Facebook, location-based services, and opportunities for local churches

During an interview at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that Facebook is working on adding location-based services to the popular social network. Soon users will be able to add a location to their status updates, communicating not only what they are doing but where they are doing it.

This is just another move in Facebook’s strategy to become the information currency system of the web – aggregating all the  information about you by connecting to your Facebook profile and then selling access to that information to marketers.

In addition to the demographic, social, opinion, and digital behavior data that Facebook gathers, adding information about a user’s...

Creative Thinking for Dummies

There is a lot being written these days about the role of creativity in business and ministry. I get the feeling that creativity is viewed as the Holy Grail of skills.

The truth is that everyone is capable of being creative. Yes, there are those who are extremely gifted, but these people are hardly worthy of being idolized.

Here are three principles for effective creative thinking that any individual or organization can follow:

1. Separate Ideation from Evaluation

“There no stupid ideas, just stupid people.” The process of coming up with ideas (ideation) needs to run its course. Even obviously bad ideas can lead to good ideas. But nothing shuts off the creative process like judging the merits of each idea as it is presented. For more effective brainstorming...

Information Currency Systems and the Future of the Internet

In my post about the impact of Facebook’s Community Pages on churches, I referred to Facebook’s desire to be the information currency system of the entire web. Let me explain that a bit.

The next phase in the evolution of the Internet will be the “Semantic Web” where machines not only exchange data and information but are able to derive “meaning” from the information that is being shared. Because meaning is subjective and influenced by situational factors, information on the Web will need to be interpreted within the context of the people who are...

Strategy Quote #003

“A strategy delineates a territory in which a company seeks to be unique.”

– Michael...

Innovation Quote #002

The best way to predict the future is to create it.

– Peter F....

Gospel Decision Making

Dustin Neely, an Acts 29 pastor and church planter in Kentucky, posted an interesting article on The Resurgence blog called “ 3 Questions to Ask Before Committing iDolatry “. You should go read it here.

In it Neely examines his desire to purchase Apple’s new iPad through the lens of the Gospel. He suggests three questions to ask yourself in order to “make a Gospel-informed, wise...

Can Business Help Wipe Out Homelessness?

Can business help wipe out homelessness?

On the surface, most of us would answer “yes”. At the risk of generalizing and over-simplifying, it seems pretty clear that business generally produces resources that homeless people lack.

You may be thinking something like “Businesses make money… Homeless people need money…”

But it’s hard to go much beyond that. We get stuck trying to think of ways to transfer those resources so that it would be both sustainable and universally...

It Depends

I’ve noticed that there are two types of strategic thinkers out there:

There are strategic thinkers who hold on very tightly to a preferred approach.

When these strategists are asked their opinion on what a business or church should do, they launch in with the same answer again and again. They are the ones who flood the Internet with tweets and articles chocked full of words like “every”, “should”, and “must”. The act as if their universal truths are the secret to unlocking the potential of the universe. Occasionally they will attempt to justify their approach, drawing weak conclusions from even weaker evidence.

Their confidence in their approach is not unfounded, they usually have experienced success with it in some situations. Of course their faith...

Compounding

Anyone who has ever taken an economics class or attended a Dave Ramsey seminar will tell you that compounding is an extremely powerful tool for multiplying the value of your efforts. Very simply, compounding is the cumulative effect of taking the outcome of your effort and reinvesting it back in as input. The result is the yield of your effort creates its own yield, which in turn creates its own yield… the cycle builds upon itself ad infinitum. Cool, right?

But like all strategic tools, the compounding phenomenon can work both to the benefit and detriment of your organization. A lesson that most companies (and people) learn the hard way.

A quick analogy.

Right now, there is infection in five of my toes. I’ll...

What Is Your Person Strategy?

The backlash is in full swing. It was inevitable given the rapid proliferation of social media over the past year.

Despite the integrity and good intentions of most people who use tools like Twitter, the low cost of usage and anonymity offered inevitably result in these systems being abused by people of questionable ethical standards. These people have no qualms about abandoning etiquette, stretching the truth, and attempting to manipulate the people the people that social media these tools allow them to access. All for personal gain. And because this behavior has a negative impact on those whose intentions are more noble, the “good guys” have started speaking out.

The dissent started out in the form of people publicly questioning the qualifications of self-proclaimed and...