It Takes Every Kind of People

"It takes every kind of people To make what life's about, yeah

Every kind of people

To make the world go 'round"

Every Kinda People

Words and Music: Andy Fraser

Performed by (pre-"Addicted to Love") Robert Palmer

Today marks the 100th blog I've written. It seemed like a good time for a little reflection on you. That's right: you. Who are you and what do you want?

One of the interesting elements of writing this blog has been experiencing its growth not just in total numbers, but in the diversity of its readers. To say that the readers of this blog are an interesting blend is like saying there are a few bricks in the sidewalks of Gay Street. Initially, I thought my audience might be people who live downtown or people who might like to move here, but weren't certain for a variety of reasons - such as no nearby grocery store. It makes sense that people who are from here might also be interested. All that's been true, but . . .

While I can't identify many of the types of readers I have, consider some that I can:

The Healing Community: I wrote a blog, early on about a memorial held on Market Square. I was moved by the experience and I suppose that showed in the tone of the article. The group holding the memorial included massage therapists, meditation teachers and others concerned with wellness and well-being. They found my blog, sent it to each other, put up links and suddenly I had readers from this group all over the country.

Realtors, Engineers, Contractors and Developers: The first wave from this group came when I blogged about the installation of the sign on top of the First Tennesse Bank. Also, I often comment on Josh Flory's Property Scope blog because he sometimes writes about downtown properties and related issues. Much to my surprise, Mr. Flory featured my blog on his blog and suddenly groups who normally read about property started reading my blog. Many have continued.

Neo-Nazis: Who would have predicted this one? When the neo-Nazi rally hit Knoxville I blogged about it pretty extensively. I devoted many hours to taking photographs, editing and selecting the best of them and writing the blogs - there were three by the time I was able to move on. What I didn't expect was that neo-Nazi websites would link to my blog - apparently because they like to see their pictures just like the rest of us - it certainly couldn't have been anything I said. They all, helpfully, labeled mine a non-racist website. Still, they came and they return from time to time. That post continues to be, by far, my most-read.

International Readers: I had no idea this would happen. Are they ex-pats? Could people all over the world really be that interested in Knoxville? I'm not shocked that there might be readers from England, Canada and, say, Mexico, but Egypt, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates? Turkey, India, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam? Macedonia, Latvia, Russia and the Ukraine? I've had readers from Israel and today one from the Tulkarm, in the Palestinian Territory. I wish I had the key to peace Middle East to blog for those guys.

Locally, some of the readers are musicians and people who love music, thanks to many blogs on the topic, but also thanks to particular blogs that were linked and passed around, such as the Indie Grrl Showcase and the Knoxville Jazz Festival. Some of the local readers are the leaders of our community, thanks to my blogs about the last couple of Knox Heritage events, such as the Dancin' in the Streets Street Fair. The hip-hop, slam poetry crowd came on when I featured the Southern Fried Poetry Slam and Elder Beatmaster.

I've had readers tell me they were disappointed that I didn't want the city to buy every sculpture and others say they share my opinions about the various pieces of art. I've had readers tell me I'm providing an important service to downtown and others that I'm writing fluff, wasting people's time and I obviously am an attention hungry . . . well, not nice person.

So why does this matter? I think it matters because that's a pretty diverse group of people who might not have an intersecting point beyond this blog. That could produce some interesting interaction in the future. It also matters because, as I express my opinions, it isn't likely that everyone from Cordoba, Argentina to Ulsan, Korea, from Knoxville's hip-hop community to its civic leaders, from the Healers to the Nazis will agree on every point, but it's possible that, as we respect each other's opinions, it could encourage some thoughtful discussion, and that would be a good thing.

End of the Month Details

It has been an interesting month, with notable highs and lows, as well as surprises along the way. When I started writing I feared having no readers. Now I'm humbled to realize I have so many. This was the third month for the blog and daily average readers have grown from 37 in June, to 63 in July to about 104 for August. In three months, over 5,800 visitors tallied over 10,000 page views.

June's poll drew 13 voters. July's garnered 71 votes and this month 92 people weighed in on the issue of Nazi protesters. The results showed how split my readers - and I suspect Knoxvillians - are on the issue. Twenty-one people (23%) said we should deny them a permit. Twenty (22%) said do not provide police protection. Twenty-six (28%) said ignore them and twenty-five (27%) said confront them.

My blog on the neo-Nazi event yielded the most visitors for a single day at just over four hundred. It also presented a disturbing surprise: My blog was linked on two racist websites. Apparently, even Nazis like to see their pictures. In each case, I liked the notation to their readers: "Non-Racist Website." I'll take that as a compliment and hope some good might come from a visit to my blog.

There were also good surprises. My blog has been linked onto a feed-site in (I believe) Madrid, Spain. It's a wacky little site on which the author posts pictures of European soccer (football) players and waxes eloquent on the musical virtues of pop-band Hanson. Yes, I'm serious. The best surprise and a debt of gratitude goes out to Josh Flory of the Property Scope blog who gave me a great, and completely unexpected shout-out on his site, here. It resulted in a nice spike of viewers and I really appreciate it.

So, what have I learned this month? I've learned that I will have to stop being as compulsive. I've kept a list of every city that has accessed my blog (444) and I'm officially letting that go as of the end of this month. I will continue to follow states until I get all fifty (I can't completely reform - ten to go - does anyone know folks in Hawaii, Maine and North Dakota?), and I'll continue to monitor countries because I can't help it (26 so far). I'm also going to have to stop posting nearly every day (if I can), but I will continue to post regularly.

I greatly appreciate people who read regularly, some giving appreciated editing suggestions and some commenting frequently. Thank you to everyone who has become a follower or subscribed to the e-mail service on the right-hand side of the page. If you haven't done so, please do. If you have links posted on a web-page, Facebook page or blog, please include mine. If you are a member of an e-mail list-serv in which you think the members might be interested, please let them know about the blog.

So that's it. In simple terms, thank you for reading. Now we'll get back to talking about that city of ours.

End of the Month Details for July 2010

This concludes my second month of blogging. Like last month, I'll throw out a few thoughts, statistics and requests.

I've learned several things about blogging in the last eight weeks. First, it takes a lot of time to consistently post - particularly if I'm trying to include pictures. Second, some days hundreds of people are going to read and some days I have to remind my own family. Which leads me to number three: My family and friends just aren't that interested! That isn't true for all of them. I have several friends and family who are dedicated readers, but really, why should everyone I know be interested in the same things I'm into?

Which leads me to one final observation: I've learned that I have to work as hard to gain readers as I do to produce content. "Write brilliantly and they will come" doesn't seem to work. (I'll say it before you do . . . "Well why didn't write brilliantly to find out?") I've had to learn to be a self-promoter (which has led to at least one nasty comment posted on my blog). I'm learning to be less introverted when I roam the streets looking for stories and, for me, that's been a good thing.

So how did it go in July? Incredibly well. Average daily visits increased from 37 last month to 63 in July. Average daily return visits averaged 5 per day in June and increased to 12 a month later. I had 925 visits in June, which more than doubled to 1,964 in July. I've had readers from 31 states, 275 cities or towns and 12 foreign countries. I have a couple of persistent readers in Egypt and someone from Tazwell who spends tons of time on the site nearly everyday! Hey guys!

My poll results also improved. Last month's poll got 13 responses. This month's poll about buskers drew 71 responses. In case you missed it, 51 (74%) said leave the buskers alone, 14 (19%) said we should set some controls, 1 (1%) said we should discourage them and 5 (7%) said we should get rid of them altogether. I suspect it is obvious from my posts that I would like to see more of them, not fewer. One other thing about that poll: I live and die by spellcheck and I can't spellcheck polls. Don't be bashful to e-mail me if you spot an error in a post - like "ambience" is actually spelled "ambiance!" Duh!

So, there are more readers and more who are engaged and, as a writer, I find that very gratifying. I've written short stories for years and had one published. I enjoy writing, or as a friend of mine once said, somewhat accusingly, I enjoy "having written," but I also really like having readers. Even when I had the short story published, I never knew if anyone actually read it. Now I can say several thousand people have taken time to look at what I'm doing and I want you to know I appreciate it very much.

So, what will I do next and what would I like you to do?

I'm going to keep writing and publishing as much of the best work I have the time to produce. My actual paying job is about to require my attention, so I cannot likely keep the same pace I've set for the first two months. That said, I intend to post often. What would you like to see me write about?

What I would like you to do is to sign up to follow the blog (to the right on your screen) if you have an RSS Feed. If you have no idea what that is, sign up for e-mail notifications (also to the right). You will receive the first lines of each new post and you can click to go to it and read it. (You do have to confirm your subscription. I have had some people fail to confirm and they never get the emails.) If neither of these suits you, then please bookmark the blog and return often.

Finally, tell your friends who may be interested. Are you on a listserv of people who might enjoy it? Post a plug for me. Do you have a Facebook page or web page with links? How about adding one for my blog? I would really appreciate it. Finally, comment. If you say something I know you are there!

Happy August Everybody