iibloom

I am a new user, and I am still trying to explore all of the amazing things iibloom has to offer.  I am a Freshman at a Universtiy and I am writing a paper on online communities, specifically iibloom.  I was just wanting to know if you could tell me how you have been able to use iibloom, what it has done for you, or why you like it.  Personal experiences would be a great addition to my paper.  I will be sure to give credit where it is due, so please do not worry about that.  Any information you feel would be necessary to know as a new user, and a writer about the network would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much!
With Peace,
Leah

Welcome Leah!

I, too, am new to iibloom, but am not a young adult. My sister, Marci and I have just joined iibloom as contributing authors. So, I thought I would give you a “writers” perspective.

First, thou, I must say that we joined because our love for young adults. You people are so full of love of life and so honest. You truely will talk about “anything”. You love to discuss and debate. That is where iibloom comes in. iibloom affords you young people a place to discuss and debate. It provides you an avenue to ask questions from the experts as well. It enables you to talk anytime - even in those early morning hours when we old people are in bed. (I have two in college now, so I speak from experience!) You do not have to wait for the weekly meeting, although I do encourage you to join your campus ministry as well - there is nothing like one on one conversation and comradery - iibloom can help there as well, by giving you issues that you can take back to your campus ministry.(Perhpas you see an intersting article that you would like to share with others outside of iibllom!)

As you discuss and debate, you learn about your faith and the worldview as well. That is where Marci and I come in. I have spent years reading and research and have found some incredible “stuff” that you young people would benefit from knowing. Alot of it comes from books that you would not just pick up and read. We can do the reading and give you the quick “pieces” that affect your lives. Then, if the subject is of interest, you can go to the source and read it for yourself.

iibloom gives all young adults an avenue - not just those of you who are in college. I think the group that gets left behind the most is the ones who stay in their home towns and attend Junior colleges - there are no avenues for campus ministry, so iibllom gives them a place to come too to find answers and meet like minded young adults. I know you are in college, but if you know of anyone who remained at home, please spread the word about iibloom.

Marci and I have had the pleasure of meeting the beautiful young couple behind iibloom. It is there love for young people, as Marci and I, that brought us to this place.

Again, welcome and we look forward to years of communicating,  crying, laughing and living on iibllom.

Peggy

I’d like to welcome you too Leah (and Peggy and Marci too!)  I’ll give you my take as a content provider and “expert” (on some things, I suppose) as well.

iibloom itself is pretty brand new and is just beginning to bloom. What it has done for me already is to provide another avenue for spreading, receiving, and enjoying the good news of Christ and His Church with devout, or at least inquisitive, people from around the world.  Our last two popes have encouraged us to spread the gospel through our new tools of mass media and iibloom is one exciting way to do so.  We can meet new people and new ideas, and maybe find some new twists and new depth in some old ideas. 

As an author, it also gives me an opportunity to get people acquainted with my books, and it even helps me as I prepare for radio interviews and live talks, since I write new articles each month on them with new materials.  This provides me ongoing opportunities to explore and share new nuances of the subject matters I address.

I’m also very much enthused by iibloom’s dynamic approach—invite, inspire, bloom!!!! (Has a nice ring to it, kind of like Julius Caesar’s vini, vidi, vici!!!—I came, I saw, I conquered—except we’re not here to conquer anybody!)  Also, in grouping the content by the categories of life, love, faith, and culture, it shows how every important dimension of our lives here on earth is affected and enhanced by our relationship with God.

OK, I’ll try to keep this short and sum things up.  iibloom has great potential for connecting people and helping them grow—through its articles, its discussions, (like this one you’ve started) its opportunities for sharing questions and answers and guiding us to books and other resources, including each other.  And it is especially exciting since it has just started to bloom and there is just no telling just how fully it may blossom.  I’d encourage any young person (and even the not quite so young by a decade or two or three or four) to check it out, and as the slogan tells us—invite others, get inspired, and start blooming.

God bless,

Kevin

Leah,

I like iibloom because its platform is serving an audience that was possibly under served in the “web-sphere”. The site is also easy to navigate. The time I spend on iibloom allows me to “slow down” from a demanding schedule (I’m a graduate student at university) and reflect upon the values that were more consistent in my youth. It may be a strange analogy, but, I visit iibloom with the same feeling I visit my home town’s newspaper or my sports’ team pages; my upbringing is a source of pride and my experiences in Catholic school were a big part of it. Reading relevant articles about the good cultural influences of Catholicism or learning about the comfort that faith brings to others, makes me feel good. Best of luck with school and your research.

Thank you for all of your insights and help!  I was wondering if anyone was aware who started iibloom, when it was started, or any of the history behind it.

Thanks so much for the wonderful postings!!!! My husband, Mark, and I started iibloom.com, and couldn’t be more thrilled by all of the positive reaction to iibloom.

As far as why we started iibloom, the idea of iibloom came about when Mark and I were first married and began attending Mass together as a married couple. We noticed that there was very small number of young adults that attended Mass on a regular basis or at all. So Mark and I started brainstorming on ways that we could help young adults get back to the Church and help them grow deeper in their faith. We knew from conversations we had with others that there was a need for an online community that was welcoming and private so one could learn more about their faith without feeling embarrassed or awkward…thus the idea of iibloom.com was born.

Basically, we started iibloom to help young adults like ourselves.  We are by no means the perfect Christians or the experts and are learning with every article submitted and every question that is answered on the site.  We just felt like if we could help one person in their journey of faith, then we’ve done something right.

We started the company iibloom almost 2 years ago, and launched the site September 15, 2009 - so we are a very young site and growing like crazy because of people like you!  Our users motivate us to keep striving to provide the best of the best content, technology and community to help inspire you to bloom in your faith. 

I could ramble on for days because we are so passionate about young adults (considering we ARE young adults), our faith and iibloom.  Any feedback you have on the site, feel free to send our way because ultimately it’s up to the user what iibloom becomes!

Have a great day and thanks again for the posts and kind words.  It means so much to us!

Katy

I wanted to share another fun tidbit about how great the site is: because of iibloom, I’m going to see the Shroud of Turin this summer! Pretty much all I’m paying for is my plane ticket.

I learned about the site at the Fellowship of Catholic University Students National Conference in Orlando, FL, over winter break. They had a booth talking about the site, and for reasons a lot of people have mentioned or at least alluded to above this, I thought it was a pretty neat idea.

I ended up signing up for the site, and by doing that, I also entered into a contest/drawing for a trip to Italy. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to be the name that got drawn- there were probably close to 3000 students that had the opportunity to enter the contest, and I always thought people that won the lottery were made up. But, I won, and I think I’m pretty real, so I think I have to give up on that thought.

Besides all that funding my way to Italy stuff, I just want to reiterate that it’s a cool concept. Message boards and social networking sites are becoming exponentially more important in today’s culture - the Pope even recently recommended that priests and bishops utilize them - and it’s fun to see something aimed at addressing a modern Catholic youth’s life that could be so successful.

A little bit more about my win is described here: http://www.iibloom.com/?/inside/news/iibloom-announces-winner-of-trip-to-italy/

Oh that is so awesome! Congratulations! I was at FOCUS Conference too and I loved it.  I actually saw this advertised there, so when I got this assignment it was one of the first things that came to my mind, which is why I got so interested in it.  I am loving all of the great information available.  Thank you Katy for creating this awesome community!  I was curious to see if I could interview you or anyone else who would be willing.  If you are just send me an e-mail with the subject iibloom interview to (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
God Bless!