Guest Post: Simon says federations, denominations and J. orgs can evolve through new social media
Old wine in new bottles. Unfortunately, this aphorism most aptly describes how Jewish organizations utilize new technologies.
Emerging social media tools offer radically different ways of engaging Jews and inspiring meaningful Jewish thought and action. Yet what too often passes for “technological innovation” in the Jewish world is simply pasting the rabbi’s sermon on the Web. For a community in need of revival, that standard is too low.
This point was driven home for me at the recent annual gathering of the Non-Profit Technology Network (NTEN). While the conference was oversold, with nearly 1,500 not-for-profit professionals attending -- a 26 percent increase over last year -- only half a dozen Jewish institutions were represented.
In a world where new technology empowers individuals to self-organize, Jewish organizations must shift their strategies, tactics and communications to provide something value-added beyond what individuals can do on their own. New media tools can energize Jews with interactive communication, dynamic connections with other Jews and the creation of community around shared interests. Jewish institutions can become facilitators of such creation, providing structures and support without dictating a specific vision for Jewish life.
It is exciting to see that a handful of Jewish organizations are heeding this call in innovative and cutting-edge ways, proving the potential for such approaches.
Independent minyanim, which typically rely on advanced communications tools to recruit and organize, tap into a desire for participatory communities that put the individual or family before the institution. Jewish social entrepreneurs associated with the ROI Community, Darim Online and PresentTense Institute are using and promoting strategies to engage hard-to-reach Jews not through flashy marketing, but by fostering opportunities for Jews to craft their own experiences and engage in open conversations with each other about why Judaism matters. And JTA recently posted its list of Top 100 Most Influential Twitterers, highlighting a number of individuals and organizations utilizing this new medium in effective ways.
To some, effectively using emerging technologies for Jewish engagement and aligning with the social media-empowered culture may feel daunting. But there are many easy opportunities for institutions to communicate, market and evaluate in innovative and effective ways. Federations might experiment with a model similar to the Case Foundation’s America’s Giving Challenge with the allocation of community dollars through online voting by donors. The denominational movements could learn from BBYO’s program enabling teens to create their own prayer services that interweave the personal with the traditional. Jewish learning and advocacy organizations could sponsor engaging online discussions on the relevance of a Jewish holiday or social action in today’s world. And efforts to galvanize and gather Jews could emulate most Hillels’ use of Facebook and YouTube.
The NTEN conference was a missed opportunity for the Jewish community to learn from the not-for-profit organizations and leaders using these tools better than anyone else. Jewish organizations can and must begin earnest and advanced evolution from simply applying our old means of engagement online to unleashing the full power of new media. The Jewish people deserve nothing less.
Next year at NTEN …
Adam Simon is the director of Jewish Programs at the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation
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Very interesting piece. As a congregational educator I am interested both bottles, the old and the new. I know that for many --especially thos below 40 and especially for those below 30, web 2.0 is becoming hardwired into how they perceive the world. We can spend (end lose) the next generation asking people to come into the synagogue and turn off their various devices, or we can figure out how to use the emerging technologies to reach them and enrich their Jewish identity. Then we can draw them in the doors of the shul, where they will choose to pause their tweeting, etc. to be a part of an RT community.
To paraphrase John Dewey from over 100 years ago: we can’t bring the Jew kicking and screaming to the synagogue, we have to bring the synagogue to where the Jew is. Right now, cyberland is covering a lot of the Jew’s personal space.
I am not convinced that Web 2.0 is the only way to reach them. The life of a synagogue is still essential. But we ignore the technology at our (and the synagogue’s) peril.
Thank you for bringing NTEN to us. I am not sure we will make aliya there, but I look forward to you and others bringing the message from that mountain so we can create the Rashi together!
I would also like to point to what the National Jewish Outreach Program has done with this. We are a non-profit that realized several years ago the importance of Social Media. Social media gives Jewish orgs like ours the ability to reach a new group of people who may be missed by the traditional marketing of our outreach initiatives like Shabbat Across America and Read Hebrew America. We were one of the earliest Jewish presences on Twitter and were recently honored to be included in the JTA’s Top 100 Most Influential Twitterers as JewishTweets (https://twitter.com/JewishTweets). We have our Jewish Treats blog (https://jewishtreats.blogspot.com) which posts “Juicy Bits of Judaism” everyday for our followers. We are also utilizing Facebook to reach new people who are involved in social networking via our Fan Page (http://budurl.com/fbjt). The Social Media community is extremely altruistic and willing to help one another. If there’s anyway NJOP can help your group, please let us know.
Susanne Goldstone Rosenhouse
NJOP’s Social Media Coordinator
Adam,
Great to meet you at NTEN! What a thoughtful post! I look forward to seeing you at NTEN next year ...
Your ending - next year at nten—reminds of a little video I made at the NTEN conference in 2007 in DC - it’s called “Next Year in New Orleans”—there’s even some hebrew in it ..
http://kanter.blip.tv/file/195987/
Social media works not because of Twitter or Facebook or any other single tool, but because of the “social” component - because people are using them to connect and deepen relationships with other people. It’s what I stress with my social media clients, as well as with members of the ROI Community (http://roicommunity.org), PLP (http://jewishleaders.net) and anyone else who asks. (And sometimes people who don’t.)
Of course not every Tweet or blog post or Facebook status update is of vital importance to innovation and the Jewish future. But use of these tools is part of the relationship-building process in the electronic age, a way to be there in thought and word even when you are absent in body. It’s a way to poll the world on any issue, from tech support to the very nature of innovation, from celebrity gossip to commentary on world events. It’s making your support and presence known and felt, from across miles and oceans or from across town.
If members of the ROI Community Tweet at each other, that’s great, because it represents a desire to connect - that desire to connect, to make an impact on someone else through your words and thoughts, is what guides the success of social media and can lead to collaborative innovation.
Ditto to what Esther said. Its about relationships and listening. Many groups are just posting they own info and updates. Engage your friends, followers and blog readers. Find out what they are looking to learn and/or hear about. I know that is what has made our JewishTweets on Twitter (http://twitter.com/JewishTweets) and our Jewish Treats blog (http://jewishtreats.blogspot.com) a success.
Susanne Goldstone Rosenhouse
Social Media Coordinator
National Jewish Outreach Program
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Ari Davidow
05/13/09 09:06 AM
Kudos to an excellent article, Adam. Thinking that the focus was more on Federations and similar Jewish organizations I wasn’t going to post until I saw Egbert’s comment asking where the exciting online Jewish content is. From Jew*School (http://www.jewschool.com) to Jewlicious (http://www.jewlicious.com) to my own organization, the Jewish Women’s Archive (http://jwa.org), the web has provided a means to get interesting, innovative, often insightful posts to large and growing audiences every day.
Speaking only for my own organization, it is true that we can be found on Facebook and Twitter (@jwaonline), and that we have an excellent blog (http://jwablog.jwa.org). We also have deep content for those interesting in learning more, ranging from lesson plans for educators to our new Encyclopedia (http://jwa.org/encyclopedia) which went online March 1, the beginning of Women’s History Month.
It isn’t enough to post provocative thoughts--it is critical that our thinking be guided by actual knowledge, and that we use Web 2.0 tools--the ability for site visitors to comment and update material so that it remains current, and so that new resources are noted. This guided the design of our Encyclopedia, and our weekly email/daily tweet/web database, “This Week in History.”
How well does this work? According to Google there are almost 15,000 links to over 500 separate pages on our website. Monthly readership continues to rise, and we are gratified to note that scholars and readers =do= seem to be using the discuss and update features on the website. We are busy adding these tools to older content.
I suspect that we are not the only ones using these tools, and that others will soon add more information.