I.N.T.E.R.N.

Under the Sun

benluttrull — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:13:03 +0000

There is nothing new under the sun. It’s true, and no big brilliant idea ever thought up has ever skipped over countless millions of people before us. The technology of today may allow for more of those ideas and practices to be practical, but the ideas themselves are not new. There’s always been a desire to tell many people the same thing at one time, but before e-mail, it wasn’t practical to try.

There is a difference, however, between doing something that someone else had done before, and doing something because someone else has done it before. Especially in design.

It’s no secret that every designer has a whole slew of tricks up his or her sleeve that helps him or her come up with “great ideas”. The lines between outright plagiarism and “borrowing” other ideas are taught, but blurry. VERY blurry. Churches look to other churches, businesses look to other businesses, designers look to other designers for “inspiration”.

The question I have is…even though there’s nothing new under the sun, aren’t designers and communicators responsible for at least trying to find something unused under the sun?

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This Revolution is Different Because We Say It Is

benluttrull — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:26:01 +0000

Technology is, as always, changing the way we live in ways none of us could ever predict. Whether you think this is the Biblical end of times or not, it’s hard to look at the events of the world around us and not wonder “What in the blue blazes is going on?”

People can order television packages for more a month than some people in other countries make in a year, then use Hulu and never watch TV. Cell phones turned into smartphones turned into Blackberries turned into iPhones which are turning into EverythingPhones. Computers are now being considered alongside women’s handbags as accessories. People in Iran have turned a niche service into a crucial communication and news tool, without prompt or reward. All of this happening in a time when politics is king and people care more about personal issues and desires than the welfare of a nation.

What else is new?

Haven’t we seen this before? With the telegraph during the Civil War? Newspapers with the Spanish-American War? With film during WWI? Television during Vietnam? There is nothing new under the sun.

The differences between this technological transformation are the perception of the “future” and the involvement of everyone. 50 years ago, everyone thought that the year 2000 would include jet packs, robot nannies and time travel. 1984 was 25 years ago. We’re ready for our jet packs, but they aren’t happening. So, people are using the Internet to create virtual jet-packs – devices that allow people to go anywhere, talk to anyone and see anything.

This revolution will be more intense than the ones before it, simply because we WANT it more. People are ready for the future. It’s no longer “hip” to be online, it’s almost a necessity. Facebook is not a college-kid distraction anymore, it’s a virtual Grand Central Station for all things social.

Just because everyone isn’t doing it well and it’s not there yet doesn’t mean it won’t be there soon. The people and organizations (churches definitely included) who recognize this, start doing it well and build a foothold in the New Social Revolution will be MUCH better off when the tipping point is past and the world is connected in ways never before imagined.

This revolution is happening because we want it more.

If you want to reach more people, go where the people want to be.

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#amIdoingitwrong

benluttrull — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:40:54 +0000

I know that I’ve been spending a lot of time on this church-sponsered blog talking about decidedly selfish and non-church related things. Twitter, social media, my own self…all things that most church blogs don’t (and shouldn’t, in my opinion) touch with a 10-ft. pole. I tend to obsess about stuff and not focus on other, more important things (BIG shock to those who know me). I’ve also had to deal with low self-esteem and self-doubt, which certainly doesn’t help much when I’m thrust into a bigger role than what I feel comfortable in.

(FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED REAL LIFE, FEEL FREE TO IGNORE THIS POST. ODDS ARE YOU ALREADY KNOW WHAT I’M GOING THROUGH)

One person can not serve two masters. It’s an obvious statement, yet one I’ve never really felt highlighted by the lifestyle and choices I’ve been making until recently. To further my education and to start getting ready for real life situations, I’ve started following PR and social media experts on Twitter. It started harmlessly enough, I added some PR blogs to my Google Reader based off of suggestions and the general biggies, then started following them on Twitter. Then I started following their friends on Twitter. Then I signed up for social networks with no intention to do anything except follow one or two PR professionals. Then I felt pressed to redo my whole Twitter page because I felt like people wouldn’t even look at me twice unless I had a spiffy design.

All the while, I’m reading all these blogs and posts and articles and reports and presentations and books and ohmygoodnesswillthemadnessneverend, and seeing all these things and requirements and new services that I must sign up for if I ever want to have a career.

I’m a college senior, yet I feel so incredibly young. I’ve surrounded myself with multi-year veterans of the field I am currently planning on entering, and a symptom of that is the feeling of absolute cluelessness. Granted, I have no experience other than what I’m going through now, and I won’t have any until, at the earliest, the school year through Cardinal Comm.

All this is pressing on my mind and soul….and distracting me from life. Time I could be spending with God, with Rachel, my family, my friends, is being spent on search engine optimization and the implications of the Facebook land grab. Instead of jumping in the pool, I’m jumping into Google Reader.

Fixing my priorities is a definate must, obviously, and I have to give MAD props to my Bible study (Sundays @6 at the Eastland Mall Starbucks…be warned, it’s intense) for pulling me, quite forcefully, out of the haze. Still…I’m just a college kid still. None of my schoolmates are anywhere are bad as I am, at least outwardly.

When is it acceptable to stop acting like a student and start acting like something else?

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Mashup

benluttrull — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:17:07 +0000

If you haven’t explored the world of mashup music – you’re really missing out. In a VERY brief nutshell, Mashups are made when a DJ or a computer musician takes the music from one song and the a capella voices from another and lines them up to create a new song. The best mashups can make you think that the original songs don’t sound as good as the new creation. It’s kind of a slap in the face of the original artist, and completely illegal if pursued on the commercial market because of our wonderful music industry’s view on creativity at times.

Yet, it’s how I feel about myself. I am a mashup, on many different levels. I feel like (mainly from the words of others) someone took skills from three different professions and plopped them right inside me. I don’t fit in one peghole. I don’t have 12900 followers on Twitter hanging on my every tweet (heck, I don’t even have 100 yet), and yet people are asking my advice on tweeting. I don’t have a Ph.D in theology or anything, yet people still ask for advice. It’s a weird life, but it’s a life I know I can use to the best of my abilities.

I think this proves there is a God, but what do I know about THAT discussion, other than it tends to drift away from a God-centered discussion to pointless philsophic bullfighting when done by most people my age.

I know that the key to success is to use the best traits you have as well as possible. For me, I’m still sifting through all the mashed-up stuff trying to find what’s best for me from God.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Bold realization

benluttrull — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:45:35 +0000

This Sunday, I spent a grand total of SIX hours researching and learning more about social media. I downloaded presentations, joined networks related to other networks and spent hours reading about stuff I never thought would interest me. Somewhere between signing up for Twitter directories, following experts and adding blog upon blog to my Reader account, something hit me like a truck:

I’ve become a nerd. Not just any kind of nerd, but a VERY scary nerd – the nerd that is nerdy for no reason.

I mean, why social media? I’m a college student. I’ve taken a grand total of 1 PR class, and most of my experience in the field revolves around design more than anything else. I should be out having fun and making money. I’m in a fraternity. I listen to and play music. I have a girlfriend. Yet, somehow, I sat in my room transfixed by the Internet.

I still am refusing to believe that the Internet is THAT powerful, if only for the sake of my journalism friends that will have their worlds turned upside down any moment now. I don’t have a brand to manage, I don’t work for a corporation desperate to be followed, I have no Fan Pages to send messages to. I’m just reading and learning. Why?

I think it’s because that I know, eventually, this stuff is going to matter. The toys of today become the tools of tomorrow (well, except if you’re Myspace). Facebook, when I was entering college, was just on the brink of opening up to non-collegiate people. Now, well, it’s everywhere. I remember first hearing about Twitter from when the Ball State Daily News used it to cover a trial and thinking it was a joke.

Right now, I fell like a total geek. Hopefully, I’ll learn enough that, in the future, all the time and energy (debatable) I’ve spent on how to use social media will pay off.

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The $64,000 Question

benluttrull — Wed, 27 May 2009 17:38:43 +0000

How do churches use social media well enough to make them worth the time?

Sitting around here is all well and good when it’s just me, the intern, seeing what could work and the possibilities behind everything. The real question is getting the ideas out of my head and putting them into action at a level where BTCChurch.com would benefit from it.

Bethel has a Facebook page and a YouTube account. Pastors have Twitters and blogs, and I think that’s about it. That’s awesome, and a lot more than most right there. However, if this whole “social media” thing is all that it’s cracked up to be, then we’re going to have an opportunity to turn the Internet into something that has a remarkable ROI.

Honestly? I don’t know. Anyone have any ideas?

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My dive into Social Media

benluttrull — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:48:12 +0000

What does it say about a world where I can search for Twitter apps and come up with over 270?

Today, I decided to just dive into as many social media applications as I can. So far, this has included Delicious (which I dabbled in way back in the day), 12seconds.com, Wordie, and basically just random things. Also, this means I’m trying to deck my Twitter account to the max, which is saying something since there’s now an entire convention devoted to Twitter and Twitter applications and the Twitter API.

There’s a lot of coolness in the social Web. A lot of weirdness, too, don’t get me wrong, but a lot of it can be turned around for good. Granted, it’s not much use unless your friends/audience are riding in the same vehicle, but hopefully everyone will be able to see your work online.

Twubble. I highly recommend it.

What kickstarted this push? This link : www.theconversationprism.com. Check it out!

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Socially Acceptable

benluttrull — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:37:58 +0000

Social media is, to put it mildly, all the rage. Twitter is booming, which is incredible considering that the vast majority of people who use it don’t fully get it. Facebook has grown up (or devolved, depending on your point of view) into a juggernaut that handles more than everything you need. Ning has turned even the most mundane of hobbies and occupations into fodder for social networks. All this has people like me except much smarter licking their chops and exploring new ways to use this in order to communicate with the public. College kids my age are being hired based on their ability to construct a tweet. Blog networks, complete with Twitter rings and Facebook fan pages, are popping up. Journalism as we know it is becoming circumvented by the ability for a “company” to directly communicate with its “fans” or “followers”.

I almost have to take a step back and ask why. I mean, there are still a lot of people like my family, several of whom have never even had an e-mail address. For every new trend that I’ve jumped on, I’ve had to explain it at least 5 times to someone who didn’t get it, and then had to sit and squirm while they asked the question “So, what’s the point?” Explaining Twitter to someone who doesn’t know the point of texting someone is like pulling teeth.

I think sometimes we fall into the trap of cursing those who aren’t on board the hippest trends with the shame of being lame or behind the times. Don’t get me wrong, I love Twitter to death, and the ability it gives to communicate is huge. Facebook is a big part of my day. I still don’t feel comfortable when we abandon traditional, personal ways of communication with technologically nifty ones just for the sake of being nifty.

If it makes it easier to spread information and communicate with people, then I want to use it. If it’s just cool, then I’m going to put on my cynic hat and make sure that it’s not just the new fad for the next 10 minutes.

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A Church is not a Newspaper

benluttrull — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:42:33 +0000

In my experiences with design, the main emphasis hasn’t been on pretty, flashy colors or crazy graphics. In J-Graph, if your work doesn’t tell a story, tell it well and tell it quickly, then it’s not as good as it could be. Functionality, in my world, tops flash. That’s why you don’t see very many 3d multicolor chartoons or extravagent maps in newspapers very often, if at all – it just doesn’t work as well (my apologies to USA Today for being the exception).

How does this apply now, in a world where I’m not detailing the number of jobs cut by Company X over the past 50 years, but rather coming up with plans to attract and maintain churchgoers, and also keep them up to date on the latest information about the church’s activities? This is a strange new world, and I don’t think it has much difference in methodology, but how I apply training into the newer realm.

A church bulletin is not a newspaper, and should not be treated as such. However, there are scientifically proven methods that people use when they read for information. They scan, look at dominant images and read headlines. Granted, I’m not sure how much of a difference is made when the main story is about the size of a twitter post, but the principle remains the same – if you want people to get something, make sure they can’t miss it.

This is only day two, and my first day of really looking at stuff beyond just “welcome to internshipland”. I can already tell that this is going to be a fun little push in the right direction for me.

Oh, and those that doubt the power of infographics need only watch this.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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“Train up a child…”

benluttrull — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:28:39 +0000

This is a totally new world for me to dive into. The world I lived in before this is gone, and the world I’m living in now seems so promising and interesting that the old way looks fruitless. Before, my personal goals, desires and beliefs were kept independent from my “profession”, especially since my world in Muncie and my world in Evansville were, literally and figuratively, miles apart. Now? I’m doing stuff in Evansville that I used to think I could only do in Muncie, and I’m starting to consider things in Muncie that I would normally only do while at home.

I’m excited, because all my life I’ve wanted to combine the things I love with the things I am good at doing. I always seemed to confuse the two – there are a lot of things I love that I’m not good at, and vice versa. I used to think that I could only pick one. I’m learning, and I’ll learn throughout this summer, that the two things can, actually, live and work together quite well. I’m very excited to learn the things I’m going to learn here, very excited to share my knowledge with others, extremely excited to be working with the people I will be working with, and, well, just generally very excited.

I’m feeling out all the new stuff. It’s so foreign…and yet really seems to fit well. The feeling you get seeing your name in front of a professional e-mail address for the first time is hard to explain.

More soon. This, hopefully, is going to be something worth continuing.

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