Jewish Synergy: Social Media & The New Community

If you couldn't make it live online for my SXSW Interactive core conversation "Jewish Synergy: Social Media and the New Community," you can catch it online on UStream!





I'd love any feedback or comments. My plans for camera setup failed miserably, so we came to you live from @susqhb's laptop (even my laptop was hating on me).

If anything, zip to the end and catch the amazing, beautiful, bouncing baby boy, Baby Boo!

AirTran, You Suck.

Well, SXSW is over, and I am exhausted. The trip is always just long enough to wear me out, but not too long to make me regret taking the time and energy. Overall, I think I got a lot more out of this trip than I did last year because I was more focused in picking panels, and I also didn't kill myself trying to make it to everything. I would say things were chill, and I met a lot of really interesting people. This will probably be a muli-part post, because I have some kvetching and some kvelling to do. First, of course is the kvetching.

Tuvia dropped me at Laguardia at 5:45 am last Friday for a 7 am AirTran flight, and the day just fell apart from there. Why? It began with security. I was wearing a short sleeve shirt with a zip black hoodie/cardigan thing and a gray knit hat. The woman at security asked me to remove my "jacket" and hat. I told her I was an Orthodox Jew (I can't even count how many times I said this phrase during my trip) and that for modesty purposes, I couldn't remove them. She was zero tolerance and called for a full-body pat down. The woman who checked me out went quick, but moved my hat around, which upset me. I was upset that they even asked. It's New York. There are lots of Orthodox Jews. Did Dallas ask me to remove my hat on my way back? Nope!

I got to the AirTran gate with plenty of time to spare and grabbed a seat. As 7 neared and no plane was at our gate, people started to get antsy. Then, finally at 6:50, they decided to tell us that our plane was having difficulties and told us to go to a different gate. So evryone went to that gate, but there was no explanation of what was supposed to happen. Then, after people started asking, we found out that none of us would make our Atlanta connections, so we had to get into a line to rebook our connections. It being Friday, I was worried about making it to Dallas in time for Shabbat, so I went to the front of the line and explained to the conter guy my situation. Hs reaction? Tough luck, you have to wait in line like everyone else. I turned to the people in the front of the line and explained my situation, asking if I could hop in the front of the line to secure something ASAP (before any spare seats got eaten up). The girl in the front of the line looked at me and said, "Are you kidding? No way. Get in line like everyone else." The people behind her iterated something similar. The attitude, the snark, the scowls on the faces shocked me. No sympathy, no understanding, nothing. I wasn't asking for a hand-out, but I was in a serious bind. 

I went back about five or six people to a group of women and explained my situation and asked if I could cut them in line, and they were more than willing. They were incredibly sympathetic and felt really horribly for me. I got up to the counter, to the, pardon my French, jerk of an AirTran employee and, once again, explained the situation. "I have a 5 o'clock flight that will get you in at 6:30, but I can only put you on standby," he said, completely unsympathetic. I begged, I pleaded, I explained that my husband had looked online and found five open seats on a 3 something flight. "Nope," he said, as he printed me out a standby ticket for a flight that was completely worthless anyway. I was almost in tears. This guy didn't get it. I asked if they'd transfer my ticket to another airline if someone had a flight, and he said they could refund me if I found something. I asked him to check his computer for other airlines with flights, because they'd announced that a new plane was coming to take the 7 o'clock passengers, so I had minimal time to figure something out. "We don't have that information on our computers, you have to go check with each of them," he said. Stunned, I walked away, and then ran away, to the Southwest counter, where they were boarding a flight that would get me to Dallas -- however, it was $600, they wouldn't be able to transfer my luggage, and, oh, right, the door was closing. I asked the guy if he could access other flights with other airlines on his computer, and he did, meaning the jerk at AirTran was too much of a jack*** to help me out of my bind. 

I ran back to the AirTran gate, figuring that if I at least took the plane to Atlanta, I could find a place in Atlanta to stay for Shabbat and maybe find a flight that would get me to Dallas before Shabbat. And then? They started to prepare to board the 8 o'clock flight to Atlanta. I walked over, begging for a spot on board. The flight would get in in just enough time to give me to transfer to my 10:15 to Dallas. And then? The woman at the counter said that because my luggage was already set for the 7 o'clock flight, I couldn't get on board. Why? WHY!? Both planes were going to Atlanta! My bag had to be transferred anyway! So I waited. Angry. I waited. The plane didn't come until ... I don't even remember when. Everyone boarded, we took off, and on-board, with free Twitter access, I started crowd-sourcing Shabbat plans in Atlanta. I was still holding out for the plane to seriously gun-it and make it in for my 10:15 a.m. flight. While in-flight, someone let me know that the flight had been delayed to 10:30, I was still hopeful. 

The worst part of all of this was that they didn't communicate with us, it took forever to get a new plane, they didn't offer any kind of compensation for the CRAPTASTIC way they handled things, they were rude, and ... I mean ... you had an entire plane of people that you screwed over and you didn't follow-through with good customer service. AirTran, you followed-through with radio silence and rudeness. Way to #fail.

And then? We landed, I ran out of the aircraft, only to discover that the flight had just left. Half of the 10:15 flight was on my plane, so I guess there were a lot of people on standby who got really frakin' lucky. I walked to the gate attendant and told her I was having a serious emergency, so she sent me to a counter to rebook. The woman at the counter told me she had nothing, but to go to "The Specialist" Ben down at the main gate. I ran, I booked it, to this specialist guy. After all of my troubles, and explaining my story to five million people, most of which were unsympathetic and didn't give a crap, all it took was me telling Ben that I was an Orthodox Jew, that I needed to get to Dallas by 5 p.m., or else I was screwed. He tapped at his computer, printed out a pass, handed it to me, and said, "Don't go flaunting this around, there are a lot of people from your flight on standby for the 3 o'clock flight, but I squeezed you in, a window seat is okay?" I wanted to kiss the man. Like, fly over the counter and just hug him. It would be pushing it, but I was on the flight. Luckily, the seat was in a cushy space with lots of leg room and the flight was smooth. My luggage arrived (I was really worried about that), and I was picked up by @ravtex, schlepped off to his and @susqhb's place in Dallas, I hopped in the shower, hosed down, got dressed, and bam, it was Shabbos. 

Luckily, my trip back has been smoother. I know that I'll never fly AirTran ever again, because their customer service is horrible, save for the amazing Ben in Atlanta. When I checked my luggage this morning in Dallas, which I paid $20 to do online, and it was weighed, it was 9 pounds too heavy. I looked at the pricing chart, and it looked like an overweight item was $49. So, I assumed, I would only have to pay another $29. Nope, the lady says, it's $20 and an additional $49. What the hell? Seriously? $69 to check a bag? You've got to be kidding me. I paid it, because I didn't have a choice, but this means that AirTran is on my you-know-what list, and I will never, NEVER fly them ever again. 

Thank heavens Southwest Airlines is now flying out of Newark (well, starting late March). I hope that Southwest knows that they bought a dud when they bought AirTran. Maybe they'll rub off on AirTran and make them suck less and not rip their customers off so horribly. Oh, and maybe teach them some sensitivity training. 

I love travelling, I love flying, and most of the time, I don't have problems, as an Orthodox Jew, but man this time killed me. Next year? I'm flying direct to Austin like I did last year, and I'm going to make Shabbos there, too. Why? It'll make life so much easier. 

SXSW Interactive: It Begins!

Well, it's that time of year again, and I'm at SXSW Interactive in Austin, TX. (If you recall, I was here last year on the "Judaism 2.0" panel.)

I pitched a panel, as many of you might remember, called "Jewish Synergy: Social Media and the New Community" and it got picked and I picked @susqhb to co-panel with me. So here I am, after an interesting and sort of horrible flight in from Jersey to Dallas (will blog about this later, watch out AirTran) that almost got me in too close to Shabbat. There are gobs of awesome folks here, including @mottel and @wifeofmottel, and I was talking to the awesome folks @yoogot -- a new site coming up that is better than eBay and everything else, because it helps you figure out what to do with your stuff: repurpose, sell it, donate it, etc. (and one of the founders is a super-tall Jew, so, relevant) -- about a Conan O'Brien spotting last night at a bar. I'm praying I'll run into him ... that tall hunk of Irishman that he is. Last year it was Ashton Kutcher, this year, I'm shooting for CoCo.

I haven't been to the Apple Pop-Up store, but I've heard the store itself isn't very impressive. But still, I'm going to get me an iPad 2, no matter what it takes.

Stay tuned for stellar updates, a blog post about AirTran #failing, and more. Until then, just ruminate on how disgruntled I am that the Trade Show doesn't open until tomorrow. There will be good stuff about keeping kosher, meeting strange and new people, and, well, like I said, more. Like trying to figure out how to balance work and fun at the same time, when they're all happening on my computer.

Time for caffeine!

SXSW 2011: Vote!

CLICK AND VOTE FOR MY PANEL!

Okay folks, I called upon you last year to help vote-in my friend's panel for SXSW Interactive -- a gigantic tech and social media festival held over five days in March in Austin, Texas, leading up to the actual and original SXSW Music festival. This year, I've submitted a panel because I saw how successful and powerful our being at SXSW Interactive was, and I want to develop our ideas more succinctly this year. Thus, I submitted the following and I really really really need you guys to log in to the site and vote for the panel:

Jewish Synergy: Social Media and the New Community

In the 21st century, religion has found its way to the internet via social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, making the ability to discover new avenues of belief, observance, and involvement in entirely new ways. The question is: Why are some more successful than others in embracing and executing this form of digitizing an ages-old religion full of individuals, organizations, associations, events, synagogues, schools and more? How does one convince reluctant groups and individuals to embrace Social Media? And, perhaps most importantly, how can those who hail Social Media develop and grow this new global Jewish community that exists almost exclusively online? This panel will extend efforts made on the Judaism 2.0 panel from 2010, and it will focus on the benefit of Social Media in synergizing the broad Jewish and Israeli communities through the wires and waves of the internet!

So please, please, please vote for this panel. I'm excited to have the opportunity to attend SXSW Interactive again, and I think that this very-focused approach can really help move some mountains for organizations and individuals in the Jewish community. If the panel gets picked, hopefully I can convince some daring souls to head up the panel and really make the conversation lively and awesome. 

If you didn't notice it up top there ... 

CLICK AND VOTE FOR MY PANEL!

I Know Y'all Love Me

I want to win some yummy tech stuff for being all silly at a SXSW Interactive party (Alltop), so do me a favor. Click on one of the photos below and VOTE for me to win. Pretty please? I'll love you forever :) Plus, the more free stuff I get, the more free stuff I give away. We all win, right?

Jews Gone Texas

or

Texas Schmexus, I'm from Nebraska!

Todah rabah!

SXSW Interactive: A Wrap-Up

Everything's bigger in Texas, including the fake hair on their airport bathroom mirrors!

Here I sit, coming to you live from BWI Airport near Baltimore, Maryland, with heavy thoughts on my mind. The most pressing, of course, is why on earth this airport doesn't have Kosher Vending machines. After all, the Baltimore/DC Jewish community is massive, and the kosher crowd in Baltimore alone calls for such amenities, right? Alas. I'll pull out my horribly squished PB&J (made in my hotel around 10 p.m. last night) and pray for tastiness. One thing's for sure: I can't wait for a home-cooked meal. And another thing's for sure: Next year, SXSW Interactive better prepare itself for some serious, rocking, Israeli and Jewish folks who will be chowing with a vengeance on kosher food every day of the week. Believe me, the vision is there, the passion is there, the drive is there -- we just have to start planning, and by that, I mean planning starting today. SXSW Interactive is big doins, and you have to represent early. More on the vision later, however. Right now? More on the past four days!

Last night, we ventured to H-E-B, a grocery store in Austin that touts a little kosher grill (something we don't even have in West Hartford). These folks, in addition to having a crapton of kosher goodies (again, more than we have in West Hartford), they have a grill where you can order fries, burgers, chicken wraps, pastrami, and more. It's like an actual restaurant in the grocery store, and there's even seating! What a novel concept, right? So I opted for the Spicy Buffalo Wrap with some Spicy Fries. Stay tuned for a Yelp! review. The coolest thing about eating there, however, was running into some Israeli musicians who also were getting dinner. They sat down with us, and we ate together, talking about SXSW and those darn dairy Wal-Mart bread crumbs (no good for schnitzel, you know). The funniest thing about last night eating there with them, however, were two things they said. One was that my Hebrew accent is French, and the other was that I don't look outright Orthodox with my "Sex and the City" haircut. That made me want to roll on the floor giggling, but I maintained my composure. I'll be honest: No one has EVER told me my haircut is Sex and the City. What do you guys think?

Yes, I was at a party with Ashton Kutcher, Evan Williams (of Twitter fame), and Gary V., and yes I missed the "secret" U2 concert that was played at a local bar (I don't even like U2, sacrilege, I know). I met longtime friend (FINALLY) @caro, and I spent a great deal of time at the @FourSquare party with Dave Weinberg and Leah Jones, among others, sipping mojitos (which some Israeli friends told me actually is pronounced "moCHito" with a chet) and talking aliyah and the height of Mr. Kutcher. I dropped names to get into parties, enjoyed my VIP status and the stack of free t-shirts I picked up, not to mention stickers and pins and free Starbucks VIA coffee mugs and free Skype goodies ... but is that why I went to SXSW Interactive? To get free schwag and party with celebrities at branded parties?

I met folks from Stickybits (software doesn't work on my phone), folks from Grizzly and StumbleUpon. I talked to folks at the Google booth and at Glass, and I even walked past the PayPal station to express my disconcern about my account issues (resulting in free beer). My time at SXSW Interactive was peppered with a mass of THINGS and STUFF and PEOPLE, all selling themselves and their brands. It was a big love fest of tech startups and tech giants. So?

I think it was the moments like those at the H-E-B grill that really stick with me. That and some of the panel moments. I was thinking in the shower the other night that what I learned in the community management session was true: You have to talk to your customers. Even I was saying that, but from the viewpoint of the customer, not the producer. So I realized something: I produce a product every week, and sometimes every day, that consumers -- that's YOU guys -- buy into. I've gotten kind of bad in the past about not responding to comments, and I realized that's bad customer service. I've taken months to respond to emails, that's also bad customer service. So I learned something: I gotta care more! I also came into contact with some amazing people with amazing ideas. We had Microsoft Israel in our Judaism 2.0 panel (check out more on that at www.bit.ly/judaism20), I met a social media god at HP, I listened to Gary V. preach the good word of customer service and building relationships and doing what you love. I met (finally) two rappers who schlepped around SXSW seriously rocking and making their presence known, simply by rapping questions!

Although SXSW Interactive was a flurry of STUFF and THINGS, it was also incredibly powerful in the way that it brought more than 15,000 people into a space and made them interact, whether on the web through Twitter in sessions or face-to-face in core conversations like ours. A lot of people call it a big circle jerk, big dogs like Evan Williams and Gary V. tooting their own horns, but isn't that what we can use as a model? People from nothing turning into something in a thriving world of Social Media and Web 2.0? Aren't they our role models for success in business and e-creation? I think so.

Overall, however, the thing just wore the heck out of me. I didn't go to the closing party last night because I was spent. I felt really old, really lame, and really tired. I don't know how some of these people do it; many of these tech folks are very married and very much parents. I walked away from the entire thing invigorated, excited, and ready to do more. Gary V. says don't quit your job and think you're going to change the world with your tech and social media, but I don't know how every person that listened to him talk couldn't really want to do that.

I know I did. (Thank HaShem I'm a student for life!)

So stay tuned for LOTS of photos, including probably my most favorite panel at SXSW Film, and the only Film one I went to, which included the cast of the NEW MacGruber movie. Seth Meyers showed up (awesome), and I have a picture with him. I'm such a Midwestern girl, unexposed to stars and stardom and celebrity. I'm a sucker for a picture with someone famous and hilarious. Oh, and Val Kilmer? Yikes. He's gone downhill, a lot. The upside? He's hilarious.

Watch Judaism 2.0 LIVE!

We're LIVE streaming our Judaism 2.0 core conversation at SXSW Interactive at 3:30 p.m. CST! Check us out below, or on the website (www.bit.ly.com/judaism20).

Live video chat by Ustream

KoshaDillz Drops a Beat at SXSW

I didn't get a chance last night to blog about the day's events, but they were aplenty, fascinating, and exhausting (but in a good way). The pinnacle of the day probably came in the evening, however, which started with our big Kosher BBQ at the Chabad House at UT in Austin. We probably had 15 people show up, including a bunch of Israelis (which gave me a chance to show off my mad Hebrew skills), and we noshed on hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, and Shiner. The best part of the BBQ? KoshaDillz, the illustrious Jewish rapper, showed up with his cohort and they dropped some serious rhymes, kosher style. You need to watch this entire video to get the full effect, and listen closely for my name -- yes, I am in the rap. Ahh, to be rapped about. This surely will be the first of many rap inclusions, of course. So enjoy the video!





More about the evening, including an encounter with the one and only Ashton Kutcher (okay, he was like, five feet from me, but I got a picture), the party where I name-dropped, and more!

SXSW: One Big Party Palloozah!

What a day, what a day. There's so much to say ... yikes. From PETA girls walking around in nothing but lettuce to experiencing the weirdest party bus EVER (I was surprised something wasn't being passed around, you know) to buying rolls, turkey pastrami, mustard, Gatorade and chips for dinner (real food is better than fake La Briute any day!) ... this day was unique. I can't say I got a lot out of the sessions, because it was almost impossible to get into the really interesting sessions that I sought out. So tomorrow? Starting anew.

And also? I'm charging the heck out of my phone. It died around 9:30 tonight, which left me without photos or Foursquare or Twitter or any kind of communication, period. For someone like me, at something like this, it was devastating to say the least.

But one thing is for sure: I am far too old for partying all night, not sleeping all day, and relying on free beer from the Paypal lady and overpriced coffee to get me by. Maybe this means I'm entering lameness. Maybe it means that someday I'll want to relive my early years (like a lot of the "adults" here are seeming to do). Who knows. But this chick is going to bed

Live Bloggin SXSW: Part II, Oh to be Kosher

My mind officially has been blown out of the water. I never expected as much as I got here. I've spent the bulk of my time at the Interactive Trade Show, scoping booths by Google, Bing, and a ton of little startups whose names I subsequently have forgotten. I've got the stickers, however, so don't worry, I'll list them all and issue them their due credit in no time. But I am exhausted, running on a free cup of beer from Paypal for my recent woes with their purchasing system and third-party accessors, as well as an overpriced Starbucks latte that, interestingly, was totally worth it because it tasted about 30 times better than the kind I get in the store. Could the reason be that, well, I'm running on about 1.5 hours of sleep?

I've drained my phone twice today, checking in on Foursquare, taking photos and Twittering them, and trying to figure out where @Mottel is. So now, I'm hanging out in the "Chevy" Recharge Station where there are boatloads of little docks on tiny tables and around coffee tables and couches for people to sit, chill, drink free Sobe (not kosher) and hang. There is a crapton of free food here, and the bummer is that I can't eat any of it. MY hopes got up when I walked in and BAM, instantly there were free health food bars of some kind that happened to be OU-D; more on those later. And then? Everywhere cake and chips and salsa and candy and cookies and ... everything. Lots of beer. The amount of beer these people are drinking is insane! Oh, and hot dogs. And I've been craving hot dogs. What a wretched situation to be in!

I think next year I should push for some KOSHER vendors. I mean, how many Jews are here? Observant Jews? Probably not so many. I wonder if SXSW Interactive does any kind of demographic study. If not, they should. Heck, I'll do it for them.

So far, one of the most interesting things I came across was AOL Seed. Now, I hate AOL with every fiber of my being, but the Seed thing seems pretty gnarly. They outsource articles to people and average Joes can write for them, they pick the stuff, and ship it off to whatever vendor has requested it (Engaged, among them). So of course, being an editor, I had to ask -- Who does your editing? Bangalore, he said. BANGALORE!? Outsourcing your editing to foreign countries? Really? That's what really gets a copy editor down. Maybe I put the fear of G-d in him and he'll look me up, who knows.

Okay, I'm off to another adventure. The parties begin soon, and it's a million degrees outside. I'm praying it cools down ... this is no climate for a frum girl! Check out my Twitter stream for lots of fun photos, including a giant floaty Google box, half-naked cheerleaders, and MORE!

Welcome to Austin, TX ... and Smoking Food!

Check out my delicious La Briute meal a'cookin! It's smokin!

UPDATE: Okay, so it tasted just like the Sizzlin Cuisines version. Listen, beggars can't be choosers, so I'm cool with this. It tasted pretty good after having eaten bagged chips all day. And the cookies that come with it? MAGNIFICENT! And now? I'm off!

I'm Famous! Sort of ...

I always dream of being interviewed by newspapers on topics of Judaism, religion, and blogging, and I'm halfway there! Yes, I was tapped to talk about Toyota and the (sort of ) possibility of buying a Toyota. I mean, listen, I probably won't buy one, but if I do buy one, it'd be a Toyota. Why? Read the interview in the LA Times from yesterday! ;)

Toyota Aims for a Surge in Sales

Oh, and I just bought an Apple (going to pass my lappy off to Tuvia because I'm so over it), and I'm heading to Austin, Texas in not so many hours ... color ... me ... STOKED!

If Jews Ruled the World ...

It occurred to me, just a few days ago, long after I booked my flight to SXSW Interactive, that big Music, Interactive, and Film festival in Austin, Texas every year around this time, that Daylight Savings is going to rain on my parade. My flight, at 6:45 a.m. on Sunday, will really be more like 5:45 a.m. on Sunday. This means that I'll have to be at the airport around 5 a.m., which is really more like 4 a.m. This means I'll probably, if I'm lucky, get something along the lines of four hours of sleep, before flying off to three days of interactive, social media awesomeness and geekatude in one of the nation's greatest (and most humid) cities.

Sigh. So much for planning well.

In a perfect world, with the time change, there would be more late motzei Shabbos flights. Then again, "if only Jews ruled the world!" Yeah, if we ruled the world there'd be late flights everywhere! Especially time zones behind the East Coast, because, well, they're behind us in time. Wait, don't Jews run the world? Isn't that the rumor/stereotype?

All I'm going to say is, if that rumor were true, I'd be flying to SXSW on Saturday night, not Sunday morning at the tush-crack of dawn.

For those of you planning to be at SXSWi, check out the Judaism 2.0 panel at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Come and partake in the goodness hosted by myself and Mordechai, and meet the awesomest of attendees, including Leah Jones and others. Also, if you're in the Austin area but NOT attending SXSW, let me know and maybe we can do a meetup.