A year in the ‘sphere

It was exactly one year ago today that I posted my first entry on Rough Type. Here are some official statistics:

Total number of entries: Lots

Total number of words: Don’t even want to know

Out-of-pocket costs (est.): $1,650

Revenues (est.): $225

Net loss (est.): $1,425

(Welcome to the wacky world of citizen media, where journalism is an avocation, like fox hunting used to be.)

Opportunity cost of author’s time: Less than he thinks

Number of comments and trackbacks: Thousands and thousands

Percentage of above represented by spam: At least 80%

Current Technorati rank: 689 (2,834 links from 1,085 sites)

Average daily page views at start of year: 0

Average daily page views now: 6,589

I believe that represents some kind of exponential rate of increase, which I’m pretty sure is a sign that the singularity is near, which I take as an indication that the time is right for a vacation.

Bye.

10 thoughts on “A year in the ‘sphere

  1. Seth Finkelstein

    Thanks for the statistics, it’s always good to have empirical evidence.

    If I may ask, what’s the bulk of the cost? It seems high just for webhosting.

    And it would be interesting to know the revenue breakdown between Google ads and Amazon honor contributions.

  2. Nick Carr

    Seth,

    Most of the costs were from original site design. Ongoing costs are negligible.

    $200 Google, $25 donations.

  3. BobG in Dalian

    Once again I see that statistics don’t tell much about the value proposition. I find a lot of value in your words and thoughts. Have a good vacation and please come back to this stand! I look forward to what you will say to balance out all the hype talk from the likes of Gates, Jobs and their paid flacks!!

    Robertg in Vancouver BC now (previously Dalian PRC)

  4. Loek

    $1,650 out-of-pocket cost, mostly for design? That’s a rip-off Nicholas. Blogs are often perceived as being part of a larger “thing” (some people name this Web 2.0, some refuse to use this term) on the Internet, which also comes with stuff like free blog hosting and free blog skins / designs ;-). So in the end you could have made $225 instead of losing $1,425.

  5. tigger2u

    Hey, Nick,

    Just started reading your blog today: auspicious beginnings. Your “Amorality of Web 2.0” seems a very seminal work.

    Kudos for a year well spent. May the Collective Conscience look down upon you and smile. :)

  6. timswan

    Nick, As Loek rightly points out “in the end you could have made $225 instead of losing $1,425.” Just take a moment and savor what could have been. You could have saved even more by just reprinting other peoples posts, spending your time on other more renumerative pursuits.

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