Unless someone breaks the Internet, Carter County Post(.com) will reach 100,000 individual page views before it is even 100 days old.
I would have laughed and called you a crazy person if you had predicted this back in June when I first stabbed out on a Saturday morning in search of photos of stories. Seriously. I had to be talked into doing this and had little confidence it could ever fly.
The very idea of attempting true community journalism, however, was far too tempting to pass up. And, as someone pointed out at the time, I was still walking around with a camera on my shoulder and a pen behind my ear even though I did not have anywhere to put the stories I continued to gather.
I have since admitted I was completely wrong about people embracing an online publication, and continue to learn new ways to replace my years of lessons from the bygone ink-on-paper era.
An easy example of that is the tendency to use only two or three photos with any story, a practice born of traditional newspapers’ space limitations. There is no lack of space online, and I now enjoy the luxury of posting as many photos as possible.
100 days after my last story for a previous employer had been filed, I began again with a new (self-assigned) title – community journalist. For whatever reason, it just didn’t feel right to call myself a reporter, editor or publisher in this new role.
100 days after that we are steaming along toward 100,000 page views, with a solid slate of advertisers and more community support coming as we head toward Christmas season.
Three days remain before the 100-day mark, and there is still a sizable gap between the page-view counter and 100,000.
I still have a couple of “Old Barns Of Carter County” pieces to publish, along with an excellent interview with Edgar Everman, 95, to help us make it across the line.
On another note, my wife saw the headline on this column.
She has already selected the restaurant.