Reflections on our Jewish Digital Future: by Lily Lozovsky

Right now, we are living through a fundamental shift in the structure of our society. Digital media and portable connective devices are transforming our world by eliminating the transaction costs that once acted as barriers to offline activism. The reality that has emerged is networked and transparent. As evidenced by the recent chain of uprisings in the Middle East, groups of individuals can have even more influence than institutions. Mobile devices, that now connect 72.6% of the world’s population, have given people in the street the power to report injustice, conduct business and exchange ideas, replacing many functions of large establishments. Likewise, social media's easy access and low cost of entry threatens to dismantle the outdated structures of Jewish institutions if they do not learn to adapt.

In a networked society, traditional paid advertising, program brochures and billboards have little impact on a brand's credibility. In contrast, presence in the digital sphere (Twitter, Facebook,YouTube, Foursquare) shows an institution’s real-time conversations with stakeholders and reach into the market. Aharon Horowitz, co-founder of PresenTense, talks about how similarly people act online to the way they do offline. The same way that they report the sighting of suspicious individuals in the street, people reject and report suspicious looking, virus filled, pornographic sites online in favor of news, causes, products and opinions that matter to them. From what emerged as a free-for-all of blogs, spam sites and random chain emails, the web has become a more organized, powerful network of real people and interactions.

The internet is no longer just a desktop in your home office. Because of smart phones, laptops, and iPads, our virtual and physical worlds have become completely seamless and reinforce by one another 24/7.

Our digital tools are stretching the limits of human potential, expanding the capacity of the individual and the collective to affect scalable, rapid change in our communities. Bill Drayton, CEO of Ashoka, the world’s largest network of social entrepreneurs, speaks passionately about the two essential characteristics that people and institutions should practice today to prepare for tomorrow. He says that we must simultaneously learn to master empathy and change making. Following rules and amassing knowledge are no longer the traits that define success. In order to affect change, we must connect in flexible “teams of teams”, networks of people working together to create a better, more equitable world. Those who do not learn these essential skills, he cautions humbly, will simply be marginalized.

Jewish institutions cannot afford to carry out their missions on the ground without simultaneously engaging with thought leaders and activists in “cyber space”. If we are doing a phenomenal job, our success will be reinforced and extended by the community online. If we are not, well, there is cause to worry.

Online, the authenticity of an organization’s impact and relationships is king. We have entered what I like to think of as the ultimate audit – of individuals, businesses and institutions. We are no longer simply what we say we are. Rather, we are the sum of our searchable reputation; ratings, followers and reviews that tell others the truth about what we have to offer. This is both powerful and frightening.

The critical mass of people trafficking across the web creates a filter beyond anything that a lone editor or institution could guarantee. If we are ineffective or irrelevant, if we are not part of the conversation, or fail to deliver on the claim that we are making – people in our networks will know. They will talk. They will tweet. The internet has empowered people with a voice. And they are speaking up whether institutions give them the microphone or not.

The organizations that we care about cannot continue addressing the internet as another place to post their brochures. It is time to change our metaphors. We need to see social media as a networking event or a Kiddush luncheon, one that we cannot afford to miss, even if we arrive on Jewish time.