Joe says: "Am I having search problems or did none of the big Jewish media outlets cover the bloggers convention? I can’t find it on the Forward, JTA, Jewish Week or Jewish Press websites. I’m not saying it is the event of the decade but it was all over Israeli news. They’ve all had puff pieces about blogging from time to time, and they could have just watched it online without leaving their offices."
Amy Klein writes in this week’s Jewish Journal:
JERUSALEM — They use names like Urban Kvetch, My Shrapnel, What War Zone? and Cannibis Chasidis — monikers under which they write on the internet.
In a crowded hall in Jerusalem’s Givat Shaul neighborhood on Aug. 20, they were tossing around terms like "cross platforms," "H.D.L." "revenue streams" "microblogger" and "Twitter."
Welcome to the Jewish world of blogging: the J-Blogosphere.
While some bloggers know each other by name — having actually met in the "real" world — many only know each other by their handles or their opinions. This may have been the biggest draw of Jerusalem’s First International Jewish Blogging Conference, hosted by N’efesh B’nefesh, the organization that helps North American and British Jews make aliyah, or move to Israel.
The five-hour conference allowed some 250 Jewish bloggers to finally meet, as another 200 watched via live webcast. Panel discussions included topics such as "Taking J-blogging to the Next Level" and "Building Israel One Post at a Time."
"I didn’t know there were non-Jewish bloggers," joked Likud leader and blogger Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu, who made a last-minute appearance to speak to the bloggers. As leader of Israel’s opposition party, he encouraged the bloggers to use their words to encourage others to make aliyah and to support Israel.
"All of you who are listening — come to Israel. This is your land, and this is your city, and it’s going to remain our city," he said.
