Today, the Daily Mail, UK’s 2nd biggest-selling newspaper made a boo boo by quoting a parody Twitter account, thinking it was the REAL Steve Jobs. Many of us who spend copious amounts of time on Twitter are familiar with the popular @ceoSteveJobs account that spews lots of funny one-liners aimed to poke fun at all-things-Apple.

So, what did the parody account say? Just 13 simple words.

We may have to recall the new iPhone. This, I did not expect. – @ceoSteveJobs

Then, the Daily Mail went on to publish the following news piece online.

I can only imagine how embarrassing it must be for the newspaper, when the entire twittersphere picked up on their mistake and started *rolling their eyes* at the gross misreporting.

Soon after, the article was pulled from the Daily Mail, but a copy still remains here at TheBackpackr.com – read it, if you wish. At the same time, a seemingly similar post (view here) with the same imagery was found on the Daily Mail, though dated earlier. Bizarre.

As such, I decided to try and help expose the group to the current trends and what tools can be used for God’s glory.

Free eBook: Facebook for Pastors by Chris Forbes
Great book / DVD on presentation methodology: Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds

Images and videos for free, or at a low cost for church presentations / illustrations
Please bear in mind, I support respecting the copyright of the image owners and NEVER use something if the image owner does not approve.

sxc.hu (free images)
everystockphoto.com (free images)
istockphoto.com (microstock images at a low cost)
images.google.com (free images)

bluefishtv.com (videos from USD$1.99)
ignitermedia.com (videos)
36parables.com (videos)
openresources.org (free videos)
youtube.com (free videos)

Tools and toys that I shared about were:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Streaming video: live and pre-recorded
• Online payment gateways
• Blogging
• Email newsletters
• Online forms to email
• Slideology resources

Tips for pastors starting out on Facebook

• Culture shock, do not judge!
  - You may encounter information about certain members that you never knew before. Be calm, and reserve passing judgment on them. The main purpose of connecting on Facebook is to achieve true friendship.
• Treat each friend as a real person
  - Though it may seem like a virtual relationship, each person behind every account is a real-life being who needs as much prayer as a person who walks into your church. Pray for them as you would every member in your congregation.
• Don’t get sidetracked
  - Facebook can be pretty addictive, really! Be careful not to spend copious amounts of time looking through photos and watching videos, if you should be focused on other tasks. Facebook can be a great communications tool, and it can also be a HUGE distraction.
• Ask for help
  - If you get lost, don’t hesitate to ask your children or fellow congregation members for assistance. Nothing works best than human guidance.

Videos I used during my presentation

Statistics on the Internet (as at 2008)

What Twitter is all about

Random photos from my session with the pastors

Here are some of the pastors from FGA, KL, SIB KEC, Miri and beyond.

The slightly more tech savvy pastors. Grinning at the camera is Pastor Thomas from Penang.

Thanks for these two photos, @sivinkit.

Here’s a sample of bad, BAD slideology. They’re slides I designed back in the year 2000 when presenting ideas to prospects. Urgh… proof that you CAN learn design! (or marry someone who is better than yourself for a quick shortcut like I did!)

Before I share some of my slides, here are the resources I mentioned during my talk that are relevant for you.

Never mind the ingenius barista who tried to upsell me the full-blown breakfast, I still got a swell deal on coffee.

The concept of the campaign is awesome – freebies will definitely engage the general population and word of mouth will be the powerful medium in addition to social media tools that will spread the brand like wildfire.

Literally 50% of my office went to the Starbucks outlet downstairs to get a cuppa, and we all came back with smiles on our faces. Many across the country were also like that, and were happily posting tweets and photos of their experience.

I’d say the campaign was a great success and the awareness of the coffee company and their offering surely went far and wide. Chris Anderson in his book, Free: The Future of a Radical Price, talks about how the entire marketplace is changing – the under-30 generation refuse to pay for news and information, music is widely pirated, and people expect freemiums (think of limited accounts to certain services – Gmail being one and Flickr basic as another).

In this day and age, FREE is in. Look at the number of products that are given away these days, or sold at a very low price – companies make money off the related services – razors are given away, or sold cheaply, whilst the Gillette blades are sold at a handsome price. Printers are cheap, but the ink refills are a premium.

Closer to home, Air Asia sells tickets close to their cost price and make immense amounts of money from ancillary products such as food, advertising and travel packages. Another example in our Malaysian backyard is The Sun newspaper that is given away for free make a loss on production costs, but instead makes money from alternate revenue streams such as advertising.

Through this exercise, not only does Starbucks get more mindshare, they also get to sell their breakfast offerings, and they definitely created a buzz in the marketplace. Kudos to the team behind the campaign.

FREE is in, and FREE is here to stay. It drives us to be more innovative on how we can sell better.

(TwitPics were by @TheBackpackr, @smashpop, @jennihsurf, @sportysab)

Finally, there was even a TwitVid that was posted of the experience ordering their FREE coffee. (courtesy of @smashpop)

It goes to prove that geeks are cool (most of us anyway…) and we have varied interests. There were sessions on how to Salsa, Espresso appreciation, sharing of holiday experiences, Kufi art and also a little about coding standards. Overall it’s just a gathering to network and meet others. A few interesting observations:

1. Everyone is on Twitter – am I correct? (Seems that way, ‘coz people were Tweeting from each session) – Follow me?
2. Many techies use Apple Macs – it’s rare to see so many Macs in one location!
3. Typical staple geek food is pizza – well, it ended that way yesterday…
4. Live streaming seems to be the in thing now

I found it interesting to “guess” and try to associate Twitter usernames to faces – very often, the little avatars don’t do a good job at all. Anyhow, the funniest incident was sending @thechannelc a Tweet saying, I’m behind you, the guy with the camcorder, to which she turned around several seconds later and shook my hand. Indeed, we’re all a connected bunch.

We also had live updates on the #barcampkl hashtag going on here. Great use of technology there.

I had a video camcorder with me, and recorded bits and pieces from the day, and put them together here. Enjoy! Are you in the video? If you are, add an annotation on YouTube with your Twitter / Facebook username by clicking here.

Music credit: Steve ALLEN (Robert Pieculewicz)

He speaks on the Googles, YouTubes and Facebooks of the world and how they are the rare breed of today. Realistically, he focuses on making $1,000,000 first, and retaining your life – rather than selling out and losing everything. Some billionaires really aren’t that happy at all… true?

Makes me self-actualize and think about where I’ve come over the last 9 years of building Integricity as a digital interactive agency and where I’d like to go from here. Perhaps you should take some time out, sit beneath a coconut tree and restrategize the next part of your business-life.

David goes on to calculate that a million dollars can be derived in a year from 2,000 customers x $40 x 12 months. (He’s a little short on $1 mil in his calculations, but I’ll overlook that). It’s far easier to accomplish this feat, than to build a single Facebook sized web property.

So, you don’t have to be a superhuman to earn a decent wage.

(It take about 30 minutes to go through this, but it’s a good watch)

Watch this casual chat video as Alex spends some time with Jacqueline Ann Surin and Cindy Tham of The Nut Graph, 12 hours before Malaysia’s latest new media news website launches. They hang out at Integricity’s office warming party before heading off to a sleepless night!

Get to know the 2 dynamic women behind The Nut Graph and their love for ice cream! Check out www.thenutgraph.com – making sense of politics and pop culture.

What do you think of The Nut Graph? Is there enough space for yet another new media player? Let me know your thoughts.

Screenshot of thenutgraph.com

Music credit: Papo Ross – Mi Camioncito (Beatpick)