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The new bestselling Bible translation Common English Bible (http://CommonEnglishBible.com) is being adopted by churches to help people become more scripturally literate.

One such church is the 6200-member Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago, reading the entire Bible in a year (http://www.fourthchurch.org/bibleyear.html) and making its program available to anyone internationally online. It conducts two weekly Bible studies, as well as offers daily devotions on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/fourthchurch) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/FourthChicago).

Another church is Arlington Heights United Methodist Church, Fort Worth, TX (http://ahumcfw.org/90days.html), where members are using the Common English Bible (Twitter @CommonEngBible – http://twitter.com/CommonEngBible) to read the entire New Testament in 90 Days (the reading plan is available at http://j.mp/wiYhFf).

Church (pew) Bibles are available in bulk quantities for churches to use in the course of their sanctuary or education center use. Less than traditional-looking “Casual Church Editions” (hardcover 9781609260750; softcover 9781609260941) are designed for more contemporary and mobile worship settings. The softcover editions are priced strategically to encourage churches to give these to visitors to take home after attending a service. More information is at http://j.mp/nxLFHZ.

According to Gallup surveys, readership of the Bible has declined from the 1980s, from 73% to 59% today. Only 28% of Americans say they regularly study the Bible to find direction in their lives. And 61% of Americans think the Bible should be easier to read.*

“The Common English Bible is a highly exact yet very readable Bible translation, built on common ground with academic rigor and denomination neutrality, which clearly communicates ancient sacred text in understandable 21st century English,” says Paul Franklin, PhD, associate publisher.

A new embeddable 60-second video is now available online (http://vimeo.com/CommonEnglishBible), showing how the Common English Bible is an uncommon translation that clearly communicates in today’s terms God’s message of love to everyone, no matter what age, gender, station in life, or other personal outlook.

The Common English Bible is a collaboration of 120 Bible scholars and editors, 77 reading group leaders, and more than 500 average readers from around the world. The translators – from 24 denominations in American, African, Asian, European, and Latino communities – represent such academic institutions as Asbury Theological Seminary, Azusa Pacific University, Bethel Seminary, Denver Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, Seattle Pacific University, Wheaton College, Yale University, and many others.

The Common English Bible is written in contemporary idiom at the same reading level as the newspaper USA TODAY—using language that’s comfortable and accessible for today’s English readers. More than half-a-million copies of the Bible are already in print, including an edition with the Apocrypha. The Common English Bible is available for purchase online and in 20 digital formats. A Reference Bible edition and a Daily Companion devotional edition are now also available. Additionally, in 2012, Church/Pew Bibles, Gift and Award Bibles, Large Print Bibles, and Children’s Bible editions will be in stores, joining the existing Thinline Bibles, Compact Thin Bibles, and Pocket-Size Bibles, bringing the total variety of Common English Bible stock-keeping units (SKUs) to more than 40.

Visit CommonEnglishBible.com to see comparison translations, learn about the translators, get free downloads, and more.

The Common English Bible is sponsored by the Common English Bible Committee, an alliance of five publishers that serve the general market, as well as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) (Chalice Press), Presbyterian Church (USA) (Westminster John Knox Press), Episcopal Church (Church Publishing, Inc.), United Church of Christ (The Pilgrim Press), and The United Methodist Church (Abingdon Press).

For a media review copy of the Common English Bible and to schedule an interview with Paul Franklyn, please contact Audra Jennings, ajennings@tbbmedia.com at 1.800.927.1517.

In a dramatic final quarter of Super Bowl XLVI, the New York Giants came back from a halftime deficit last night to route the New England Patriots with a final score of 21-17. See the NFL (@nfl) Super Bowl Game Highlights.

The close score throughout the night kept viewers watching to the end, which was good news for advertisers, who paid $3.5 million per 30-second spot to air their commercials. If you missed the ads, you can see coverage at

·         SuperBowl-Ads.com

·         Advertising Age (@AdAge) “Instant Replay: See All the Super Bowl Spots Again and Again”

·         ESPN (@espn) "Super Bowl Ads"

·         Adweek (@Adweek) live blogging transcript and "The Spot: Return of the Jedi" and portions of all the spots edited into a 2-minute video 

·         Mashable (@mashable) “Super Bowl 2012 Commercials: Watch Them All Here”

·         Unruly Media (@unrulymedia) Viral Video (@VideoChart) Chart

·         USA TODAY Ad Team (@USATAdBeat) Ad Meter and “Super Bowl Ads Go To The Dogs”

·         BrandBowl (@brandbowl) “Super Bowl Ad Chart” (#brandbowl)

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you advertise your brand.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard.

Thinkmodo (@thinkmodo) dreamed up a publicity stunt for the movie Chronicle about three teenagers who get superpowers and can fly. The stunt? Create people-shaped motorized kites, video record them flying over New York, and hope the video goes viral. It has. In just four days, the video has more than 5 million views on YouTube.  Discovery (@Discovery_News) explains the technology behind it all. And here’s a CNN report about it.

Also see our previous blogpost, “How ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ Reveals the True Meaning of Viral Content.”

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you get people talking about your brand.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard, especially the Social Media/WOM tab.

Because Somersault (@smrsault) is interested in effectively communicating messages, whether it’s a subject line on an email message, a day-long seminar, or a long-term branding campaign, we’re sharing with you this video that poignantly demonstrates what NOT to do when attempting to reach an audience during a presentation. It’s produced for Habitudes For Communicators by Tim Elmore (@TimElmore), president of Growing Leaders (@GrowingLeaders). Can you relate to it? ☺

Let Somersault help you clearly communicate your message (your content) to your audience.

Book lover Sean Ohlenkamp (@ohkamp), an associate art director at Lowe Roche (@loweroche), spent 4 nights at independent Canadian bookstore Type Books (@typebooks) shooting this whimsical stop-motion video tribute to books.

The above video was inspired by the one below, which Ohlenkamp and his wife created last year with the books in his home.

Read The Huffington Post (@HuffPostCanada) story in full.

Bookmark and use daily our (@smrsault) SomersaultNOW online dashboard, designed for book lovers.

Video by TO-FU Motion Graphics Studio (@tofu_design).

Bookmark and use daily our SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Innovation tab.

Jeff Sonderman (@jeffsonderman), digital media fellow at The Poynter Institute (@Poynter ), suggests that ebooks are causing change not only in traditional book publishing; they’re also causing a shift in news journalism. Here are lessons he offers:

·         Shorten the production cycle.

·         Crime and politics are popular topics.

·         Different price points.

·         Need to add value.

·         Don’t forget print books.

Read this in full.

Along the same lines, Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) is launching Christianity Today Essentials, a new series of “natural length ebooks,” described by editor-in-chief David Neff (@dneff) as content “longer than a longish magazine article, yet significantly shorter than the typical print book.” He says, “The format allows you, the reader, to go deeper and learn more than you could from a magazine article, without committing the time or money demanded by a full-length book.”

Leadership Network (@leadnet) is beginning a new series of "natural length experiences" under the brand Leadia (@leadiatalk). "Each piece is limited to 10,000 words and has live links to audio, video, and websites." A Leadia app is available for iPhones and iPads.

And Patheos.com (@Patheos) is starting Patheos Press, a "publisher of original ebooks."

Also read our blogpost, "Ebooks are the New Pamphlets."

As for changes in how news is reported, Meghan Peters (@petersmeg), Mashable's (@mashable) community manager, assesses in “6 Game-Changing Digital Journalism Events of 2011” the progress for online journalism in 2011, from breaking news curation to new revenue models:

1. Paywalls Find Their Footing

2. NPR’s Andy Carvin Proves the Value of Social Network Newsgathering

3. Journalists Flock to Google+

4. Mobile Gets Competitive

5. Facebook Makes Personal Branding Easier

6. The Pulitzer Goes Digital

Read this in full.

And just for fun, here’s a video of what the help desk would look like back in the day when print books overtook scrolls.

Stay current with news about the publishing world by bookmarking Somersault’s (@smrsault) SomersaultNOW online dashboard.

Changing Role of Christianity: Christian leaders are relatively unknown by the majority of Americans; half of Americans believe all people are eventually saved by God.

Downsized American Dreams: Americans’ are increasingly willing to accept limitations in life, including changing their spending and savings habits as well as distinguishing needs from wants. Many are also reducing their financial donations.

Millennials Rethink Christianity: The Christian community is struggling to remain connected with the next generation of teens and young adults. In particular, the church is “losing” many young creatives (like designers, artists, writers, musicians, and actors) as well as young science-minded students (such as medical students, engineers, biologists and mathematicians).

The Digital Family: Technology has become a part of modern life and is deeply embedded in today’s families. Yet, the challenges brought on by technology in the home are not all created by teens. Parents are becoming just as dependent on digital tools.

Maximizing Spiritual Change: Most Americans call themselves spiritual people and Christians. Yet, spiritual transformation is rare and fleeting.

Women Making it Alone: Teenage and young adult women are learning to prepare themselves for a changing social structure. For teens, this means focusing on career now. For young women, this means not expecting to be married until the late twenties, at least.

Read this in full.

Another way of determining trends is to see what terms people searched on Google for in 2011. Google Zeitgeist 2011 provides that info:

Video Year in Review

As for what people are watching, there were more than 1 trillion playbacks on YouTube in 2011. The highlight video is below. See the top ten individually.

For SmartBlog on Social Media, Jesse Stanchak (@SBoSM) analyzes the 1965 TV classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and suggests the same reasons for its longevity and continued popularity can be applied to online content that’s intended to go viral:

·         It has an amateur vibe.

·         It has a strong point of view.

·         It tackles a persistent problem.

·         It builds on existing work.

·         It makes its point quickly.

Read this in full.

Also see our previous blogpost, “Infographic: Understanding Viral Content Marketing.”

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you set your social media marketing strategy.

The New York Times Company Research & Development Lab (@nytlabs) has built an interactive mirror, called Reveal, that displays headlines, the weather, and even a current outside view, so you can stay up-to-the-minute while brushing your teeth.

As the physical world becomes increasingly digital, computing is becoming more connected to our physical selves

We've designed Reveal to explore how the relationship between information and the self is evolving and how media content from The New York Times (@nytimes) and others might play a part.

It uses a special semi-reflective glass surface, so that

users of the mirror are able to see both a normal reflection of the real world as well as overlaid, high-contrast graphics. We've dubbed this "augmented reflection." Conceptually, the idea is that our mirror can reveal the halos of data around real-world objects, including ourselves.

Envisioned as a key fixture in your home, the mirror uses face recognition to call up personalized data, including health stats, a calendar, news feeds, and other information relevant to your morning routine. Voice commands switch between views, and gestures (via an embedded Kinect) activate content, including fullscreen video messages from other mirror users. An RFID-enabled shelf responds to objects that are placed on it, such as medications and personal care products, revealing personalized data. The mirror will recognize certain behaviors, such as when you schedule a trip or fail to get enough exercise, and recommend contextually-relevant content. If you're interested, you can tap your phone on the mirror to sync the article for reading on the run or on our Surface Reader application.

Read this in full.

How will this type of innovation affect other content creators, such as you? What ideas does this prompt for you as you consider your publishing agenda and how your consumers will interact with your content?

Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you navigate the churning waters that make up 21st century publishing.

Be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Futurist news tab.