Feast in the MIddle East

Hi Everyone!

Hope you all had a restful Christmas and getting some quality time with family, friends, and the chance to reflect instead of rush, talk instead of text, and day dream instead of drive. 🙂  I thought I would share with you some of our wacky family traditions. Sometimes the wrapping paper is more meaningful and fun instead of the actual gift. In other words, sometimes it is the simple things that can make you happy. No need to put a price on a good time with loved ones.  I also included some of my mother’s divine Christmas tree and manger decorating tips to inspire you as she has me 😉

I have enjoyed sharing with you my recipes and vlogs throughout 2016. Unfortunately, YouTube has changed its algorithms and structure, so that it has been harder for me and other creators to reach our subscribers. In the past, I was able to reach most of my subscribers every time I uploaded a video. Now, YouTube has added a new notification feature. There is now a bell to the right of my profile picture on my  HOMEPAGE  If you click on the bell, you will get a notification when I upload a video, but if you don’t, you won’t know about my latest channel uploads. This effectively makes viewers take 2 steps to see any creator’s content (first subscribe, then click on the bell). Because of this change, and other algorithm changes, my viewership has decreased by more than 50%, dashing any hopes of mine to grow my channel. I was seriously thinking of quitting my channel, because there is so much work that I put into my videos, but no way to get my videos out to a larger audience.  It is unclear why YouTube has made it so difficult for content creators to grow their audiences, but it is a shame. YouTube created a platform for me to share the love of an ethnic cuisine ignored by corporate, or mainstream media. Many other small creators like me turned to YouTube as a fun media space to share our unique content and interact with our viewers in a way that television could never mimic. Now YouTube is slowly morphing into another corporate channel outlet. I still have tons of recipes and vlogs I want to share with you, but engagement is key. Every like, comment, view (or yes even dislike) on YouTube is key to keeping my channel afloat. It also helps me gauge what kind of content you like and dislike–ultimately I am inspired by YOU!  So, I will try to wade this out and see what happens this year. If you are also a content creator and have experienced the same issues, I encourage you to share your experience below, perhaps we can build a strong network and learn from one another. I also would love all of you Feast In the Middle East viewers to leave a comment to let me know what kinds of recipes and topics you would like me to address in future videos. I have opened a Patreon account if you want to keep this production going, as I have a full crew of amazing people that help me make these videos happen. For our Patreon information, CLICK HERE.

Thank you for your support and have a safe, happy, and joyful 2017!

Hugs, Blanche