JewishBoston.com is helping to bridge the gap between on and offline communities.
By Daryl West
12/13/10
When you're a twenty- or thirty-something in Boston, finding other people your age isn't a problem. But finding a way to connect with other young people who share similar philosophies or beliefs can be a challenge. For Jews in Boston, or even those who are just curious about Jewish life, it's as simple as going online.
Patty Jacobson, director of JewishBoston.com, describes it as a "distributed community site." Partner organizations can login and create events, blog and offer resources for Boston's Jewish community. With more than 300 Jewish organizations in the Boston area and about 30 that cater directly to people in their 20's or 30's, their tagline "The wandering is over," rings true. The site is an online hub for Boston's Jewish community.
It was also created specifically with the goal of engaging people under 40. The Boston area is home to more than 250,000 Jews, many of them college students and young adults. With events like "Lights and Strikes," a bowling/Chanukah celebration, a "Scotch and Chocolate" tasting and a fundraiser for the recent Haifa fires, JewishBoston.com and its partner organizations create a variety of opportunities for young people to get involved.
Part of Combined Jewish Philanthropies 2006 strategic plan was looking at the next generation and "how they connect with life and life around them," said Jacobson.
Launched in March, JewishBoston.com now has about 20,000 registered users, and nearly a quarter of them from the 20- to 30-year-old age group. The site is completely ad- and fee-free and is funded by CJP. Through targeted emails that highlight events for the under-30's and updates on Facebook and Twitter, JewishBoston.com utilizes a variety of social media tools to help people stay connected.
JewishBoston.com's staff helps keep the content fresh and interactive. The site recently promoted an online video contest that creatively answered "what's great about being Jewish in Boston." The grand prize: a brand new iPad.
"One thing I expect to happen in the next three to six months is more interactive features and contests," said Jacobson.
They're not only engaging the community with the site, but also helping the partner organizations gain social media skills with workshops. "Just went to a great meeting with @JewishBoston! picked up a lot of great Twitter tips!" tweeted a JewishBoston.com follower who is connected with a partner organization.
In general, Jacobson said, there's a great disconnect in synagogues and churches with the tools and skills they have to reach out to people, especially under 40. She said JewishBoston.com tries to supply those tools.
Though the Internet has become a powerful tool, it has created resistance within some religious communities.
Heidi Campbell, a communications professor at Texas A&M University and author of the book "When Religion Meets New Media", said "the Internet is both challenging and empowering traditional religious leaders." Her research, which explores how Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities negotiate new media technologies, found that more traditional or orthodox communities can have a "tense relationship with modernity."
Campbell pointed to the Kosher cell phone favored by ultra-orthodox Jews in Israel, which blocks use, and the creation of online communities like Koogle.com, Israel's online Kosher directory as examples of the tension between online and offline communities.
"Religious offline theology or belief definitely influences their online technological choices," said Campbell, "The more conservative or bounded the community is, the tighter regulations and controls they have, so the more conservative their use is often of technology."
Just last month, a pastor in New Jersey recently asked his parishioners to give up Facebook because he said it could lead to infidelity.
Though some religious leaders may be wary of technology's influence, many are seeing it as a powerful tool and like JewishBoston.com, they are using it as a virtual extension of their community.
"I think you're seeing a lot of innovation in emerging churches, [they're] saying, 'how do we use these technologies not just to be relevant, but basically meet the needs of people?' Especially since the Internet has become so imbedded in everyday life," said Campbell. Sermons are now streamed live or can be watched on YouTube, parishioners meet in virtual prayer rooms and some people are even tweeting to God.
The goal from the start has been "opening up the Jewish community in ways it hasn't been before," said Jacobson.
JewishBoston.com is one local example of how innovative online technology is shaping future religious communities.
