Thursday
Dec302010
What interested you and riled you up in 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010 
I recently started using a new analytics program called PostRank. Unlike regular stats programs that tell you how many people viewed your post, it tells you how engaged people were with your post. Did they share it on facebook or twitter or somewhere else? Did they leave a comment? Did they link back to it on their own blog? It has a plug-in for wordpress that lets me see the PostRank score (out of 10) for each of my posts. A lot of them are just a 1, 2 or 3, but some of them showed a lot of engagement.
Based on the PostRank scores, these were the posts that got people talking and sharing the most in 2010:
- Covering up is a feminist issue (PostRank 9.9)
- Similac and Babble team up to dupe breastfeeding moms (PostRank 9.5)
- 50 reasons for breastfeeding anytime, anywhere (PostRank 8.9)
- Why I protest Nestle's unethical business practices (PostRank 8.5)
- How to report unethical marketing of formula and other breastmilk substitutes (PostRank 8.2)
- Society is creepy (not breastfeeding) (PostRank 8.1)
- Why I check my stats and why you should too (PostRank 8.0)
- More evidence you can't believe a word Nestle says (PostRank 7.9)
- Delurk! (or in other words...please say hello!) (PostRank 7.9)
- The Bible of Parent Blame: "Your Kids Are Your Own Fault" (PostRank 7.9)
- Public school? Private school? Homeschooling? Unschooling? (PostRank 7.8)
- Are we using our brains when it comes to epidurals? (PostRank 7.6)
- A booby-trapped breastfeeding prize (Guest post) (PostRank 7.6)
- Good nutrition: Nestle is part of the problem, not part of the solution (PostRank 7.6)
- Grin and bear it? Parenting, happiness and the pressure cooker (PostRank 7.5)
- I won't ask you why you didn't breastfeed (PostRank 7.5)
- Oh those technology obsessed neglectful parents (PostRank 7.4)
- Should we parent boys and girls differently? (PostRank 7.4)
- Are Canadians joyriding the ultrasound machine? (PostRank 7.4)
- Risks of Informal Breastmilk Sharing versus Formula Feeding (PostRank 7.4)
- "Baby Training" begins at birth (PostRank 7.3)
- Amazon Kindle Facilitates Crimes Against Children (PostRank 7.2)
- My babies were healthy without Lysol (PostRank 7.1)
- The high fructose corn syrup bloggers: A symptom of a larger problem? (PostRank 7.1)
- My BlogHer Accountability Post (PostRank 7.1)
It isn't too late to join the conversation if you want to jump in! I have several posts written years ago that continue to get new comments on a regular basis, allowing the conversation to continue over years in some cases.
Did you have a favourite post in 2010? Any special wishes for things you'd like me to write about in 2011?
Image credit: webtreats on flickr
Reader Comments (11)
Well I'm shocked CIO isn't on there! I appreciate how you've covered the topic and refer people to your posts all the time.
Thanks for all your thoughtful posts, Annie!
avocadogreta:
Thank you!
I don't think I wrote about CIO in 2010, but my posts on CIO are some of the ones where the conversation is still going several years later.
Oooh so much reading to do, I just opened a new tab for almost all those posts (fairly new reader) Lots of catching up to do!
Hi
Just wanted to say hello and a happy new year from us at Team Mummy. I thoroughly enjoyed your blog in 2010 and can't wait for 2011. Your links and information regarding breastfeeding particularly have been of great use to me and my family : )
I love your blog!
I really appreciated all of the work you put into the issues with Nestlé. I really hope that you continue to stay on top of Nestlé. I was also really interested to see some discussions about school-age children. I am starting to move away from the breastfeeding years personally (although still involved in other ways) and love to see topics for parents of older children too!
One thing to keep in mind, too, is that the PostRank scores you're seeing are the result of analysis only of your own content's performance. So comparing how Post Z did against Posts W, X, and Y (to over-simplify things). So even if a post is ranked 3, if your site tends to have a highly engaged audience, that same degree of traffic and engagement might be a 10 on someone else's blog.
Scores are logarithmic, too, so to get much higher rankings it's not just a matter of getting a moderate percentage increase in engagement. The best examples are posts that go viral, either right after publishing, or that have staying power for a while. Though at the same time we do detect that and account for it so that successive posts' rankings aren't completely diluted in comparison to a 10 post if their traffic/engagement is more typical.
Glad to have you on board!
Just found your blog and love this post. I am going to have to check out the PostRank program for myself - looks really interesting! Thanks for posting these great articles to read.
The post ranked 13 most interested and shocked me. I had no idea just how forceful their marketing strategies were
Happy New Year, Annie! Would love to read more about balancing parenting, working, blogging, and other social media. Also, secular parenting.
Wishing you & your family peace & light this year. Glad I found you & love reading your work.
-kelly
Oh I know, that one I was yelling at the computer!
Circumcision is what riled me up in 2010 - even though you wrote the post last year, I'm a new-ish reader and just recently found it. I am planning on writing a post about my decision not to circumcize my son (will link back to you).
I would be interested in reading your take on children's diets including homemade/natural vs. processed crap, but more so about vegan, gluten-free, dairy free, etc and how these can affect children's physicial and mental health.
On a similar note, what about the topic of introducing solids to your baby? Every one seems to have a different take on when to start, what to start and in what order.
And I LOVE your blog.