darim online

A friend of mine has just begun to tweet.  She was one of those people -- which is very common -- who created an account two years ago, and was feeling very hip and on top of the trends.  And then she never used it.

We sat down last week to build some skills and help her get into meaty conversations in her field.  She was a quick learner, excited and motivated.  And a week later I got the one line email: 

So, what am I actually suppose to be saying on Twitter?

The Community Building Internship at jU Chicago is premised on the idea that small communities are, as sociologist Jonathan Woocher has written, “a consistent source of meaning, a focal point for relationships, and a powerful contributor to a sense of self-worth.” By empowering a cohort of students to create small communities organized around a theme, activity, or shared interest, we are able to create the kind of specialized Jewish opportunities that have the power to engage more Jewish students on a deeper, more meaningful level.

I don’t know anyone who watches television shows when they are actually broadcast. Most people I know rely on their TiVo/DVR. Even those who claim not to own a television watch shows on Netflix, or Hulu, or some more nefarious mode.

This blog post is a reflection on something that hasn’t happened yet.  Whoa.

The reason I can do this is because of the remarkable opportunity I currently have as the Network Weaver for a project of The Jewish Theological Seminary’s William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education called “ReFrame.” And because I decided to use the POST model for my network weaving and marketing plan.

All of us in Jewish life are wondering how to reach the unengaged--and particularly young adults. At NEXT: A Division of Birthright Israel Foundation, we work with both mainstream and grassroots organizations, including many synagogues, to help them find new ways to connect with Birthright Israel alumni and their friends. While I do this work professionally, I’m also part of the demographic we’re trying to reach. Here, I’m offering eleven ways that synagogues can connect to the unengaged:

I was thrilled to be accepted into the Social Media Boot Camp for Educators.

This post is part of an ongoing series on developing a social media policy for your organization. To download the Social Media Policy Workbook for Jewish Organizations, click here.

The phrase “social media policy” tends to bring a couple possibilities to mind:  

I coach many organizations on the social media, helping them to mature their practice and hopefully use these valuable tools to help achieve articulated goals.  What I notice -- and notice a lot -- is that moving from a broadcast mindset to a social one is hard.  Really hard.  I might spend a full hour brainstorming social content with a team from a congregation, and then notice their next 5 posts on Facebook are still about programs and posting links to articles they think folks should be reading.

Instead of talking with members of their community, they're talking at them: read this, check out that.

Guest post from Debra Askanase, cross posted from CommunityOrganizer2.0