Blogging by Numbers

When I started blogging in 2008 to keep my writing active, my first post was unwittingly an obituary of sorts to great friend “Never be the Same Again (A Tribute to Andrew Kataryeba)” on 10 March that year. Though it was not my intention to start on such a sad note, it was an incident which coincided with my decision to start a blog. When I checked the statistics (covering the whole time I have operated Tales from Abyssinia), this has remained the most viewed with 117 pageviews (up from 108 just two days ago).

The second most viewed post is “Now that Obama-mania is burning out, I can blog” (6 November 2008) with 80 pageviews. But what is unique with this particular post is that it was initially and intentionally left blank. It is only two days that I filled it with links to different stories and opinions I have written about [US President] Barack Obama. Then it had 75 pageviews and was in third place—since the ‘uplift’, it gained 5 more pageviews to make it second now.

“Housing in Uganda: Growing Pains of a Boom Sector” (28 May 2009) is in third place with 79 pageviews. This was first published as an feature article in The Manager, a short-lived weekly newspaper in Uganda where I was retained by the editors/proprietors to contribute a section called People and Power.

“Bob’s Story: Started Out Cryin’” (4 November 2009) in fourth position with 52 pageviews and “Unforgettable Fire: The Story of U2” (6 August 2010) in ninth with 19 pageviews are book reviews. While the former was published in The Daily Monitor/Saturday Monitor, I’m not sure about the latter though I submitted it for publication. Another review “African Reading Challenge: Capitalist Nigger, My First Review” (15 August 2008) has 27 pageviews in seventh position. It was for the African Reading Challenge which required every entrant to read at least six books either written by African or about Africa within that year and write reviews [Note: I read more than six but wrote only four reviews…I think I should honour this debt and write the two reviews soon…better late than never).

In fifth position is “An Excuse for Fewer Posts Thus Far” (14 July 2009) with 45 pageviews and in eighth is “Am I Mis-Educated?” (10 July 2008) with 21 pageviews are links to articles I found interesting enough to post on my blog.

“African Sexual Practice That Guarantees Female Orgasm” (21 December 2010) with 31 pageviews is the sixth most read post. It was inspired by an argument/discussion on Facebook that was sparked off by someone informing us (his Facebook friends) about a World Orgasm Day. Through this, anyone can download a journal article by a Dr. Bizimana on a sexual practice known as kunyanza and its merits in ensuring sexual satisifaction to both parties in a heterosexual setting, especially the females.

At number 10 with 19 pageviews is “Should Terrorism Have Been on the Agenda? Or Been Part of A.O.B?” (6 August 2010) was written as a commentary on the AU Summit, held in Kampala, Uganda, that was originally intended to focus on maternal/child health but overshadowed by the subject of terrorism due to the 7-11 bombings a month earlier.