In just a few weeks the YALSA blog will celebrate its first birthday. We launched with just a few posts on January 9, 2006 and geared up for using the blog as a informational tool during midwinter meeting. Volunteer bloggers readied themselves to write-up the events and meetings they attended in San Antonio. And, with that midwinter meeting, the blog took off.
Almost one year later YALSA’s volunteer bloggers have written 400+ posts on topics ranging from teen reading, to gaming, to technology, to news related to teens and libraries, to professional development. The blog covered YALSA events and programs – as they happened, as they were about to happen, and even after they were over. With the possibility of DOPA looming large the blog proved to be a useful tool for getting the word out about the potential legislation and for educating readers about the positive uses of social networking in teen lives.
The blog was also the avenue with which YALSA launched its podcasts and setup a Technorati account for showing what other bloggers are saying about the YALSA blog. At the time of this post there are 149 links to the YALSA blog from 71 bloggers. The numbers continue to grow and that’s really exciting.
There have been times during the year when the blog received 2000 hits within a 24-hour period. That might not seem like a lot if you are Amazon, Apple, or The New York Times. But, for YALSA and its blog, that’s quite impressive.
Thanks to all the volunteer bloggers who helped to make the first year a success!
