Happy Anniversary To Searchblog

Today marks the one year anniversary of my first post on Searchblog. As I posted on October 20th, 2003:

I’m in New York, seeing old friends, interviewing folks for the book. In some cases they are one and the same.
I suppose this first post should outline the goals of this blog, but to be honest, that feels far too forced. Suffice that here I’ll post this and that which I find noteworthy or interesting, in particular as it relates to search, the subject of my first book, and secondarily as it relates to the warp and weft of traditional media as it intersects with technology.

Well, it’s been nearly 1,000 posts since then, and I’ve learned more from this conversation than I could possibly have imagined. I thought, when I started, that this site would be a huge success if I could pull a few hundred kindred souls together in a semi-regular way, to talk about search and media. Turns out, according to the stats my webmaster gives me, that nearly 60,000 people visit this site each month, at a rate of about 9-10,000 a day. Last month Searchblog passed the million pageview /month milestone (at least, that was a major milestone for us at Wired and thestandard.com). This kind of attention is not only a great honor, it’s also a responsibility I take seriously, though never so seriously (I hope) as to get all up inside my head. After all, I’ve already been there.

Along the way, I’ve written something on the order of 200,000 words here on this site, and another 65,000 or so for the book. And honestly, there is simply no way I could have even begun the process of writing the book, which is now about two thirds finished, were it not for the public sketch pad this site has become.

But in the end, what I’ve learned in this first year is how important it is to be in the conversation, as opposed to dictate it. Thank all of you who lend me your ears, voice, and insights. I hope you’ll keep visiting, and I’m excited about what the next year might bring.