A third way I have decided to get involved in the lives of Jewish people on the internet is by "liking" the Judaism Facebook page. This page calls itself "the official page of all jews worldwide." Currently 5,385 "like" the page which basically means that they are members of the page and can post to the wall. I will be using the comments on the wall (and the comments on those comments) the pictures in the photo category, the links, and the discussion board to examine how Jews are using this part of Facebook.
From first glance you can tell that the people that participate in this page are active as the wall posts are recent. I can immediately notice that a common post on the wall involves a questions. Users are asking both simple questions about Judaism such as, "What is the Didache? And what part did it play, if any, in Jewish religious services?" and deeper questions such as, "1. Does life cease at death? 2. How do you interpret the account of creation in Genesis? 3. When did man come into existence? Almost all questions are answered by someone. While simple question posts are common, people also like to post links to other websites and articles in the news.
There is a discussion board section but there are currently only 12 topics in the discussion board. I believe the discussion board is not popular because the wall serves the same purpose, it is a place where people can start and spark a debate and/or discussion. There is a photos section of the page where Facebook users can upload their own photos with captions. People can comment on these photos which also sparks discussion. What is referred to as "fan photos" currently has 168 photographs. There is a links section of the page which narrows down the wall to all the posts that have displayed a hyperlink.
I am curious to see what I will find when I start to examine the nature of the content that people are contributing to this page. Will people be posting mature content that sparks intellectual conversation or will there be people posting hateful messages in regards to the Jewish community? I am sure that I will find a mix of both. I wonder if there is someone monitoring the comments on this wall.
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