Social Media Starter Tools and Links

Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Rock1997, CC-BY-SA 3.0

Free online storage : DropBox (Hint: if you sign up using this link, we will both get bonus storage!) WeTransfer.com is another very useful service for sending (but not storing) large files.

Social Media Citation Guide: How to credit your sources when you found them online; MLA  and APA formats.

Common Sense Media: Links to articles and videos on a number of media-related issues concerning children and families.

A note about privacy laws ("the Right to be Forgotten") in Europe.

Digital Training Institute (Ireland)

One-page articles (pdf) on aspects of social media, published by an energy company, Solari.

To Follow on Twitter

Starter list for Catholics in ministry: by following their followers and their RT (retweeted posts), you can find many interesting leads. Don't forget to search for your favorite Catholic news sources, your local diocesan Twitter feeds and any parish leaders' tweets.

Church Social Media @chsocm  Also offers a real-time Twitter chat every Tuesday evening (8 pm)

Steven W. Anderson @web20classroom Longtime educator, now a consultant on technology and social media. Offers practical wisdom especially for the classroom.

Crux @Crux

John Allen @JohnLAllenJr

Religious Freedom Institute @RFInstitute

Father James Martin, SJ @JamesMartinSJ

AmericanCatholic (Franciscan Media) @AmericnCatholic

NET Ministries @netministries 

Jonathan Sullivan (Director of Catechesis, Diocese of Springfield): @sullijo

Joe Paprocki @paprockij Chicago catechetical author

Vatican News: @news_va_en

USCCB: @USCCB

America Magazine: @americamag

Catholic Tech Tips @catholictechtip

Busted Halo @BustedHalo

Articles on apps, social media, technology

Don't Develop a Social Media Strategy for Your Parish! A "social communications strategy" is what you should develop, according to this article.

The End of Unplugging, by Mat Honan (Wired): Now that the grid is everywhere, discernment and self-discipline are your only recourse.

Shame with Caution, by Laura Hudson (Wired): Think twice before posting your irritation or outrage.

LinkedIn, Pinterest more popular than Twitter: The growing influence of Pinterest (and LinkedIn); demographics of Twitter

Instagram, Vine and Kik and Porn: Parents, teachers, ministers, need to be aware of popular photo-sharing apps and their link to porn culture. (This article predates Snap Chat.)

iPod, YouTube, Wii play: Theological engagements with entertainment

Appletopia (an excerpt): The authority of the printed page is now giving way to the universality of glass screens.

Social proof, online authority

Why We Can't Stop Checking our Phones

The Next Billion Internet Users (infographic)

The Hermeneutics of Texting: A resourceful teacher got the class to understand biblical hermeneutics by having recourse to their experience of interpreting text messages. The article may provide you with insights about how texts communicate!

2 Rules to Follow when Social Media and Church Culture Collide