from The Baltimore Jewish Times:

How Social Networking Impacts the Jewish Community

…social media is making it easier to be Jewish. For a people who have fretted over a loss of identity for generation after generation – especially in America – innovations like Twitter and Facebook are nothing less than, dare we say, a godsend.

“Much of the extra-organizational innovation you see in the Jewish world has been made possible by the Internet,” says David Abitbol, founder of the Web’s most popular Jewish blog, Jewlicious.com, where posts by Jewish bloggers quickly become vibrant conversations connecting Jews all around the world. “The Internet has made it easier for Jews to find each other. Jewlicious itself would not have existed before the Internet.”

First and foremost, social media has turned the Web from an information storage locker into a two-way conversation; and it’s a conversation that knows no physical boundaries. Mr. Abitbol himself is based in Jerusalem, while some of his Jewlicious colleagues blog from Los Angeles, New York and Canada. You no longer have to live in a Jewish neighborhood to find a life in an active, thriving Jewish community. There are thousands on the Web, with more being added every day.

It’s also a fast and easy way for Jewish organizations to get the word out…

“As Thomas Friedman would say, social media has flattened the world,” says David Weinberg, a social media consultant in the Washington suburb of Silver Spring. “That extends to Judaism. Before, if you wanted to learn more about Judaism, you could talk to the people around you, go to the library and take out books or go to the organizations near you. Now, you can talk to people, libraries and organizations all over the world. You can connect one-on-one and have discussions about everything from the Torah to kosher food in real-time.

image courtesy Jewlicious