How Do You Use Our Web Site?
I’m ashamed to say I was surprised. It happened the week after we launched “podcasting” on the diocesan web site (www.dioceseofraleigh.org). If you’re not familiar with the term, “podcasting” is a way to offer multimedia content – audio and video – via the Internet. People may subscribe to a podcast, which enables them to retrieve (or download) the content from the web site into a device designed to receive it, and view or listen to it at a time and place of their choosing.
Our initial podcasts were a series of reflections on the season of Lent. After the first few had been released, a visitor to our web site wrote in to say that she had subscribed to our podcasts and had been listening to them during her workouts at the gym. I don’t know why it hadn’t occurred to me – after all, I listen to music and watch t.v. when I go to the gym. But it hadn’t occurred to me to use that time for spiritual reflection and prayer. It made me wonder. What other interesting ways are people using our web site?
So, I asked.
Audio and video content are extremely popular. In addition to podcasts, many are tuning in to the variety of audio and video broadcasts offered through our web site – video news stories of events around the diocese, Catholic television and radio programs, and talks given at various conferences and retreats. Regular features are available from the Diocesan Media button on the homepage or by going to www.dioceseofraleigh.org/offices/media/. News stories are highlighted on the homepage and also from the News link at the top right of every page.
When Bishop Burbidge was named our new shepherd in June, a few hundred of our web site visitors heard about it first – through our diocesan e-newsletter. If you haven’t already, please subscribe to it by clicking the Get Our E-newsletter button on the homepage. You’ll receive periodic updates of happenings around the Diocese of Raleigh and be the first to learn of breaking news and exciting features available from our web site.
We’re continually adding new features and content to the diocesan site – photo galleries, Bishop Burbidge’s weekly calendar, a parish directory with links to parish web sites, and an enhanced searchable calendar of events are among our recent improvements. And at this writing, a redesign of the NC Catholics web site (www.nccatholics.org) is underway.
So, the next time you’re on a break at work or lounging on the sofa with your laptop, stop by…and let us know how you are using our web site!
Michelle Heeden King