It’s technically New Years Eve where I am, as I write this. I haven’t done much
blogging over the past week, because I’ve been re-charging my batteries and making plans
for 2006. In this post I reflect on the year that’s past and tell you a bit about my
plans for R/WW in 2006.
A year ago I set myself a goal to convert my hard work on Read/WriteWeb into
real-world success, particularly career wise. The fact I was able to quit my day job in
August and then earn a living as a self-employed Web Consultant — I think that means I
achieved that goal. Plus I visited America, a place I’ve long dreamed about, for the
first time in October and met many of the people I’d gotten to know via blogging. At the
start of 2005, Read/WriteWeb had around 500 RSS subscribers. Just before the xmas
holidays I’d reached a shade under 8,000. Not quite the level of growth Techcrunch has enjoyed, but not too shabby 😉
Since this is a personal post and all but the first 500 of my subscribers has by now
tuned out ;-)… let me take this opportunity to thank some people. Marc Canter was the first person to give
me ongoing work. Marc’s the first at a lot of things, so keep an eye out for DLAs and
Broadband Mechanics in ’06. Susan
Mernit has given me a lot of interesting work this year, which has kept me on my toes
and sharpened my skillset. I’ve also done work for Rojo, Nooked, Aqute Research, ZDNet (blogging), New Zealand National Library, Idealog, O’Reilly
Media. Also a huge thanks to R/WW’s sponsors this year.
In 2005 I met a number of amazing bloggers in person. Too many to mention, so I
won’t even try to list them all! But a special shout-out to my Web 2.0 Workgroup
co-founders Mike Arrington and Frederico Oliveira. Also I owe a big thanks to
Havi Hoffman and
Elizabeth Osder from Yahoo, who introduced me to the good people of Yahoo and showed me
around the campus in October. Finally I must mention the spicy noodles dinner
with Mike, Fred, Gabe and the one and only Dave Winer.
An evening to remember.
2006 Plans
More travel beckons in 2006. I’m coming to Seattle at the end of January for Microsoft Search Champs. Also Ben Barren is trying to entice me across to Melbourne, to help him kick-start online media in Australia. So it’ll be interesting to see how it all pans out career and life wise next year.
I’m planning to ramp up Read/WriteWeb in 2006, focusing on the intersection of Web
technology and media. I really want to make R/WW a thoroughly professional site, where
you can come to get the latest news and views relating to Web-based media. Just as one
year ago I was excited by the possibilities of Web 2.0 (the Web as platform), now I’m
excited by what I expect will be a huge year in 2006 for digital media. It’s building on
the Web as platform, taking it to the next level.
I like to be one step ahead of trends, so expect big things from Read/WriteWeb next
year. Happy new year everybody!
