I have an idea about how to make us grow

[zachor_ve_kavod]

I would like your input on this.  I am planning to send personal messages to Chaim and Shlomo also.

Let me start by saying that one of the many of my daily emails from political and Jewish organizations is from Jewishwolrdreview.com.  I know that some of you also get daily emails from them, as I have seen some of their articles pasted in threads here.

Now, we could attempt to submit collums to them, but that is a separate issue that I would like to discuss at another time.  What I would like to discuss is an idea that the editor of Jewishworldreview.com had for his organization, which might also be a good idea for our organization.

He sent out an email recently suggesting that his subscribers join Facebook.  Apparently, he believes that Facebook will help spread his online magazine and attract new members.

I don't know if you know what Facebook is.  I have just learned about it myself, and though I am not a member of it, I was surprised to learn that just about everyone I know is.  Facebook is a sort of online network, (kind of like a dating service except it's not for dating).  People sign up and their information is shared with their friends and their friends' friends also have access to your information.  Apparently, this has caught on, and many people are getting to know the profiles of people they have not even met.

So, Jewishworldreview.com is attempting to get their members to sign up for Facebook.  The editor believes that this is something that will very quickly spread the word about their organization.  I am wondering if this is something that we should consider.

I don't know what is involved in this or if it would work, but I do know that Facebook is becoming very popular.  If our friends and our friends' friends and our friends' friends' friends were exposed to JTF, it could potentially help us grow very quickly, meaning that we would get more members, more donations, and more power.

Just one point I want to add:  If we were to do this, we would have to try to keep our posts clean and professional.  The conspiracy stuff would have to go, as would the childish name-calling.  I also think we would have to cut back on our cursing.

Is this something we should consider?

[Abben]

I am all for it. Great idea!

[muman613]

Several Rabbis I have heard have condemned Facebook because apparently many Jews are being seduced by non-Jews and anti-Semites can use the information to threaten users. I don't have any intention of ever joining facebook...

[New Yorker]

Several Rabbis I have heard have condemned Facebook because apparently many Jews are being seduced by non-Jews and anti-Semites can use the information to threaten users. I don't have any intention of ever joining facebook...

What? Those Rabbis are over the top. I'm on facebook, I use it to communicate with my family and friends, the only people allowed access to your page on facebook are those you allow, I only allow my family and friends and it's great, I can see the baby pictures of my cousins, my nephews and nieces, and see what my out of town friends are up too.

[muman613]

Several Rabbis I have heard have condemned Facebook because apparently many Jews are being seduced by non-Jews and anti-Semites can use the information to threaten users. I don't have any intention of ever joining facebook...

What? Those Rabbis are over the top. I'm on facebook, I use it to communicate with my family and friends, the only people allowed access to your page on facebook are those you allow, I only allow my family and friends and it's great, I can see the baby pictures of my cousins, my nephews and nieces, and see what my out of town friends are up too.

There is no moderation on facebook and people can post immodest pictures and content. I have heard about 14 year old girls posting nude pictures on facebook. It is pretty much against the Jewish character trait of Tzniut {modesty}. The Rabbis who have said that facebook are not over the top {as you put it}, they are expressing the Jewish view of social networking. There are Jewish dating services and such which provide a better way to meet men or women who should be compatible.

I think that kinds should not be able to access facebook because of the lack of protection against predators, etc...


http://torahanytime.com/rabbi_wallerstein_vaera_the_truth_about_facebook_myspace_and_new_years_eve_1-1-08.html

[P J C]

I don't see why not! Let's roll with it. It will only help, and it can't hurt.

[Lisa]

I think you have a great idea, Zachor.  Facebook also allows you to form groups.  And Muman, our JTF page can be made private.  Furthermore, membership in the JTF group can also be by approval only.  There are plenty of other Jewish groups on Facebook as well.  We should also have a JTF page on Twitter.com, which is sort of similar to Facebook.  Both sites are free.  

It's a good idea for us to make use of social media.  Other members have used their MySpace pages to promote JTF.  We've used ZooTube as well.  So I don't see why we can't use sites like Facebook and Twitter to promote our movement.  It all depends on how we use them.  

[Lisa]

Let's forget about Facebook for now.  I had trouble signing up as JTF.org and Jewish Task Force.  They wanted a full name.  But, I did manage to sign up for Twitter.  My user name is JTF.org.  And I put up a link to JTF.org and the forum. 

[The One and Only Mo]

Several Rabbis I have heard have condemned Facebook because apparently many Jews are being seduced by non-Jews and anti-Semites can use the information to threaten users. I don't have any intention of ever joining facebook...

What? Those Rabbis are over the top. I'm on facebook, I use it to communicate with my family and friends, the only people allowed access to your page on facebook are those you allow, I only allow my family and friends and it's great, I can see the baby pictures of my cousins, my nephews and nieces, and see what my out of town friends are up too.

There is no moderation on facebook and people can post immodest pictures and content. I have heard about 14 year old girls posting nude pictures on facebook. It is pretty much against the Jewish character trait of Tzniut {modesty}. The Rabbis who have said that facebook are not over the top {as you put it}, they are expressing the Jewish view of social networking. There are Jewish dating services and such which provide a better way to meet men or women who should be compatible.

I think that kinds should not be able to access facebook because of the lack of protection against predators, etc...


http://torahanytime.com/rabbi_wallerstein_vaera_the_truth_about_facebook_myspace_and_new_years_eve_1-1-08.html

Yeah and youtube is only the purest of sites.

[arksis]

I just heard on the radio yesterday that FACEBOOK changed their aggreement policy when you sign up, that THEY own EVERYTHING on your site/page, even after you leave/quit. I am staying away from Facebook. Those that have pages on Myspace/Facebook, etc, if your profile is set to "private" only the friends you "allow" can see your pages. So really, it's not all that great of a "public forum" unless you want alot of trouble. And if you can't be "public" then you can't really get the word out about the JTF and what it's all about. I am kind of new to this thing, so maybe I am wrong?

[zachor_ve_kavod]

I'm not a member of Facebook, but I have asked people I know if they are, and it seems that it is very popular.  A college professor asked us if we were on Facebook (this was a class of about 150 students) and I was the only student who was not a member of it.  People have reacted to me with shock when I tell them that I am not a member of it.  So, it is undeniably popular.  I'm just not up to date with all of this techi stuff, so I don't really know what's involved with it.  If it expanded our movement, I can only see that as a good thing.

[The One and Only Mo]

Facebook will become the new e-mail. It's already getting there.

[muman613]

Facebook will become the new e-mail. It's already getting there.

I doubt it. I have no need for this kind of service. I can do most everything I need with googles internet apps. I don't trust google much either with my information. I have a blog which allows  me to post photos and videos. I haven't updated my blog in several months {which reminds me...}

It seems to me that Facebook is the perfect place for predators to meet willing victims. I surely would not let my daughters {if they were that young} use Facebook. Kids nowadays are using camera phones and internet web-cams to send nude pictures of themselves to friends and perverts alike. This is a problem I see with the younger generation, a lack of modesty.

You all have free will and I sure wish you do the right thing.

http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2006/01/6016.ars

Students are finding out the hard way that online privacy is much like the Chicago Bears' defense: just when you need it most, it completely disappears. The rise of online social communities has heightened the problem, because things that students might admit only to their friends are now being posted on the Internet. Once there, they are often accessible by anyone from administrators to parents to police. Students at Penn State found this out the hard way last semester.

    When Pennsylvania State University's resurgent football team scored a victory last October against its archrival from Ohio State University, throngs of students rushed the field and set off something of a postgame riot. Overwhelmed, campus police had difficulty identifying the perpetrators and made only two arrests on game day.

    But less than a week after the game, Tyrone Parham, the university's assistant director of police, got an unexpected tip: Several students had posted pictures online of their friends storming the field. Campus police officers logged onto Facebook, the immensely popular social-networking site, and found a student group titled, unsubtly enough, "I Rushed the Field After the OSU Game (And Lived!)"

...

http://media.www.westerncourier.com/media/storage/paper650/news/2006/09/06/Opinion/Facebook.Becomes.Horror.Story-2258996.shtml

Salley Smith went from being "single" to being "in a relationship" yesterday at 3:34 p.m. Joe Schmoe removed "The Simpsons" from his favorite TV shows yesterday at 1:00 p.m. John Deere added a new photo folder entitled "Amazing U of I Weekend" yesterday at 8:37 a.m. Sound familiar? If it doesn't, take a moment out of your day and cruise on over to the newly redesigned www.facebook.com and see how everyone's favorite "stalkerbook" has sunk to a new low.

Yesterday, Facebook unveiled their most recent revamp featuring an incredibly personal feature known as News Feed, which is basically a bulletin board that will keep tabs of everything your friends have done. Covering everything from relationship status to updated interests and photos, News Feed is the gossip headquarters from hell.

Granted, Facebook has widely been considered a very effective stalker tool in the past, but this new feature is pushing students' patience closer and closer to the edge by exposing their personal lives to not only those who visit their page, but now to everyone they've ever befriended - whether they still talk to them or not.

Even scarier is knowing that veteran Facebook members who have been signed up ever since Western became a part of the network are now finding that their accounts are more publicly accessible than they could possibly imagine.

...

[The One and Only Mo]

Facebook will become the new e-mail. It's already getting there.

I doubt it. I have no need for this kind of service. I can do most everything I need with googles internet apps. I don't trust google much either with my information. I have a blog which allows  me to post photos and videos. I haven't updated my blog in several months {which reminds me...}

It seems to me that Facebook is the perfect place for predators to meet willing victims. I surely would not let my daughters {if they were that young} use Facebook. Kids nowadays are using camera phones and internet web-cams to send nude pictures of themselves to friends and perverts alike. This is a problem I see with the younger generation, a lack of modesty.

You all have free will and I sure wish you do the right thing.

http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2006/01/6016.ars

Students are finding out the hard way that online privacy is much like the Chicago Bears' defense: just when you need it most, it completely disappears. The rise of online social communities has heightened the problem, because things that students might admit only to their friends are now being posted on the Internet. Once there, they are often accessible by anyone from administrators to parents to police. Students at Penn State found this out the hard way last semester.

    When Pennsylvania State University's resurgent football team scored a victory last October against its archrival from Ohio State University, throngs of students rushed the field and set off something of a postgame riot. Overwhelmed, campus police had difficulty identifying the perpetrators and made only two arrests on game day.

    But less than a week after the game, Tyrone Parham, the university's assistant director of police, got an unexpected tip: Several students had posted pictures online of their friends storming the field. Campus police officers logged onto Facebook, the immensely popular social-networking site, and found a student group titled, unsubtly enough, "I Rushed the Field After the OSU Game (And Lived!)"

...

http://media.www.westerncourier.com/media/storage/paper650/news/2006/09/06/Opinion/Facebook.Becomes.Horror.Story-2258996.shtml

Salley Smith went from being "single" to being "in a relationship" yesterday at 3:34 p.m. Joe Schmoe removed "The Simpsons" from his favorite TV shows yesterday at 1:00 p.m. John Deere added a new photo folder entitled "Amazing U of I Weekend" yesterday at 8:37 a.m. Sound familiar? If it doesn't, take a moment out of your day and cruise on over to the newly redesigned www.facebook.com and see how everyone's favorite "stalkerbook" has sunk to a new low.

Yesterday, Facebook unveiled their most recent revamp featuring an incredibly personal feature known as News Feed, which is basically a bulletin board that will keep tabs of everything your friends have done. Covering everything from relationship status to updated interests and photos, News Feed is the gossip headquarters from hell.

Granted, Facebook has widely been considered a very effective stalker tool in the past, but this new feature is pushing students' patience closer and closer to the edge by exposing their personal lives to not only those who visit their page, but now to everyone they've ever befriended - whether they still talk to them or not.

Even scarier is knowing that veteran Facebook members who have been signed up ever since Western became a part of the network are now finding that their accounts are more publicly accessible than they could possibly imagine.

...

Yeah but anything on the internet could be used 4 bad purposes and good purposes. Facebook can be used (and is used) for good purposes too. I don't post nude pictures of myself on it, and you don't have to either.

[SW]

Great idea. I have created a group called "JTF" in a chat community.

[Lisa]

I just thought of something else. 

We could have a JTF Yahoo group too.  On the other hand, it would be redundant, since it would be a lot like a forum.

[SW]

There are so many ways...

[P J C]

There are so many ways...

That is  true. But the only problem right now is FUNDING

[SW]

That's true...