Happy New Year

Another year down, another one rarin’ to go; another batch of worthy accomplishments matched in force by tasks yet undone. Today your friends at PlaceShakers take a moment to catch our breath, consider the miles left behind, and map out some plans for the road ahead. Join us Thursday, when we’ll lay out our Placemaking Wishes for 2013.

Until then, the very best to you and the places you call home.

200,000: What’s in a number?

Last October, I wrote a piece commemorating a PlaceShakers milestone — 100,000 reads — which took us 32 months to amass. Today, I write to mark our next one: 200,000. This time, it took less than 8 months.

Clearly something is up.

If reads are increasing, that means interest is increasing. If interest is increasing, then I want to know why. Specifically, exactly what are people interested in?

The answer’s in the traffic stats. And what you find there is not all that surprising.

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Hey, where’s the freshness?

Hi, there. Thanks for dropping by. If you’re here seeking your weekly dose of community perspective, we’ve got some news for you.

It’s become increasingly apparent to us here at PlaceShakers that our Friday publishing schedule is a bit counter-intuitive. After all, here we are at the end of the week, trying to gear up discussion while everyone else is winding down.

Perhaps it originated with subconscious impulses to simply counter whatever the mainstream tends to do. Or maybe Friday just turned out to be the day when we had the most bandwidth to write. Whatever is was, it’s not ideal. It’s become the week’s dessert. A little treat at the end, when the heavy lifting is done.

We’re really looking to be more of an aperitif.

So, beginning Monday, we’re switching to a Fresh Every Monday promise instead. We’ll start the week with you and together we can consider the challenges ahead at the same pace.

See you then.

100,000: What’s in a number?

Sometime today or over the next few, Placeshakers and Newsmakers will cross a notable (for us) threshold: 100,000 reads. Not that 100,000 is altogether different from 90,000 or 80,000 but it does make for a nice round opportunity to reflect on what we’ve been doing here and how its evolution has surprised us.

As many readers know, Placeshakers is the online soapbox of PlaceMakers, a town planning and community development firm. By our own admission, a company blog is nothing particularly special — in fact, they’re often painfully tiresome — and that’s why we’ve taken great care to avoid the sin of talking all about ourselves and, instead, talk about what really matters: the big picture issues and ground-level challenges facing those who care as much about shaping community as we do.

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