I launched this blog in January last year. To date there have been 285 posts, just over 5 a week.
I hope you have found some ‘pearls’ and been ‘irritated’ from time to time. Thank you for your support.
I have enjoyed putting together stories that I believe are important for Australia’s future.
I now prefer blogging to speeches and interviews.
A feature of the blog has been the support of guest bloggers. This has introduced a range of people with interesting ideas and views. As a result, the blog is becoming more like an e-magazine.
I am a beginner in blogging, as you will have noticed, but Susie has been a great help. We have made changes, including a better weekly summary with lists of posts. Much remains to be done.
We have appointed a blog manager which will leave me with more time to work on content.
The traffic is increasing steadily. In February last year, the first full month of the blog, the number of ‘visits’ (not hits) to the blog was 7063 In December last year “visits” had increased to 33,539. In February last year 14,132 ‘pages’ were read. This has increased to 84,873 in December. The increase has been steady with almost 1,200 readers of the blog each day this month despite the holidays. Many of the readers are friends and contacts but include a considerable number in the media, churches and NGO communities.
I hope we can be more influential in the years ahead. Your help in suggestions and passing posts and emails to friends is much appreciated.
John Menadue is the Founder of Pearls and Irritations and a board member. He was formerly the Editor-in-Chief. John was the Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser, Ambassador to Japan, Secretary of the Department of Immigration and CEO of Qantas.
Comments
2 responses to “Pearls and Irritations – one year on. John Menadue”
You’ve kept the focus on the injustices perpetrated by both parties on asylum seekers and refugees, and I appreciate the way in which you have exposed the intemperate language used by this government. Thank you. Keep it up.
Your blog is an excellent example of the value of the new media world, John. Isn’t it wonderful that the internet, despite its abuse by some, enables the very valuable connections and conversations across the planet with minds such as yours and your guests?
i appreciate your efforts.