Jacob Returns to the Community Dialog

Hi, I'm Jacob Shwirtz. These days most people know me as "the wacky NYer who moved to Israel in December 2003." Most of the content of my blog since then has been about trying to understand why I immigrated to Israel, what my new life here is about, how the culture here is different from America, etc. I seldom post about politics and I seldom write about my professional and professional life.

As opposed to those current themes, most people who know me from two years ago know a very different person. Back then I blogged mainly about online communities (which I am using as a very broad term). Back then I ran a small Internet company devoted to online creative expression.

It was big experiment and the site is still online (I keep it online for sentimental reasons). It's at GAZM.org. Similar to Metafilter, it differed by focusing on posts that weren't time sensitive and also allowed anyone to upload files and rate everything (users, postings and uploaded files).

Well, after spending 6 months getting settled into a new life in Israel I'd like to get back into talking about the fascinating topic of the Internet as a social medium and its potential to bring people (friends and strangers) together. My interest in this area has never waned but now I'd like to be more proactive and not have this blog be just about my immigration to Israel.

In the last few months I've taken on a strategic planning role at a major Tel Aviv Internet development company. They have a great list of clients and impressively survived the dot com bust (which was taken very hard in Israel). My role is to be an expert in the field of online communities, interaction technologies, social networks and everything that entails (I'm trying to avoid over-using buzzwords).

Pretty cool position. So now I get to spend lots of time reading blogs, researching sites, etc. Basically, in a cool way, I get to "return to my roots" and get paid for my fanatic use of and interest in online networking sites, experiments and ideas.

This is where my recommitment to blogging about online community may become too much for readers who have found my blog in the last 6 months and come here for my thoughts on Israel and immigration.

Looking back at some of my old postings from 2 years ago brings back fond memories. Some of my favorites (i.e. "here is my 'cred' for those of you interested in these issues but don't know/remember me from 2 years ago") are:

-My June 2002 discussion with Cameron Marlow (who created Blogdex) about blogs and their potential evolution into social networking - although we didn't use that term at the time.

-I created the "What Blogging Archetype Are You" personality test which, for a long time, made my site the number one Google result for "blogging."

-I wrote about meta blogging pretty early in 2002, leading to a ton of links to the posting and my first spike on blogdex and daypop.

-I went on a two week sojourn, in July 2002, through Scandinavia and slept on the couches of people I met online - testing first hand how far social networking had come. These days it would no longer be considered a crazy experiment. Think about it.

So that's about all I wanted to say - I'm baaaaaack!!!! And I hope to once again be a little cog in the wheel of thought and evolution in this industry. Very soon I hope to break the news of a giant project we've been working on here for months. In my boastful way of thinking I'd like to say it will turn the concept of social networking on its head! By the way, in recommiting to being an active participant in this dialog I've been greatly inspired by the Many-to-Many group blog.

And for the readers who have joined me since moving to Israel, don't worry, I will continue to dissect Israeli culture and discuss my low opinion of Israeli women at every possible opportunity.

Upcoming topics I'd like to discuss include:

-The question of Friendster's (and other services') profiles being profiles or avatars. To what degree do we create "online identities" and to what degree are we "putting our identity online?"

-The question of fake information in people's profiles and what a theoretical "honest" system may look like. Would it be unworkable, like a perfect democracy, or would it flourish and allow for features we simply can't implement today?

-How do social networks differ between geographical groups? I have witnessed some interesting features in Hebrew-only and Israel-only communities and I wonder how and if they could be applied to more general sites.

And for those few (?) people who are Israeli, in this "industry" and interested in discussing these issues: I hope to join you in this dialog as well. Although my Hebrew is fluent you won't be reading any Hebrew posts from me for a while, so I hope you forgive the English. I'd love to get involved with what Israelis are doing on the cutting edge of this industry. Some links I got from my friend Hanan Cohen to pursue in this vein include: The Concept and Notes. Look out for me!