Filipino Historian Fourth State of the Blog Address

Filipino Historian: Fourth State of the Blog Address

This is the history blog's fourth State of the Blog Address. This, however, is not your ordinary blog update. Last year, the third State of the Blog Address was published to provide an annual report on the progress being made by this history blog. This year, the newly established tradition of publishing an annual address continues with the fourth address. This is the 33rd update article published by this history website. For many who may think this is just some chest-beating and chair-raising, then I am probably doing mine. However, these small successes are owed not only to a single author writing somewhere in the archipelago, but also to the tens of thousands of readers who even bothered, because I may be an army of one, but we have empowered thousands to know and appreciate their history. These people must know that they have been part of a larger movement to restore and maintain our national memory, because a nation without history is like a person without memory.

Why October?

New name, new logo
It portrays the site's initials

It has to be recalled why the annual address has been delivered every October of the year. While the anniversary is in December, on October 4, 2014, the Filipino Historian (FH) began as The Young Filipino Historian (TYFH), which revival was first announced on September 29 of the same year. The task was not easy as this blog focuses on a discipline that is not really popular in the Philippines, as exhibited by this year's survey of history in the web. There is also fierce competition presented by older and better organized, although usually trivialized to the point of near mediocrity, history blogs and websites. What can a "single author writing somewhere in the archipelago" do? Still, while the situation seemed hopeless, the restoration is on. This is where our story begins.

Not expected to outdo in the near future what has been achieved in the first two years, the bar at the time was quite low. However, it is to be found out that this is not your ordinary history blog. Going beyond simple trivia and speculation, the blog featured details and analyses that are not to be found among leading history blogs. Most of the articles also have a reference list to encourage readers to confirm what they have read and to establish authority for this history blog. Relevant images and videos were added wherever possible to keep articles from appearing bland. What is aimed here is to show that history is not only about dates, personalities, and places. There is more to it than meets the eye. These methods, however, had kept the article generation of the blog relatively low compared to most blogs.

In the first two years of this blog, it has recorded a monthly average of 52 views. In the next four years, the blog has recorded a daily average of 188 views (up from 106 views a day as of October 2017), and the trend continues to hold. As of September 2018, the blog has exceeded 20,000 views in a month, a performance which may well solidify a spot for the Filipino Historian as one of the top blogs in the Philippines.

Rising the ranks

This blog began from what we can call level zero. Frankly, it was insignificant when it re-entered the blogosphere four years ago. However, as the audience continued to grow, and traffic began to take an upward trend, the Filipino Historian was soon detected in the radars of national and global rankings.

In Blogs ng Pinoy, a directory featuring thousands of websites in the Philippines, this history blog ranked 4th overall as of August 2018, and 6th in September 2018. Meanwhile, in website rankers Alexa and SimilarWeb, the Filipino Historian ranked in the top 0.2% and top 0.1% of live websites, respectively, as of October 2018. This is the highest level reached by the website since it was ranked in 2015 (for Alexa) and in 2017 (for SimilarWeb). This means that out of billions of active sites in the internet, this history blog is doing well enough to even be ranked.

Other rankings do not seem to show a growing website. In Feedspot's list of Top 100 Philippine Blogs, this history blog's rank fell from 72nd in December 2017 to 86th in July 2018. Also, the Filipino Historian is not even included in ASEAN UP's list of top 50 blogs in the Philippines, which was updated as of April 2018.

While it is indeed recognized that history is not a very popular discipline in the Philippines, and the website itself does not appear to consistently rank well across the board, it has to be acknowledged that one history website is making strides to share freely such knowledge for all people.

Facebook page as of 2018

Two million miracles in 2018

Even though this history blog has been serving the world for more than five years, it only began to permeate social media recently. On October 29, 2014, the official Facebook page of this history blog was launched. To date, the page had exceeded 3400 followers. This means an average growth of 7% per month since the third address. While still respectable, it is a markedly slower pace than last year's 12% per month. However, as a stern note, unlike other "popular" blogs and websites, even those dabbling with history, the Filipino Historian does not, and will not, buy or purchase followers and views for the sake of popularity. Until now, the author has no means to acquire its own top-level domain, which may further boost its search engine optimization. What was achieved now by this single author is hard work, coupled by the irreplaceable support of thousands who grew to love and appreciate history through this medium.

Twitter page as of 2018

All time statistics reveal that Facebook has been the largest single source of views for this history blog so far. Views from Facebook account for 42% of the total all time views of the blog, down from 50% last year. The following year, on October 27, 2015, the official Twitter page of this history blog was launched. From 14 followers last year (2017), it has increased to 21 followers. While Twitter remained insignificant in contributing to traffic for this blog (around 0.2%, up from 0.1% last year), it is seen as one of the possible growth areas in the coming years. It has already trumped over Wikipedia and Blogarama, two of the sources which generated more traffic than this blog's Twitter platform last year. Other rising traffic contributors include Google (14.6%, increased from 8.7% last year). This can be seen as a positive note in efforts to diversify this website's traffic sources.

After last year's unexpected growth, 2016 projections for the Filipino Historian have been readjusted from reaching a million people to reaching two million people by 2018. This history blog revised this short-term vision as "two million miracles." It is the sole author's pleasure to inform all of you that this dream has been achieved as of October 25, 2018, when this history website's social media platforms reached 2,007,100 people. A miracle has indeed been made, especially since we still have a few weeks left for the year 2018. Of course, the service to the people of the Philippines and the world does not end here. This is just the launching pad. As we approach six years of public service, it is envisioned for this blog to reach as many as possible to fulfill the greater good of history.

Satisfaction ratings
The exact question used in the survey is: How is your experience with the articles? There are four choices: Very satisfied, satisfied, unsatisfied, and very unsatisfied. More than 99% of the 138 respondents were very satisfied, and less than 1% were satisfied. For the second time since 2014, there were no unsatisfied ratings. Respondents increased from the past year (2016), and ratings remained sky high (it was 97% from 2014-2015, and 98% from 2015-2016). However, the poll feature of this history website's platform has been discontinued. Rest assured, the lone author would find ways to keep updated with the audience's sentiments.

A national blog for the Philippines
On November 24, 2014, the blog began to officially record its reach throughout the Philippines partially through Facebook. This is the first result received by the blog. Darker areas meant there are more readers within the province. It is evident that the blog had only reached some parts of Luzon. Of course, it has to be considered that the blog had to begin from virtually nothing, and it has no tangible team to even consider. This history blog is maintained by a single author.

However, the goal has been raised. It is now aimed to expand towards nationwide coverage and finally be worthy to be called a national blog. On October 3, 2015, this is the extent that the blog has reached. The task ahead is arduous, but we have breakthroughs by having presence in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao for the first time since 2012.

As of 2017, this is the extent reached by the blog nationwide. There are still provinces of the Philippines wherein the blog has not received a significant readership.

A year later, in 2018, the Filipino Historian has truly become a national blog by having readers from all provinces of the Philippines. Not only from Aparri to Jolo, as the song goes, but literally from Batanes to Tawi-Tawi. This may not mean much for many people, but this phenomenon is sufficient manifestation of this website's motto: "Bringing history to the Philippines and the world."

How international is international?

On June 1, 2015, the history blog recognized that it was read in 35 countries worldwide other than the Philippines, and had double- and triple-digit number of visitors in at least six (6) of these countries since the official count began February 3, 2015. Since then, the title International has been added. How has the Filipino Historian fared after three and a half years? As of October 25, 2018, the blog has been read in 90 countries. It also had double- and triple-digit number of visitors in at least 33 countries worldwide, an increase from 30 countries last year. Meanwhile, the social media outlets of this blog has followers from 50 different nations, up from 45 last year. Despite the increasing worldwide reach of this blog, and the diversification of the topics being covered, it is noticeable that 61% of all time views (down from 62%) and 85% of social media followers (down from 90%) hail from the author's homeland, the Philippines. He is, after all, the Filipino Historian.

The itsy bitsy blog crawling up the Web

The following are some of the screenshots to showcase how the blog has fared in leading search engines. All the readers and the followers of this history blog receives utmost thanks from its author.

Filipino Historian is top search entry in Google

This blog also has three out of ten top entries in Yahoo

This blog is the top entry in Bing, and has three other entries in the top ten

This blog is also the top entry in Naver

"Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master!"

(Matthew 25:21)