darim online

Part of the Connected Congregations series

Point of clarification: your list is not a network.

I sometimes hear organizations talking about the number of people they have involved with their work - their network - and then reference the people who have signed up to receive their email updates. That’s great! It’s wonderful that so many people are interested enough in your work and the difference that you’re making that they signed up to get your communications. That can be really important and powerful. It’s just not (necessarily) a network.

It's Elul and the High Holidays are just around the corner.  Now is the perfect time to get your Facebook Page 'Likeable!' How will you use it as an entry point for prospective members seeking to engage in the holiday season, and as a point of connection for current members?

 We've compiled 10 ideas to get the conversation going.  Feel free to add your ideas and your social media "New Year's Resolution" for deepening your community's engagement.

Darim Online is thrilled to announce our 2012-2013 cohort for our Social Media Boot Camp for Educators. The Social Media Boot Camp for Educators is a year long experience for Jewish educators and Jewish educational organizations to help them advance their use of social media for marketing, communications, family engagement and curricular uses.  The program has been generously funded by the Covenant Foundation since 2008.

This post is cross posted from Deborah Fishman's blog, HaChavaya.

Rabbi Hayim Herring (of STAR: Synagogues Transformation and Renewal) and the visionary behind Synaplex) has recently published a new book: Tomorrow's Synagogue Today. You should read it, and buy a copy for the senior staff and every board member of your synagogue. Here's the link. Go take care of business and then come back and keep reading. OK, now that the box is on its way, I'll explain why you should read -- and share -- this book. First, Rabbi Herring gets it.

There’s a lot of buzz about the increasingly image-driven nature of social media. At the forefront of this discussion is the latest hot social network, Pinterest. But it’s not only this virtual pinboard. Everywhere you look, memes are being generated to better marry words and pictures, kinetic typography videos are turning letters into animations, and infographics illuminate otherwise meaningless statistics. Pictures are the most highly engaged content on Facebook. Where is all this coming from?

We are thrilled to announce that applications for the new Darim Online Social Media Boot Camp for Educators (2012-2013) are open! Learn more... and apply!!

• Are you a creative, curious, risk-taking educator in a Jewish educational setting?
• Do you have a really great idea for using new media / educational technology that you’ve wanted to test out?
• Do you want Darim to be your personal coach and mentor as you plan and launch your project?
• Is your organization ready to think about what it means to achieve your mission in a digital age?
• Are you interested in joining a community of like-minded educators for 9 months of intensive professional development and collaborative learning?

The National Jewish Outreach Program tonight announced the recipients of the first “Jewish Treats: Jewish Influencer Awards” during the organization’s 18th annual dinner. I am completely honored to be named among them, and am humbled by the excellent company on the list (more on that below). The announcement was listed as part of Social Media Week (SMW12) which kicked off earlier in the day.