Centenary News’ Editor, Nigel Dacre, reviews how the website has developed since being launched in November 2011.
It’s two years since we launched Centenary News, and one year since we appointed full time staff and expanded the team of volunteers.
It’s now also only about 8 months before the Centenary of the First World War officially begins.
So, all in all, it’s a good time to review how the site is progressing.
The statistics show that the site has seen significant growth. We have posted 597 news stories on the site since we launched. So far this year, we have had over 52,000 visits and 144,000 page views. And we have a large following on Facebook and Twitter.
But, as you would expect, the statistics only tell part of the story.
As a former TV journalist, I’m continually and pleasantly surprised by the high volume of new and, in my view, interesting stories about the Centenary that come through.
There definitely seems to be a role for an independent and impartial news website in an area which is seeing increasingly different and contrasting views and approaches.
And the site has developed a high profile amongst the key organisations and people involved with planning Centenary events.
Organisationally, we’re building up a committed team of volunteers, based in a growing number of countries. And we have ambitious plans to expand the site further in 2014 – with a books review section, a new layout for the homepage, and the introduction of advertising.
Finally, and thankfully, we have received a lot of unsolicited, positive comments about the website from all over the world.
All good news, then.
But we recognise that we still have a lot more work to do.
We need to promote the site more widely. We need to attract more volunteers. And we need to get more long term funding.
However, we deserve to be positive about what we’ve achieved in the last 2 years: the creation of an independent news website that covers what is for many people around the world a really important, historic and unique event.
© Centenary Digital Ltd & Author