Wisdom on Blogging from Jewlicious

Among the many and varied workshops and panels that were to take place at Jewlicious at the Beach v2.0, I was most looking forward to the blogging workshop, led by Jewlicious.com contributors David and Laya (and Esther was present, but not actually sitting on the panel). Pictured on the right is Esther and me, and that laptop is where the magic happens.

Now, I have to admit something before I continue. I don't own a television, I don't watch television, and I don't see very many movies except at Jewish film festivals. So the time I would normally waste on TV and movies, I waste online. And reading blogs takes up a goodly portion of that time. So in my world, David, Esther, and Laya are kind of like the Brad, Mariah, and Madonna of the normal entertainment world (well, not a perfect analogy, but you get the idea). So that's why I was excited to meet them and hear their views on Jewish blogging.

I got the impression that Jewlicious started without much fanfare, and yet today (only one-and-a-half years later) it is a household name. The Jewlicious bloggers themselves seemed surprised as to how Jewlicious has become the powerhouse it is today. They are one of the sponsors (and namesake) of Jewlicious at the Beach, the Jewlicious.com Birthright trip is full to capacity already, and people around the world log in daily (and sometimes multiple times per day, a phenomenon I can attest to myself) to get their Jewish world delivered to them through the lens of wit and sarcasm. And who are they that people should flock to hear their opinions? "We're nobody," David admitted, by which he means, they're not politicians, they're not millionaires, they're not celebrities (well... that's debatable). So why are people attracted? Good question.

David commented that blogging "brought the promise of the internet to fruition," by giving individuals the ability to publish their opinions on the internet and reach a wide audience with little or no technical knowledge. And Laya opined that the blog community "is very much a community. A lot of Jews don't have a physical community" to feel a part of, but online, "all you need is a computer and you have a community." Jewlicious.com was one of the blogs that inspired me to launch the JewniProj because I saw how many people could be reached with such little effort (compared to getting people to show up to campus org events, flyering, etc). During the workshop, the Jewlicious crew offered up tips on how to start a blog, how to get traffic to a blog, and various other blog-related advice. I think the best piece of advice was that we live in a visual world and people love pictures, so post lots of them. And that's one of my favorite parts of blogging! So, big thanks to David, Esther, and Laya. You're an inspiration. To see what Jewlicious has been blogging about J@TBv2.0, check it out: on blogging, on Henna, on Jewish activism, on the Jewbilation concert, and on cute Jewish babies.