IPad Only Youth Ministry Part #2 -Electronic Communication

In the last post we talked about the benefits for youth directors of going iPad only. Now we are going to get practical and talk about the practices, and apps we can use to accomplish every day tasks.

Electronic Communication
Getting the word out and receiving feedback from youth, parents, staff and church members is critical in any ministry. There are several ways we communicate in our ministry. Electronic communication is probably the easiest to talk about going Ipad only, since much of it is designed or quickly adapted since the ipad came into existence.

We use Txtsignal.com to send out group texts. It is web based program and it pulls up nicely on both the ipad and the iphone.

Facebook Page
We can access our facebook page via the website or through the facebook pages app for iPad.

Twitter
I use hootsuite to manage our twitter feed. The app is free for up to 5 social media accounts. It allows you to send tweets at a specific time, immediately, or at what it determines to be the best time. Twitter also has an ipad app that I use periodically as well as accessing it from the web.

Photos
We set up our instagram app to automatically send photos to our youth facebook page. It keeps our page updated and fresh. Instagram app is designed only for Iphone, but works pretty well on the Ipad as well. The instagram photos are also sent to our twitter account for those following that way. I am a huge fan of creating once, and distributing many ways.

Email
I use Gmail for my personal and church email communication. Many people like using the iPad native mail app. I originally accessed Gmail through their mobile site, then moved to the dedicated Gmail app. I now use Mailbox app. I like the ability to quickly sort through my inbox and get it down inbox zero. This is one app that does not exist for a desktop or laptop. Note – The mailbox app is currently only available for Gmail, but the site says other platforms coming soon.

Website
I use wordpress for all of my sites. WordPress has a dedicated Ipad app where you can check stats, create posts and pages manage comments etc… It is also possible to log in to the web version of the site and make changes. WordPress app is limited in ease of use when it comes to creating posts. For the task of writing I have moved to using Blogsy. It does not do things like stats etc.. but for formatting and creating posts is more friendly and usable.

Those are just some of the solutions to help you go Ipad Only with electronic communication in your minsitry. What are some of the other apps, sites and solutions you have found?

Posted with Blogsy