Bring back Gmail's text buttons and replace those icon buttons

If the Gmail redesign with icon based buttons is confusing you, you're not alone. Rest assured, you can bring back the text based buttons by following these steps.

Remove Gmail’s New Icon-Based Toolbar & Bring Back Text Buttons via Addictive Tips

Automatically tweet and post to Facebook pages when Club is about to start with ifttt

A lot of us have trouble keeping up with our Young Life specific social media accounts. It's hard to remember to use it, and especially on the Club days, it's just another thing to update. Automation can be a bad thing with social media because, come on, it's called social media for a reason. There are sometimes, however, when an automated tweet or Facebook post are helpful.

What is IFTTT?
IFTTT, which stands for "If this then that," is a web-service-automation-service. That sounds pretty confusing, but it's just a service to automate tasks on other web services like Twitter and Facebook. So I could, for example, create a task in IFTTT as simple as tweeting my current Facebook status.

You could think of it as: If FACEBOOK then TWEET.

The power of IFTTT lies in the many web services that it connects. IFTTT calls them channels, but you can connect your Instagram, Dropbox, Tumblr, Google Calendar, or email just to name a few off the top of my head.

So how do I automate tweets and Facebook posts about Club?
IFTTT can be kinda confusing to get setup for the less tech-initiated. Luckily they provide "IFTTT Recipes," which is a way for users to share automated tasks. To setup an automatic tweet when it's close to time to start Club, you need to connect Google Calendar with your Club's Twitter account.

I created a recipe that anyone with a Google Calendar can use, and you can find it here, but I'll walk you through it so that you can familiarize yourself with creating IFTTT tasks.

• Set up an account with IFTTT and log in (obvi)
• Click on "Create a Task" in top left.
• Click "This"
• Click "Google Calendar"
• Allow IFTTT access to your Google Calendar
• Click "Event from search starts"
• Enter the keyword you would like to use. I just used #YLclub. 
• Click "Complete Trigger"
• Click "That"
• Click "Twitter"
• Allow IFTTT access to your Twitter account
• Click "Post a new Tweet"
• Delete where it reads "{{Title}}"
• Click the "+Addins" drop-down and select "Event Description"
• Click the blue button that appears
• Click "Complete Action"
• Describe the task for future reference and click "Create Task"

And that's it! You have created the task. Now you just need to make sure the title of your YL Club events in Google Calendar include #YLclub (or whatever you decided to use) and you can edit the description for Club in the calendar to whatever you'd like to tweet.

Conclusion

IFTTT is a pretty sweet service. You can set up another task for Facebook and/or find some other good tasks to use. Sadly, multiple accounts for Facebook, Twitter, etc are not yet supported, but they are working on it! If anybody thinks of some great IFTTT recipes, please share! And if you need any more help setting it up, let me know.

The new Facebook timeline provides a great way to feature a photo with its cover photos

The Facebook Timeline will be rolling out to all pages on March 30, but you can get started on it now. When any Page admin accesses the page, there will be a message from Facebook about the Timeline roll out and there will be a button to preview the new layout. In the preview there is a button to get started now with the Timeline look and I figure you might as well do it now.

There are some cool things about the Timeline. Facebook wants us to use it as a way to document our lives, and we will be discovering new uses for the Timeline look to our pages. In the meantime, one simple feature to take advantage of is the cover photo. Here's an example of what one can look like:

So the huge photos that are featured on the pages now give you a great opportunity to include a fun picture of Young Life. Your going to have to decide what pictures will work best for you, but if you combine the cover photo with tagging, you have an easy way to point kids to the Facebook page and hopefully they engage with the Club's Facebook page.

YLhacker will be exploring some other implications of the new page design in the next week or so. If you've already figured out some new best practices for the Facebook Timeline, please share in the comments.

Follow YLhacker on Facebook for updates!

In anticipation of our upcoming posts on the implications for Young Life Facebook Pages using the new Timeline, you can now follow YLhacker on Facebook. Check it out!

Integrate sound into your existing social media plan

I've mentioned in the comments of the Twitter post about using SoundCloud to record and share sounds recorded with your Android or iPhone. Originally created for musicians to share recordings, SoundCloud is a sound-sharing network that can link to your Facebook and Twitter profiles.

• To get started, download SoundCloud from Google Play (formerly Android Market) or iTunes. 
• Open up the app and either create a new user or just login with Facebook. 
• Touch record and it will begin recording. 
• The upload and details screen will appear when you are finished recording. You can configure your Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and Tumblr credentials and share to whichever. 
• In the "what" field at the top, enter your tweet. If you are working this with the Twitter strategy mentioned earlier, be sure to mention your YL Club's Twitter name. I recorded the band at a home football game once and just tweeted from my personal Twitter, "Pine-Richland band sounds @pinerichlanyl" and then retweeted as @pinerichlandyl
• Optionally, you can add pictures, and a Foursquare check in.
• Hit upload and share and you are done!

One great thing is that using SoundCloud doesn't really take extra time once you set it up. Just link it to your existing social networks and you are good to go.

Sharing the sounds of the band is one idea. I can imagine recording talks, especially a kid's testimony would be a great idea. Sharing kids singing at club, or worship at a leader weekend might be another good use. There's probably tons of good ideas for sharing sounds, so let us know any ideas in the comments!

The Young Life Leader Blog presents some good ideas for Pinterest

The Young Life Leader Blog is a great resource for anyone involved in Young Life, so you should check it out. Recently, they featured a great idea for a girls' night Pinterest party, which is essentially a crafting night where the girls set out to actually make the stuff they pin to all those boards. Girl leaders should definitely check it out!

If you are unfamiliar with Pinterest, it's basically just a photo sharing website where users can pin images to virtual pin boards. It's like a more uniform Tumblr just for images. Tons of women are on it, and they have such interesting pin boards as "Dream wedding" or "Exercise motivation." Anyway, despite my sarcasm, the site really is pretty cool, and I was thinking about other ideas for Pinterest and the local Young Life area, and these are just ideas I'm throwing out there and want people to expand on similar to my Foursquare post.

For adults in the area you could create a Young Life pinboard on your with personal account and pin pics from Young Life happenings with stories of what's going on. You could also have a Young Life specific account and do the same.

For high-schoolers, you could create one for the specific school and pin pics from Young Life stuff that would pique interest in what's going on at those YL clubs. You could also add some value to it by posting other funny/interesting images making their way around the interwebs.

Once again, these are just ideas I'm throwing out there. If you are taking hours to do this, it's probably not worth your time, but if you can throw something up on Pinterest, hey, the more exposure the better. Pinterest is still technically invite only so if you are having trouble getting on, I'm sure someone can get you an invite quickly. Share any other ideas in the comments below!

Watch the NCAA games tonight at the JV lax scrimmage or wherever

Image courtesy Slamonline.com

You can watch the NCAA Tournament on just about any device with a data connection and a browser. It costs $3.99 for full access to the tournament, but you can also text a special code to Coke Zero for free access. Via slickdeals:

Free NCAA March Madness Promo Codes For Viewing On Computer And Mobile Devices

March Madness on demand is going to a fee based system this year. Coke Zero is giving away free promo codes. Just text "0YOURTEAMNAMEHERE" to 2653 and you will get a text back with your free promo code and instructions! While Supplies Last!

Works on iPad, Android, iPhone, and any major browser. Hey, might be a good ice breaker with some kids or parents at the games!