quite helpful for blogging newbies; they can be found by starting at ProBlogger’s “Blogging Tips for Beginners” page.

Tim Griffin, the UUA online communications manager, has two more suggestions for resources to help Unitarian Universalists interested in new media:

• The Common Knowledge blog.
• The Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) blog.

What other resources are missing from our lists? Where do you go to learn about Facebook, Twitter, blogging, and other new media?

Thank you for visiting the UUA’s new media blog. This blog will provide information on using new media to promote Unitarian Universalism and UUA congregations. We’ll discuss specific new media tools, such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs, as well as general principles and strategies for new media use.

Readers involved in any aspect of congregational life are welcome to participate.  This blog will benefit from the comments and questions of congregational staff, webmasters, communications committee members, religious education teachers, and other leaders using technology to advance their congregation’s programs and ministry.

The blog will begin with a series of “Getting Started” posts covering each of the major new media tools currently in use by UUA congregations. These posts will include basic definitions of each tool, so that newcomers to these technologies can learn and comment, along with more experienced new media users.

Readers can also look forward to posts from the staff of the UUA Office of Electronic Communications related to new media use by the UUA and Unitarian Universalist congregations.