Unfortunately, a lot of people have a actually had conversations like this.  How about you?

Christians have a long, sad history of producing cheap imitations of popular culture (see 90% of all Christian tshirts). This video would set an all-time low… if it weren’t for the fact that it’s a parody and is light-heartedly making fun of both Rebecca Black and the tendency towards lame rip-offs in Christian pop culture.  Have a look…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npgdw5Zb7TY

If you missed it, here’s the original “Friday” by Rebecca Black…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD2LRROpph0

What do you think of “Sunday?”  Funny parody?  Or another lame Christian rip-off?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHlN21ebeak

While the commercial is obviously intended to be funny by showing people using their mobile phones in some ridiculous circumstances.  It also succeeds at being somewhat convicting.

How many of us have caught ourselves using our phones in some of these same situations?

I know I have.

Walking down the street… At the beach… At a concert… On a boat… And yes, I admit it, even in the bathroom and in bed.  (But it was only for a quick second.  I promise.)

It’s amazing to always be just a few touches away from anyone anywhere in the world.  But, in our hyper-connected world it’s also a challenge to be fully present, in the moment, where we are.  There are times when we want to be fully engaged in an experience, fully engaged with a person.  That requires setting some boundaries.

Do you have any boundaries for your mobile phone use?

• Will you check your phone in a business meeting?
• During a church service?
• While you’re out on a date?
• In the middle of a conversation?

Do you want or even expect others to give you their full attention at certain times?

As much as Microsoft would like us to believe a Windows phone is going to resolve this issue and enable us to be fully present whenever we should be, it’s not.  It’s going to take real intentionality on our part.

I have done extensive research on blog posts that have gone viral.  That research has revealed the secrets… secrets which I will reveal to you here.

Furthermore, because Christian Web Trends is written for a Christian audience.  I’m will go even deeper and reveal the hidden secrets to getting a post to go viral within the Christian blogosphere.

Let’s start with…

10 Secrets to Going Viral in the General Blogosphere

1) Make your post a list.

2) Start the title of your post with a number. Like, oh I don’t know… 25.

3) Include gossip about Britney Spears. No one can resist reading and sharing a post about Britney.

4) Write about Barack Obama. He’s the most polarizing person in the world.  People either love him or hate him and both camps will read a post in the hopes that it will justify their feelings towards the president.

5) Scare people with terrorism. There’s nothing like a little fear to get people’s attention, right?

6) Include a conspiracy theory. Personally, I would never stoop that low.  After all it’s a known fact that terrorists caused the Gulf oil spill, but if you’ve got a new theory for the Kennedy Assassination or 911, that’s got viral written all over it.

7) Write about a controversial current event. A devastating earthquake, flood, or oil spill will do.

8 ) Expose something. A secret, a nipple, whatever…

9) Write about the iPhone. Steve Jobs told me over coffee that Apple preprogrammed them to automatically import and share all articles about iPhones.

10) Use Twitter hashtags. They will make the post look hip & people will share it because they think it makes them look cool too. #IAmHashtagMan

Now, I’ll let you in on…

15 More Secrets to Going Viral in the Christian Blogosphere

11) Bash megachurches. Some people can’t resist an opportunity to rant about megachurches.  All you have to say is something like “Megachurches are superficial and theologically weak.” or  “Megachurches are preaching a psychotherapy, prosperity gospel.” Or cite a news story about a megachurch or its pastor making a mistake and they are all over the comments like buzzards on roadkill.

12) Use cynical humor. By doing this a) people who dislike megachurches will get riled up because they think you’re criticizing megachurche, b) people in megachurches will get giddy because they’ll think you’re making fun of the people who dislike megachurches, c) if anything really bad happens you can say you were just joking.  It’s a total win-win-win!

13) Mention a famous Christian like Rick Warren or Andy Stanley.

14) Mention as many as you can. Bill Hybels, Joel Osteen, Craig Groeschel, Rob Bell, Pete Wilson, and Mark Driscoll are all good candidates.

15) Be sure to put at least one in the post title.

16) If they’re pastors of megachurches that’s even better because it will help get the attention of the thousands of people in those churches.

17) And if they’re on Twitter, that’s like hitting the Powerball ‘cause maybe they’ll see the tweets and respond.

18) Include images of those famous Christian megachurch pastor twitterers in the post.

19) Reference something sexy but not over the line, like a church partnering with Hooters for hurricane relief or a church doing a 30 day sex challenge or Brittany Spears and an oil spill.

20) Add some statistics from George Barna to give your post some credibility. This is key because according to Barna 85% of blogs are declining or have plateaued.  And of the 15% that are growing, 97% of that growth is transfer growth from other blogs.

21) Insult an ethnic group that that makes up at least 25% of the world’s population. That will get bloggers of that ethnic group to write about your site repeatedly for several weeks.  You may be forced to shut down your site, but don’t worry you can always launch a new site about forgiveness and second chances.

22) Throw in a hilarious YouTube video that may or may not be relevant to the rest of the post. People falling down or being hit in the genitals are always popular.

23) Email it to all your contacts. Make sure you start your email with something like, “I never forward messages like this, but…”

24) Schmooze Todd Rhoades and ask him to post it on MMI. (BTW, I can get Bono on The Show next Tuesday if you like. DM me.)

25) Oh, and end your post with a question asking for reader’s opinions…

What do you think?  What other secrets have you discovered to getting a blog post to go viral?

Pretty funny.

It also presents a fairly accurate account of the events of holy week.

A lot of people who are a part of the post-modern, Facebook generation have never read any account of the events of holy week.  While some people will inevitably chafe at the humor or scrutinize the theology, I think it’s a great way to get people talking and thinking about the death and resurrection of Jesus as we approach the Easter holiday.

What do you think?  Funny?  Not funny?  A good evangelistic tool or not?  Will you share this with your Christian friends?  How about those friends who are not Christians?

Consider it a public service announcement.

I would also add that if you are using a web builder that has a single username and password, and you have multiple people using that username and password to update your website, this is another good reason to upgrade to a full-blown content management system (CMS).

All good CMS’s have a user/permissions management system that allow for multiple users and allow you to give each user access only to the parts of the site they are responsible for.

Thanks to input from our Twitter followers here are the…

Top 10 Signs Your Church Website Needs a Redesign

10) You’ve still got a headline on your homepage about DC Talk performing… in 2006. @WstephenAnfield

9) You still have a midi file of Amazing Grace playing on your homepage.  @mzgambi

8 ) It’s worst than our website.  Seriously The message from pastor is now 20 years old. @coachburk

7) You’re still using the debunked Geocities.  @coachburk

6) Pic of the pastor shows him in a leisure suit.

5) The animated dove on the site went to school with Big Bird.

4) Contact info includes the pastor’s pager number.

3) Upcoming Events page lists Rich Mullins concert.

2) Total font faces, colors, & sizes used on homepage exceeds number of disciples.

1) There’s a WWJD webring on the homepage.

We laugh about these things, but seriously people, a bad website or one that is not kept up to date is worse than not having one at all.  Get some feedback from people who are inside and outside your organization.  Request a free website review.

For a more serious list, check out yesterday’s post 12 Reasons to Redesign Your Website.

Have a look…

It’s one of the 6 finalists in Doritos Crash The Super Bowl contest, which means it’s already netted it’s creators $25k.  The 3 commercials that get the most votes will air during the Super Bowl.  The site doesn’t show current vote totals, but if the number of views and comments are any indication (it’s currently tops in both), “Casket” is on its way to Miami.

According to contest rules, if the commercial gets first place on the USA Today Ad Meter, it’ll net them another $1 million.  Lest you dismiss that possibility, last year top Super Bowl ad was in fact a Doritos submission.

So, what’d you think of the ad?

Thinking about huddling up with your church’s video team to start spit-balling ideas for the 2011 Super Bowl?