I recently came across this video from Julius Solaris on vimeo.  I like his approach to building community online and this video describes some of the different things he has gone through that have help build one of the largest online communities for event planners.  There are a few of his commandments we need to work on here at Unifyer, like integrating with other social networks.  You will see our FaceBook application shortly.  And there a few things that Unifyer does really well for the organizations using Unifyer.  Taking your community offline is one of them.  This is partly due to the fact that most of our organizations using Unifyer are already meeting offline.  They are using Unifyer to strengthen those relationships by connecting in areas of interest they previously did not know existed.  Then they are able to take those connections offline.  I would like to hear your thoughts on Julius’s 10 commandments.

With our feature release next week, Unifyer will integrate with ACS Technologies database software.  ACS Technologies develops outstanding software products specifically for faith-based organizations. ACS Technologies designed all of their products to work together, integrated to increase efficiency and reduce redundancies for the churches benefit.

Through the integration of ACS and Unifyer, churches will be able to seemlessly tie their existing database of church members directly into their communication/social network platform.  We are excited about the possiblities this gives the local church.

Unifyer will have a presence at the 2009 ACS Technologies National Convention, and if you will be in attendance, we would love to visit with you there.

Yesterday, I had the chance to visit with Sally Grantham, R&D Project Manager for ACS Technologies.  Below is a quick video from our chat.

This video is a great conversation around audience.  The new audience are the people that are conversing with each other.  They are no longer just recieving content, but also engaging with others about your brand, church, organization.  

We are waking up and linking to each other.  We are watching. But we are not waiting. - Cluetrain Manifesto

If your audience is in conversation with each other, what are you doing to reach them?  Or, how are you reaching them?  Are you leveraging this new way of conversation to get your message out and engage with your audience.  Are you making it easy for your audience/membership to engage with each other and with you around your content/messaging?

Great leaders create movements by empowering the tribe to communicate. They established the foundation for people to make connections, as opposed to commanding people to follow them.

- Seth Godin - Tribes

This video is of Al Jennings at Summit Church in Fort Wayne, IN.  He is using his blog inside Unifyer to explain a couple of the new features released on Wednesday.  This is a great example on how to use a quick video to share information within Unifyer.  Great Job Al!  Thank you for letting us share this.

Al Jennings at Summit Church from Unifyer.com on Vimeo.

RSS from Unifyer.com on Vimeo.

We ran into an incredible ministry while in Chicago last week for Willow Creek’s Shift conference.  I was so blessed to be able to meet the folks from Elim Hope Packs.  Elim Hope Packs is a ministry that packs school supply bags for children in third world countries.  They employ adults with disablilties to help pack the bags.  Please read more of the story on their website, or follow them on twitter.

This ministry was really cool to see in person.  With the help of conference attendees, they were able to pack 1500 bags.  They also had 47 churches sign up to help with school supply drives.  Now that is cool!  Here is a couple videos from the evening.

Packing Bags with Troy Murphy, Adam Durso, & Dr. Bill Lodewyk from Unifyer.com on Vimeo.

Elim Hope Pack Tour from Unifyer.com on Vimeo.

Troy Murphy w/Shift asks Jenna Hania a few Questions from Unifyer.com on Vimeo.

We have decided Portillo’s is the best place to eat!  You can go with the Deep Dish pizza from various establishments, but the Italian Beef from Portillo’s is the best!  You then top that off with a Chocolate Cake Shake.  Enough Said!

We are at the Shift Conference Wednesday through Friday this week.  This is a great conference for youth leaders all over the globe.  Some of the speakers include, Francis Chan, Mark Matlock, Marcus Buckingham and Kara Powell.

The reason we are in Chicago at this awesome conference is to assist with the launch of Kurrent!  A global youth ministry network.  Think of this community as an extension of the conference event and a place for daily information around youth ministry.  In addition to information, this community provides a great place for information sharing among youth pastors, and youth ministry leaders from around the globe.

If you are a youth leader at a church or ministry, this is the place for you to connect with others dealing with the same issues you are.  Help others like you and get help from some of the best youth leaders in the world. 

I have posted a couple screen shots from the community below.

Have you seen what is going on with Ashton Kutcher and his 1,000,000 twitter followers? A couple days ago he called out CNN and Ted Turner. It is a race to 1,000,000 followers. His 1 millionth follower will now be a character in the EA Sims 3 game and receive every game that is made by EA in 2009.

Ashton is going to buy 10,000 bed nets for Malaria No More when he hits 1 million followers. 

About half way through the video (the 2:08 mark), Ashton talks about new media verses the old broadcast media.  He is blown away that he can have the same voice as CNN through new form of Social Media.  

The same is true for your organization.  It is so important to listen every person within your church or organization.  The top down communication model is changing and new forms of technology allow every individual in your organization to have a voice.  There are some good things happening and some great ideas in your ogranization.  Are you listening?  Are you providing a way for them to speak?

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You can see his call out video and a response video from Larry King on his YouTube channel.

A few months ago we ran a video featuring a church from Los Angeles.  It was a great piece on communications and connecting within their church.  Due to a lack of space, this particular church has had to stay innovative in the way they gather as a church.  You see, this church has only 24 parking spaces and fits about 250 people into their sanctuary at one time.  All of this as they have five weekend services and see weekend attendance around 900 people.

One way in which they have dealt with a lack of physical space is to pour several patios around the church for fellowship.  Every time they need more space, they pour another patio.  Pastor Dave Roberts said, “Unifyer is another patio for our church.”  What a great visualization of what Unifyer does for their church.  He said, “it provides another connection point for our church members, only, it lasts the whole week.”  It goes beyond meeting on Saturday, Sunday or Wednesday night.  It also allows church members who attend Saturday services the chance to connect with church members who attend Sunday services and might not otherwise see each other.