300 Subscribers, Networked Blogs
Yesterday, the Crisis Chronicles Online Library passed the 300 subscriber threshold. I started the library in a blog format this past June, less than six months ago, and I am rather amazed and happy that so many folks visit regularly. Thank you!
To honor this milestone, I added six favorite "classic" works to the library today. These six bring the number of entries posted in the library to a matching 300. Of course there are more than 300 works in the library. In the early days, I often posted several poems in one entry - for example, And Thou Art Dead; By the Rivers of Babylon; Darkness (3 Poems by Byron) and 100 Songs of Kabir (translated by Rabindranath Tagore). But I eventually came to prefer giving each poem its own entry. Makes search and digestion a bit easier....
My "Tao of Jesus Crisis" blog (which you're reading now) has been on this crisischronicles site for a year and currently has 282 subscribers - not as many as the Online Library, but still more than my pre-crisischronicles blog on MySpace ever had. Interestingly, though, the number of subscribers hovered between "only" 40 and 45 for much of 2008 before "blowing up" late in the year.
A big reason the numbers have gotten as large as they have in the past six months is a Facebook application called Networked Blogs (in the left sidebar of this blog you'll find widgets for it). The application has exposed my blog and library to a much wider spectrum of potential readers. It has also exposed me to a wider assortment of excellent blogs. And it provides an easy way for me to follow what's new on all my favorite blogs, wherever they may be. On MySpace, the "manage blogs" tool allowed me to easily follow all my favorite MySpace bloggers, but excluded folks who blogged outside of MySpace. Facebook's Networked Blogs application has no such restriction - it allows me to follow MySpace blogs, independent blogs, and even blogs by folks who have nothing to do with Facebook. If you haven't checked it out yet, you can do so here: http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks. But you may need a Facebook account (which is free, of course) to see it.
Thanks again, wonderful friends and readers! It's an honor and pleasure (and also often humbling) to know you.
Peace and poetry,
John
To honor this milestone, I added six favorite "classic" works to the library today. These six bring the number of entries posted in the library to a matching 300. Of course there are more than 300 works in the library. In the early days, I often posted several poems in one entry - for example, And Thou Art Dead; By the Rivers of Babylon; Darkness (3 Poems by Byron) and 100 Songs of Kabir (translated by Rabindranath Tagore). But I eventually came to prefer giving each poem its own entry. Makes search and digestion a bit easier....
My "Tao of Jesus Crisis" blog (which you're reading now) has been on this crisischronicles site for a year and currently has 282 subscribers - not as many as the Online Library, but still more than my pre-crisischronicles blog on MySpace ever had. Interestingly, though, the number of subscribers hovered between "only" 40 and 45 for much of 2008 before "blowing up" late in the year.
A big reason the numbers have gotten as large as they have in the past six months is a Facebook application called Networked Blogs (in the left sidebar of this blog you'll find widgets for it). The application has exposed my blog and library to a much wider spectrum of potential readers. It has also exposed me to a wider assortment of excellent blogs. And it provides an easy way for me to follow what's new on all my favorite blogs, wherever they may be. On MySpace, the "manage blogs" tool allowed me to easily follow all my favorite MySpace bloggers, but excluded folks who blogged outside of MySpace. Facebook's Networked Blogs application has no such restriction - it allows me to follow MySpace blogs, independent blogs, and even blogs by folks who have nothing to do with Facebook. If you haven't checked it out yet, you can do so here: http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks. But you may need a Facebook account (which is free, of course) to see it.
Thanks again, wonderful friends and readers! It's an honor and pleasure (and also often humbling) to know you.
Peace and poetry,
John
Excellent library. Peace and poetry to you also.
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Thank you, Elena!
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So have you applied for a grant yet?? There was some talk about that once a while back... I recall.
You may wish to revisit that idea now that the library is getting viewed as often as it is...
I think the blog network on FaceBook has been helpful.. How many people come over from Cleveland poetics? is there any way to track that??
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I think I'd already befriended most of the Cleveland Poetics folks through Facebook, MySpace and lots of readings, though I'm sure some new folks have found me through that (just as others have found that through me). No way to really track that, I suppose....
I have been studying the grant possibilities, and am waiting for the appropriate application times. I do this for the love of literature, not money; but if there is a decent way to fund it, I will certainly investigate.
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My thought was that it's a resource that could be used by a lot of people potentially.. and you do have to pay to run the page. So even though I know you do it because you love it.. you could apply to have it subsidized was the thought.. it would take pressure off paying for the GoDaddy account.. not that it's al that expensive... but you know what I mean.
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It's 29 days later, and the Crisis chronicles Online Library now has 400 subscribers. Thank you!
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