A Series of Updates About the Blog

The topic of this week�s blog is something that is long overdue in being discussed. We need to talk. Ever since I started this blog in December of 2016, I have kept this platform relatively impersonal and I have not told anybody about my vision for this thing and whether or not I am gaining traction and finding success. I have simply been putting out an article every week without any explanation or exposition and it was intentional. I wanted to make something of my own that is completely my own that would give me a platform to talk about politics. I did not want to contribute to a paper because I wanted to publish things on my own terms and cover topics that I wanted to cover. I wanted to build my own media outlet where I was the sole person in charge and did not have to show stuff to the world through a separate entity.

            For a sixteen-year old with no experience in the field of journalism and a pretty surface level knowledge of national politics, this was a tall task. Looking back at some of the articles written during the first few months of this blog�s existence, I am relieved that only thirty people saw some of the relatively basic writing, unoriginal thoughts, and a lack of uniqueness that I presented in those posts. During those early stages, I was trying to emulate commentators like Chris Cilliza rather than establish my own persona. Most of those early blogs were under 500 words, included no links, had vague titles, and included no pictures or additional resources for readers. They were short essays containing my na�ve opinions.

           

An early depiction of "Jacob the Journalist."

I started to find my own voice around early May of last year when I had been writing long enough to become more comfortable and more refined with my style and I had been following politics more intensely for a long enough time to begin to look deeper into the stories I was writing about. The article that comes to mind when I think of that turning point is �Analyzing the Lack of Conservative Comedy in the Media.� That does not mean that I have not continually improved and distinguished myself from other outlets and bloggers since then, it was simply the beginning of that improvement.

            The process of increasing page views and generating an audience has been slow and at times, stagnant. But there have been steady gains month-to-month in page views per week and per article since I started this project. I started with eleven pageviews per article. Today, I average 150-200. I have been experimenting with different forms of advertisement and branding to attract more readers and it is something that I enjoy doing. I have made short commercials that have been pretty unsuccessful in garnering permanent readers. The first commercial caused a surge in pageviews for a few days and then there were no traces of its impact ever since. I made a few more that had even smaller effects and while I enjoyed the process of making the short films, they were not producing results. I have found more success on Facebook, which has accounted for roughly 80% of my pageviews, by making my own page and running advertisements across South Carolina.

            However, the most successful method of generating my audience has come from meeting with people at political events and interviewing influential figures who then share my articles with their followers and friends. By doing this, I have been able to reach people who share my interests and are more likely to engage with my content. It is also the most enjoyable and educational aspect of this experience because it is one thing to read and hear about what is happening in the news, but it is entirely different to go out and watch the news unfold.

            My approach to blogging has also changed since I started as I have found my voice and style. I started out trying to imitate other journalists in the field and shifted into a more humorous commentator on the happenings in the media. However, since I have started getting involved in politics locally, I find myself writing more as an activist rather than a journalist.

            I do not know what the future holds for this blog. When I started this a year and a half ago, I envisioned a permanent outlet that would last throughout my career. I am not sure whether I feel that way anymore but I do not have any plans to end this anytime soon. I plan to continue doing what I am doing until I discover that I want to do something different. In a optimal world, my audience will continue to expand and I believe that if I stay true to myself, more people will start to read and keep reading. We shall see. That�s all for this week.