Instagram Now Posting Large Photos to Facebook Timeline

It’s no secret that I love Instagram. And lately, another thing I have come to like more and more is the new Facebook Timeline. In fact, I have started using social media and sync services that work and look best with the new timeline. What I am about to say next may reveal just how nerdy I am; oh well. I stopped using Foursquare and started checking in via Facebook primarily because the Facebook check in posts look better in the Facebook timeline. That, and the fact that I am trying to minimize the number of social apps and networks that I use. The growth of Facebook Pages and their integration with Facebook Places has helped Facebook finally gain some ground in the check-in race. It would be nice to see them integrate a tips option, like Foursquare has, but let’s get on to Instagram.

Up until now, Instagram photos would show up as small, almost thumbnail size photos in both the Facebook news feed and timeline views. To really see the picture, you would have to click the photo, which would then take you to that Instragram’s page. Now, Instagram has finally moved towards being able to post full size photos on both the news feed and timeline views.

But for many people, if they want to take advantage of this option, they’re going to have to change some of their sync settings.

For the longest time, I had all of my Twitter posts synced to Facebook. So anything posted on Twitter would show up on Facebook. I would then sync every other social network to Twitter, such as Instagram, Foursquare, Tumblr, WordPress, etc. So anything I posted on any of those networks would post to Twitter, which would then post to Facebook.

But now that I am really using Facebook more and more, I have changed all of that. Because on the Facebook end, all of those posts would simply show up as a link. If I posted a photo on Instagram, it would simply show up as a link and no photo. If I checked in to Foursquare, it would simply show up as a link and no location map. And so on. So I removed the Twitter to Facebook sync, and I started syncing each social network directly to Facebook, because most of them interact with Facebook’s API totally differently than they do with Twitter’s.

And in this case, my Instagram photos now show up as nice large photos and not a link. And now, instead of having to click the link to see the full size original photo, it is saved along with all of your other Facebook photos in an Instagram folder. So clicking on the photo brings up a full size photo right there in Facebook, just as it would with any other photo on Facebook.

(Because I disabled my Twitter to Facebook sync, I needed a way to still post updates simultaneously to both. And for that, I use Buffer)

Managing messages, mail, and more with one question

Action, Reference, or Backburner?

That is the question I am asking myself all the time lately.

I recently started reading “Making Ideas Happen” by Scott Belsky, founder of Behance, the company behind the Action Method. Since reading the book, I am totally bought into the Action Method. A basic premise of this organizational productivity system that is strongly biased towards actionable steps to get things done (or make ideas happen) is that everything you do is seen as a project and every piece of incoming information is filed; either as an action step to be completed, a reference to be saved, or a backburner to come back to at some later point in time; and if none of those, it’s trash.

Whether it is a piece of mail, an email, voicemail, blog, etc. You can narrow it down to one of these three things, or else in ends up in the trash. It keeps my mail organized, my inbox at zero, and my time more productive.

If you’re looking for a better way to manage your todo list, your messages, and your time, get a copy of “Making Ideas Happen.” Odds are, you’ll be signing up for an account with Action Method Online when you’re done.

Be sure to check out Behance’s 99% blog here for great articles on living a more productive life.

Customizing You Facebook Experience (Part 1)

Minimize Your Newsfeed

If you are anything like me, you might be at a place now where your Facebook newsfeed is getting a little too overwhelming, cluttered, and just claustrophobic. It has become hard to find the updates that you actually care about seeing, because they are sandwiched in between a hundred other updates, and games and applications, from people you really don’t care too much about.

For me, I had a pretty good number of “friends” on Facebook. For many of them, I didn’t really care what they were doing throughout the day, or what game they were playing, or what they were listening to on Spotify. But I didn’t really want to de-friend them. Facebook serves as a great place to reconnect with old friends or acquaintances, but that doesn’t mean that you have to follow everything they do.

Thankfully, with Facebook’s latest “subscription” implementation, you can be friends with someone without “subscribing” to their updates. The fix is simple and after some time, you’ll have your newsfeed scaled down to see just what you want to see. You don’t have to completely disconnect from people, but you don’t have be bothered by them either.

On your newsfeed, move your cursor over any update. You’ll see a small arrow appear in the upper righthand corner of that update. Click it. Now you will find several options. You can unhighlight the story if it appears in your Top Stories, or hide that story from your newsfeed, or you can unsubscribe from that person’s updates. Clicking the unsubscribe button will remove that update and keep all of their future updates from posting to your newsfeed. You will still be friends, but those posts that you care nothing about will no longer clutter your newsfeed.

Or perhaps you want to see that person’s updates, just not every update from that stupid game they are always playing or application they are using. By clicking on that same arrow, there is an option at the bottom of the choices to hide any updates by that application, game, etc.

Spend some time doing this each time you check in on Facebook, and eventually you will only be seeing the updates that you want to see, from the people that you want to be seeing them from.

The next chapter in the Singletary adventure

This morning I made an official announcement to our church that I am resigning from my position as Minister to Students. At the end of December, we will be moving our family up to the Atlanta, Georgia area, where I have accepted a position with Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee as their Director of Production and Roasting.

This has been one of the biggest and toughest decisions that I have ever had to make. Moving our family from Jacksonville, FL to Atlanta, GA (Roswell), finding a place to live, a school for the kids, and a job for Katrina is going to be a big transition. In addition to that, I have enjoyed the past few years at MHBC, serving with the staff there, worshiping with the church family, teaching and hanging out with the youth, and seeing lives transformed in our youth ministry. We also have both of our families and a lot of friends here in Jacksonville. So it’s not that easy to leave. But at the same time, we look forward to what lies ahead for us. This has been a decision that followed much prayer, anxiety, white hairs, and excitement, and we know that this is where God is leading our family.

I have had a relationship with Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee for the past 4 years. I met them at the 2007 Catalyst Conference, while I was serving at First Baptist Church in Ashford, AL (now Watermark Church). Soon after, I started a coffee ministry in the church through Land of a Thousand Hills. As the 2008 Catalyst Conference approached, I was asked by LOTH to come volunteer and help serve coffee and share their mission and story with the conference attendees. I happily agreed. I mean, who would turn down an opportunity to attend Catalyst for free in exchange for serving great coffee to great people? This continued on to the 2009 Orange Conference, 2009 Catalyst, 2010 Orange, 2011 Orange, and 2011 Catalyst conferences. Each time I left with a stronger desire to be more involved with Land of a Thousand Hills and their work.

And now that opportunity has been fully realized.

I’ve already received questions and comments about getting out of the ministry, so I want to make sure that it is said that this decision is not a result of my dissatisfaction with my current ministry position and church, nor is it an effort to abandon church ministry all together. I’ve also been asked about motivations for a better income. Many of you know us well enough to know that money has nothing to do with me taking this position. We will actually be on about the same financial level that we are right now. So it’s not about leaving ministry work, or about being upset with my church, or about getting a pay raise. This is simply the direction that God is leading us, and the passions that He has been establishing in my own heart. I love Murray Hill Baptist Church and the leaders and members there. And I still have a strong passion for the work of the local church. I also believe that just because my title will no longer be Minister of __________ or __________ Pastor, it does not mean that my work is no longer a ministry.

Land of a Thousand Hills is ultimately a missions organization in the form of a coffee company. They are extremely passionate about great coffee, and the culture surrounding coffee, but even more so, they are passionate about the people who cultivate the coffee and the communities in Rwanda, Haiti, and Thailand in which those farmers work and live. They are passionate about seeing reconciliation taking place between conflicting tribes and groups. They are passionate about working along side of communities as they work towards economic sustainability. They are passionate about seeing children receive the education they need. And through the coffee company, they have the ability to see these things become a reality. So do I consider my work a ministry? Yes.

At the same time, I am looking forward to finding a great local church to plug-in to and serve at as a volunteer. As I said, I am still strongly passionate about the work of the local church, and I will still be very involved in church ministry, but now as a volunteer, which is something I am excited about, and something that I will write more about later.

So with all that said, we would greatly appreciate your prayers during this transition. We will miss all of our Jacksonville and MHBC friends and family. If you ever need some excellent coffee, I know just where to get it. And if you ever come across some free Braves tickets, we’ll have an air mattress for you.

Let the chapter begin…

Bon Iver {Music Monday}

I know that I have already posted a video from Bon Iver for this song, but this is just such a beautiful video to go with this song that I had to share it. It was filmed in Iceland, and if you’re anything like me, you may be looking at prices for plane tickets by the end of this video. Such a magnificently beautiful landscape. Enjoy…

Rob Bell Resigns from Mars Hill

Yup. True story. Ok. So, what’s for lunch?

Using Email Productively

Have you ever been overwhelmed at just how much email you have in your inbox? Does it ever feel insanely cluttered and disorganized? Have you ever run across that month old message that you totally forgot to reply to? This is how I was for some time. I eventually started creating folders within each email account (I actively manage six accounts), but that would only result in those emails being forgotten about. Out of sight = out of mind, right?

So I had to come up with a new system to use for email, so that I could stay on top of it. I feel like this system is the most efficient and productive I have used, and so far, it has really helped me stay on top on things.

The basic understanding for this system is that every message you receive requires an action. Messages are not allowed to just hang out in the inbox. Something must be done with them, and with this system, you have 5 choices of action that all result in reducing your inbox count to zero.

1. Delete. This is for a message that is either junk or something that simply requires you to read it and move on. Delete it. Move on.
2. Respond and Delete. This for an email that requires a response. Respond and delete the message. If the sender responds again, the original message should still be intact, so you don’t have to worry about how it all started.
3. Forward and Delete. This is for an email that is more pertinent for someone else to read or respond to. Forward it to that person and delete it.
4. Move to a Task. This is for an action email that requires you to do something. In this case, you would create a new task in whatever application you use. I use Things. A nice feature about Things is that I can simply copy the text and right-click to create a new task with that text as a note within the task. Action Method is another nice task management application that allows you to forward an action email to your task inbox in the app. I then set a due date, and I’m done. Now I delete the original message.
5. Send to Evernote or Dropbox. This is for an email that contains some information or files that I want to save. In this case, I may simply forward the email to my Evernote email address, where it then shows up in my primary notebook in Evernote. If the email contains an attached file that I need to keep, I will either save the file to Dropbox or attach it to the note in Evernote. After that, I delete the original message.

Once completed, my inbox count will now rest at zero. A very refreshing feeling, I must say. No more forgotten replies. No more unaccomplished tasks. No more cluttered and overloaded inbox. Choose an action for each message and then do something with it.

If you want to try out this system or one like it, I would suggest setting aside a certain time each day to work through your inbox. I have found this to be more productive than just trying to tackle them as they come in. Obviously, you will have some messages that require more of an immediate response, but for the most part, it works best to sit down and knock it all out at one time.

I wish so-and-so would read this…

One of the hardest parts about reading a Bible passage, or book, or hearing a sermon that is convicting, is battling the voice of pride within us that thinks, “I wish so-and-so would read this,” or “I wish so-and-so was at church today to hear this message.” One thing I have learned from those instances is that yes, maybe it would be beneficial for that person to read or hear what you are, but, there’s probably a greater reason you are reading or hearing it at that moment. I have learned that it is nothing short of foolish to think that I am at a place where I could naively neglect to consider myself as the wretch who actually needs to take in the convicting truths. So whenever that thought starts to creep into my mind while reading or listening, I have to intentionally stop and let whatever it was that I just read or heard dig deep down inside myself to remove the pride and allow me to see where I am at fault, instead of focusing on the proverbial speck that I am always so quick to dwell upon in so-and-so’s eye. And its hard. Even in writing this, which is more of a lesson for myself, I still fight to tendency to want to think about who probably needs to read this. Our pride is a beast that doesn’t seem to stay down for the count, but we must not let it overtake us. We must never fail to see that we are all broken, with no room to stand in judgment over anyone else. So the next time we read or hear that convicting truth, instead of saying, “I wish so-and-so would read or hear this,” let us stop and expose ourselves to the painful question of, “why do I need to read or hear this?”

Will Apple fail without Steve Jobs?

Ok. So Steve Jobs resigned from his CEO position at Apple. Was this not foreseen? Seriously. The blogosphere has been blowing up about the uncertain future of Apple as a result of Jobs’ resignation. Get real. I understand that Jobs had a big hand in leading Apple to its place of prominence, but it doesn’t all revolve around him. Apple has some of the best industrial designers, engineers, marketers, and software designers around. Don’t be so naive to think that Jobs was a one man show carrying all of Apple’s future on his shoulders. What will happen to Apple now? It will keep moving forward, leading the way in technological ingenuity, and it will keep producing some of the best products in the computer, mobile phone, tablet worlds and beyond. I’m sure there are plenty of Jobs groupies that are all in despair right now, but I see nothing but a bright future for Apple, with or without Jobs.

Bon Iver {Music Monday}

If you haven’t picked up the new Bon Iver album, you need to stop neglecting your ears and get it. The song featured in this video is Holocene, from the latest self-titled album. This is actually not the official music video, its just a really freakin cool stop-motion video that a fan made with a sheet, a light bulb, and some black cardboard. Incredible. I love the artistic creativity here that accompanies such a beautiful song. Enjoy…