Year End Round Up

Well, folks, we’re about to enter a new year and a new decade. Ready?

This blog you’re reading, the Kineti blog, is entering its 6th year of existence. Not a bad record, for this vicinity. 

In 2007, after sporadic blog posts of little value, with a tiny readership (read: my mom + wandering internet nomads), I wanted to get serious about blogging and produce something of value for God’s blog-reading people. In How to Achieve Ultimate Blogging Success, I wrote,

To follow prolific blogger Jeff Atwood’s blogging advice, here is my schedule and I'm sticking to it: 2 blog posts a week.

Shalom, and thanks to you few loyal readers who come to visit despite my sporadic postings. :-)

This worked out quite well – 2008 saw a 600% increase in blog posts, and a 60% increase in visitors.

What about 2009?

While I exceeded the “2 posts per week” schedule, and have reaped the benefits of a semi-popular blog, this year I tried a different approach to blogging: less reactionary blogging. Fewer controversial, ungracious posts. Avoidance of fruitless internet fights over theology. More content. More contribution to the Messianic community.

The result?

Fewer blog posts – 108 instead of 127.

Fewer unique visitors: ~14,000 instead of ~16,000.

A small decrease in total number of posts and visitors is a bit discouraging on the surface.

On the other hand, I had fewer posts because I did less reactionary blogging: instead of writing some angry post in reaction to some other blogger, I tried to avoid fruitless internet fights. (With varying success, admittedly.)

Additionally, I started 2 projects that have a net benefit to the Messianic community. 

1. The Greatest Commandments project, which maps all the commandments in the Torah in a hierarchical structure.
   
2. Weekly Bracha, a weekly digest that sheds light on various gems in the Messianic blogosphere.

These projects actually contribute something of value to the Messianic community. Contrast this with controversial internet smackdowns, which attract a lot of traffic – everybody likes to see a good fight – but contribute very little value.

I started projects that are actually beneficial to the community, wrote a number of quality posts and a few haymakers. It’s a good feeling to be able to do something, rather than just argue about stuff.

I’m happy with the Kineti blog this year. I hope you fine blog readers are, too.

A Glimpse Into the Crystal Ball: Kineti 2010

I’m going to rub my psychic temples, or whatever it is that Miss Cleo does, and predict where the Kineti blog is headed in the new year:

There will be more posts, but shorter in length. Why? The magical internets tell me you fine blog readers have short attention spans:

We’ll try shorter, more digestible posts in the coming year and see if we can do better.

In 2010, the Kineti blog will have more brainstorms. Sometimes, you just want to get on your soapbox and start talkin’. Get out there and call’s ‘em like I see’s ‘em. I refrained from this in 2009 to keep the quality high, but in retrospect, that didn’t pan out. We can improve.

I also refrained from posting on a lot of controversial matters in order to avoid internet fights. In 2010, I will continue avoiding fruitless fights, but will not be pulling any punches in the posts. Lots of people will be offended, there will be great wailing and gnashing of teeth, yada yada.  The fruit of keeping quiet to promote unity has produced only a sour flavor. 2010 will see a change.

In 2009, I withheld posts because some of my blog readers are actually friends or family, and I didn’t want to burn bridges there. In 2010, I won’t be concerned about this kind of tippy-toeing.

In 2010, I’ll be frank and plain, as if addressing a note to myself. No worries about who’s gonna think what and what consequences there will be – this is a stifler. There’s a subtle quality to writings in which the author is not putting up a facade, or hiding behind the material in stoic fashion, or kissing religious ass. 2010 will see new direction in this area.

~end of techno-psychic vision~

Happy New Year, fine blog readers! Messiah’s finest blessings on you guys for the coming year. A blog without readers and comments ain’t a blog – so a big THANK YOU to you all who read, and a massive atom-bomb-sized THANKSAMILLION to you commenters. I sometimes hate you and your bat-shis insane crazy comments, but I mostly love ya.

Happy New Year, happy decade. Let’s hope the 2010s will see less religious stupidity. And more wisdom among all God’s people.