2014 Rewind: Beyond Bylines’ Top 5 Posts
Today, we conclude our 2014 Rewind series with a retrospective of Beyond Bylines’ first year. Catch up on previous installments here and have a happy new year!
When you start a blog, you’re never really sure how it’ll go. Although I’m a big fan of preparing (going so far as to recommend 7 questions to ask and answer before you start blogging), eventually you just have to hit publish and hope that all the work you’ve put into it was worth the time.
We launched Beyond Bylines on February 17th of this year. It was part of a larger overhaul of our media site PR Newswire for Journalists, and I remember worrying about two things: Could we keep it going? Would anyone actually read it?
As the last few days of 2014 slip away, I’m happy to answer ‘yes’ to both of those questions.
Throughout the year, we had many great contributions from members of our media relations and ProfNet teams, as well as the occasional post from other colleagues around PR Newswire.
Moreover, many of those posts resonated with our audience — whether it was Tools for Faster Fact-Checking (one of our very first posts that still gets a lot of engagement) or our weekly feature on blogs we love.
To celebrate, we’re concluding our 2014 Rewind with a countdown of five of the year’s most popular posts.
Most Popular Blog Profile in 2014
Each Monday, you can join Christine Cube for a dive into another part of the blogosphere. Her weekly Blog Profiles feature a handful of blogs who are stand-outs in their niche.
In 2014, the stand-outs of the stand-outs were the Mom Blogs featured in #5 of our countdown.
If you write or know of a blog that deserves recognition, let us know on PR Newswire for Bloggers.
Most Popular Post about Social Media
How a Facebook Page Became a Full-Fledged News Service
Depending on whom you ask, social media is either one of the best or worst things that’s happened to journalism. What’s clear to us, though, is that blog posts about social media’s effect on journalists and bloggers are very popular.
Some of Beyond Bylines’ 2014 social media posts covered how to make the most of Facebook, LinkedIn, Quora and others’ tools for journalists. Other posts covered trends and best practices.
The most popular social media post, though, was Brett Simon’s look at the social success story of Jersey Shore Hurricane News. What started as a Facebook page to track Hurricane Sandy very quickly grew beyond that.
At this year’s InnovateLocal conference, JSHN founder Justin Auciello discussed how he became a reputable source for local breaking news, all without formal journalism training.
Most Popular Post about Blogging
How to Write an About Page When You Hate Writing About Yourself
This may have been one of my favorite blog posts to write in 2014 because it addresses an issue that has long-plagued me.
And clearly I’m not the only who struggles with writing about myself because How to Write an About Page was the year’s third most read post.
For many bloggers, a good About page can help set the tone for your blog and convert a one-time visitor into a life-long fan. Check out this post for tips on overcoming your reluctance and getting it done right.
Most Popular Post about Journalism
How One Editor Switched Gears and Chose a Different Path
This blog post was initially written for Women’s History Month; however, it ended up becoming much more.
In it, Brett Simon spotlights Colleen DeBaise, director of digital media for non-profit news organization The Story Exchange. DeBaise shares what it was like to get her ‘dream job’ at the Wall Street Journal, only to realize the reality wasn’t what she wanted. It shed an interesting light on how journalists are taking control and pursuing less-conventional career paths.
It also was the first in a series we ended up calling Career Crossroads, which will become a regular, monthly addition in 2015. You can catch up on all of our Career Crossroads posts at http://bit.ly/careercrossroads. And if you have an interesting story to share about your journalism career, drop us a line at [email protected].
Most Popular Post Overall
Grammar Hammer: Punctuation Saves Lives, Part II
While all of the posts featured in this list were popular, the one that did the best across the board was this Grammar Hammer post by Catherine Spicer.
This conclusion to a two-parter on punctuation covered best practices for the less commonly used brackets, ellipses, apostrophes, and more.
Thanks to a huge boost it got on Tumblr, this post quickly skyrocketed to the top of our most-viewed list.
Who doesn’t love to debate punctuation?
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This blog post will be our last for 2014. We can’t wait to kick off 2015, as we’ll be celebrating the first birthday of the new PR Newswire for Journalists, showing off some new features on the site, and bringing you even more posts about tools, tips and trends for bloggers and journalists.
We hope you’ll continue on the journey with us!
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