January 13, 2008

Happy First Anniversary Villager!


Happy Anniversary Villagers. Today is our 1-year anniversary as a blog. It has been a remarkable year in many respects. Our Electronic Village evolved in a number of ways over the past year. I didn't really have a purpose for the blog when I got started. My sister explained that I could start a blog for free. That was all the incentive that I needed to get it going on January 13, 2007. Later, I shared five reasons that I blog.

My overall goal with this blog is to provide information and discussion that is uplifting for people of African descent. Often this means sharing information through the blog that is not readily available in the mainstream media (MSM). We provided information about Blacks becoming princesses, setting world records, driving race cars and flying around the world.

We averaged more than a post per day ... 376 posts in the first year of our existence ... including a number of very popular posts judging from the comments! We noted the growth at our 100th and 200th post. However, for some reason we let the 300th post go by without any notice.

Over the course of the year we dabbled in politics on local and national level. Barack Obama is the national politician that we blog about the most since he made his Electronic Village debut in March 2007. Over the past few weeks we have blogged a bit more about presidential politics.

Our most common themes over the course of the year have been criminal justice and the Jena Six. We were one of the Black bloggers that shared information about the Jena Six well before the MSM got engaged. Jena Six caused many Black bloggers to realize that our power and influence would increase if we found ways to work together. Groups such as the Afrosphere Bloggers Association and The AfroSpear both evolved this year. My relationship with The AfroSpear led directly to invitations in November and January to participate in NPR Blogger Roundtable discussions.

Our blog has been recognized by others in a variety of ways ... some negative ... but, most have been positive. We received positive recognition here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Our metrics over the first year have been interesting to watch. We note the date (in parenthesis) when we set personal bests on the Electronic Village :

Finally, I would note that the most rewarding aspect of my first year as a blogger has been the creation of the Villager's Black Blog Rankings (BBR). We have been posting the Top Ten Black Blogs on a monthly basis since September 2007. Currently, there are over 660 Black blogs being tracked in the BBR. It should be interesting to see where this project takes us over the coming year.

Well, Villagers, I appreciate the encouragement and kind words that I receive from many of you. It is not easy to create posts for a blog on a regular basis. However, as more of you take time to share your village voice with COMMENTS and as more of you take advantage of the RSS option to subscribe to our blog ... we realize that our blog is read and appreciated by others in cyberspace!

What say u about our first year of blogging?

24 comments:

Mes Deux Cents said...

Wayne,

Congratulations!! I love and appreciate your blog. And as someone who posts everyday, I admire your hard work.

Finally, thanks so much for the blog rankings!

Bohemian Chick said...

Congratulations on your first year Wayne!! Electronic Village is one of my favorite blogs...I learn something new here daily.

Thank you for sharing your voice!

Bless!!

Unknown said...

MDC and BHC - Asante sana. How long have each of you been blogging now?

Bohemian Chick said...

My blog has been around various shapes and forms since April 2006. Wow, I have an anniversary coming up soon...maybe I'll recognize it this year! :-)

Unknown said...

BHC - I hope that you are inspired to work your way through your hiatus. Your voice is an important one in the afrosphere. In the meantime, we enjoy your village voice right here! Just plant yourself under our baobob tree and join in the flow...

Mz.Bria2U said...

What a coupe! I can't believe u've only been in existence for 1 year in light of the sustenance u've provided us with!

EV is definitely the heartbeat and HQ for black bloggers (IMHO.

Congratulations and here's to many many more years to come!
and agreeing with Mes Deux-thx for the BBR!

^5 bria :)

Anonymous said...

Congratulation. I am always been a fan of your blog. Keep blogging you views and opinion and be heard.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your first year, Electronic Village! The blog is par excellent and a great asset within the blogging community.

It pleases me to encourage EV to reach for another year of blogging because without EV, much important information would not be brought to the forefront of world knowledge.

Thanks for being here, kids. It's been a real pleasure learning from EV's well informed posts. Again, congratulations on the fine job you've been doing here.

*Hugs to all of us!*

HeyShae! said...

Happy Anniversary guys! I give you major kudos for all the work you all have done.

Dr. Tracey Salisbury said...

I say congrats and thanks for sharing information for others to make their blogs better as well. If there is a prize for that, you should get that as well.

Vanessa said...

Happy anniversary, Villager! It seems like way longer than a year since you've been sending up drumbeats to the rest of the village.

I enjoy reading your posts and wish you many more years of sharing your voice. Thank you.

Peace and Blessings,

Vanessa

Anonymous said...

Omo,
Congratulations!

This blog is really enlightening and educational. Keep up the great service. So proud of you!

SheCodes said...

Congratulations, Wayne! And happy anniversary.

Anonymous said...

Happy Blogiversary to you and here's to another year.

Unknown said...

Whoa ... what a surprise and pleasure to wake up this morning to so many encouraging and appreciative village voices! The first year has been fun. Hopefully, we can keep it going for another year.

Asante sana Bria, Daily Thoughts, Saboma, Shae-Shae, Vanessa, Iya and Prof. Tracey!

Unknown said...

SheCodes and Crazy Working Mom - Asante sana!

Mo and The Purries said...

Wayne, congrats on your first Blogiversary!
I always learn something from your blog posts, and I just wanted to thank you for sharing your perspective and for being a regular participant in Manic Mondays.
Here's to many more fabulous posts and many more blogging years of greatness!
cheers,
mo

Unknown said...

Mo - Thank you for creating the opportunity for me and hundreds of other bloggers to participate in weekly memes like Manic Monday and Wordless Wednesday!

When did you start blogging?

AJ said...

Congratulations and keep up the good work!

Elle said...

Congrats! Keep doing the damn thing...

Anonymous said...

Wayne, keep up the flag! You are doing an excellent job. I am so proud to know you and it is always a pleasure to return and read your articles. You have a powerful voice, and you managed to create a more powerful community. Congratulations to you all!

Unknown said...

AJ and Elle - Asante sana! Do either of you have blogiversary coming up?

Mihaela - Thank you. To be truthful, I watch bloggers like yourself create opportunities with things like your blogging for fame contest and I marvel. Perhaps over time, I will learn some more from you and other prolific bloggers out there. Any tips for me as I go into Year #2 of this blogging thing?

iriegal said...

Congratulations on your first year Wayne. Wonderful blog. I share it with all my friends. I actually have 10 blogs out there in CyberWorld.
So I do know the difficulty in keeping blogs updated. Since I subscribe to your blog, the days I am unable to come online I usually get to at least see a byline.

Although my primary blog is Jamaican based, I recognize the black diaspora and my place in it. Thank You for bringing the village to us. We appreciate it. That is from my heart.

OneLove and May this Year be as successful as the first...IRIE

Unknown said...

Iriegal - Ten blogs! Sheeeeeeee-it! You already know the standing joke in America about how hard-working folks from Jamaica are ... your blogging talents seem to give that joke some meaning!

I'm only aware of three of your blogs being currently ranked in the BBR. Let me know if you want us to track the other seven as well.

Thanx for the subscribtion to our blog. I'm hoping to increase the number of subscribers in the coming weeks and months.