freshbytes

The main reason there haven’t been many updates lately is because I just haven’t had the time. Freshbytes seems to work all the time, so it’s not because we’ve had huge amounts of downtime or anything, it’s just cos I’ve been super busy on a Sunday night.

Unsurprisingly, it’s all my fault. I’ve volunteered to do verious tasks that mean my Sunday nights aren’t as free as I would like them to be – combine this with other blogging commitments, and you’ve got one hell of a mess…

So, what have I been up to lately?

Well, the Radi8 Youth website idea fell over. It’s gone. No more. In what I would call a smart move, they decided that social media was the way to go – hence why they chose to make a Facebook Group and Myspace page (which I haven’t yet found), instead of a dedicated website. I can totally understand why they would choose to do so – it means far less work for me, but also means I get less say in what/how things get run. Which isn’t altogether a bad thing, I’ll let you know – sometimes, it’s nice to just let things “flow”. If you’re interested, you can hit up the Facebook group.

I’ve got to ask the question – what about those Radi8er’s who don’t (or simply aren’t allowed) to use social media? It’s not uncommon for kids to be banned from “unnecessary” internet usage, let alone social media sites, considering the amount of bad press sites such as Facebook and Myspace get… Will those kids “miss out” on updates because of it?

It’s late, so I’ll leave you to ponder that in your own time, but think about it – social media. Good or bad?

written by Benny Ling \\ tags: bad, do, good, media, radi8, social, things, time, youth

Another week, another blog post…

I guess we’ll do some news first, eh?

First up for the news this week is the addition of FeedBurner feeds. FeedBurner is basically a service that provides RSS feeds (Really Simple Syndication, like news delivered to your door) for your blog or podcast.

The difference with FeedBurner is that is provides statistics tracking for your RSS feed – something that isn’t included as a part of Google Analytics (at least as far as I can see).
Stats tracking is super important to any blog, and with the addition of FeedBurner, I’ll know how many people subscribe to my blog (not that many, I can assure you).

So, what do you have to do? Well, you’ve got two choices – either subscribe to freshbytes via RSS, or just keep reading the blog like you have been doing – whenever you get time. Either way, I don’t really mind.

Right, so the second piece of news has something to do with youth, Radi8. Continuing the naming scheme of Dean (we’ll miss you!!), it’s going to stay Radi8, but under the leadership of Dave and Rach. That’s all well and good, but what about the website? You see, dear reader, that’s where I come in.

Apparently people really liked how the website would update to reflect the week’s Radi8 events, and I totally agree – if nothing else, websites are there to provide information to people, free of charge. They’ve got a couple of people handy with computers at the church, but it’d be awesome if I could manage the Radi8 website… I’m already thinking “WordPress-as-CMS”, ‘cos the Pages and blog-syle updates would be perfect for updating events, as well as archiving events, and posting up pics, etc… Sorta like how this site is managed now. You like? :p Now all I need to do is find a good theme…

As part of the revamped Radi8, I’ve also volunteered myself to do some of the media-related stuff. You know, like the movies, pics, and so on. Should be easy enough, cos I’ve got a Mac! :p

On that note, I volunteered to put together a clip from Relay For Life 2009, and how the Radi8 team helped out. Unfortunately, the camera seems to have had it (will not play back videos, only get the dreaded blue-screen of death, quick google reveals heads have ), and I’ve still got one tape to go to get into the computer! ARGH! Currently working on a solution to this problem, I’ll be sure to put up the full vid on the new-look Radi8 website when it’s done.

I’ll also announce the new-look Radi8 website (if) I get to do it. Stay tuned!

Thanks about it. Comments below.

written by Benny Ling \\ tags: analytics, feedburner, radi8, relay for life, rss, subscribe, youth