Filipino Historian: Five Million Miracles
Midyear 2019: Five Million and Growing
"Tatoe asu ga (missing) ikidomari demo (going)
Jibun no te de (breaking) kirihirakunda."
Jibun no te de (breaking) kirihirakunda."
(from Black Shout)
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| A meme satirizing the historian's career Photo courtesy of Peabody Lament |
As we reach the middle of the year, it is high time to provide yet another update article for all the readers who love and support the Filipino Historian and the work being done in throughout years. Indeed, this is a humbling experience for the single author writing somewhere in the archipelago to reach new heights with each and every one of you. While some many not understand the rationale of this exercise, with this 35th update, it is hoped that more and more people would realize how they became integral parts of a growing movement.
Five Million Miracles
Despite all the bashers, critics, and detractors who believed in the futility of academic writing for free public consumption, opposition to the use of globally recognized languages as media, and belief in the uselessness of parading data for such purposes, this history website has broken a new record as it accomplishes the so-called Five Million Miracles, the third expansion of the initial One Million Miracles project (first publicized in 2016) which calls for five million people being reached by 2020. As of June 21, 2019, the Filipino Historian has reached more than 5,859,500 people. Like the Two Million Miracles conceived three years ago, attaining this feat was considered a long shot. After all, how can a lone, penniless writer afford to grow an audience? Not only does the single author have no resources for advertisement, promotion, and purchase of a personalized domain name for better search engine optimization, article production has slowed down in recent months. It was not easy, but the Filipino Historian is well on its way to becoming one of the more popular sites in the discipline. Accompanying the Five Million Miracles pledge is to have the website itself reach 500,000 views. To date, it has yet to punch through this record with more than 440,000 views. This is twice as large as the readership gained at the same time in 2018. As it goes, we can be confident that the goal would be achieved by 2020 or earlier. It gives the Filipino Historian much needed boost in the years to come.
Countdown to Ten
By 2022, the Filipino Historian would have been online for ten years. Considering this, a new set of objectives is set as this history website ushers into a new decade. This will become known as Double Ten: 10,000,000 people reached and 10,000 followers in social media. Added to this is one million reads. Initially, there are doubts on whether such lofty goals should be established so early. However, as previous experiences have displayed, there is no harm in dreaming high, especially for the greater good of history to the Philippines and the world. Even if they are not to be met, at least we persevered for their attainment. What else is to be expected from this rising star among Filipino history blogs?
To level off, not only had there been five million people reached as of June 2019, but also more than 5,300 followers in social media (Facebook and Twitter combined). As it goes, social media has posted great contributions towards driving traffic. From 32% by the end of 2018, Facebook has contributed 28.3% of total traffic by midyear 2019. Twitter, which showed great promise with 6% share in 2018, contributed 5.2% this year. In addition, ranking better in search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, Naver, and Weibo, among others, have also helped growing readership. For instance, from 4.7% in 2018, Google has contributed some 15.5% of traffic by midyear 2019. If Twitter was the turnaround source last year, search engines have been ramping it up this year.
Diversified Movement
But of course, what is the impetus of breaking the glass ceiling? Who else but from the growing number of people who subscribed to this movement promoting greater appreciation of history, culture, heritage, and the social sciences in the Philippines and beyond. Admittedly, the Filipino Historian is one of the younger platforms to have entered the web with a similar agenda, but as the media put it, the nation's "youngest historian" is making ripples and waves. This is not so much because of becoming famous or popular, as the author himself is a believer of keeping a low profile, but for the noble cause of raising awareness for an underappreciated field and discipline that is history. Besides, as this single author advances in age, the "young" tag may no longer hold. While many nations in the world have grown to love their historical roots, the Philippines among others has yet to reach the same status for its general population. And so, where do these supporters come from?
In connection to this, statistics show that the Philippines remains the largest source of readers with 66.7%, followed by the United States (14.3%), Canada (1.8%), United Arab Emirates (0.8%), Australia (0.8%), and Russia (0.7%). Other nations with significant audiences include Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United Kingdom, Brazil, Germany, Spain, Singapore, and Indonesia. In terms of gender, 67% were male and 33% were female. And of course, in terms of age, 3% are below 18 years old, 60.7% are 18 to 34 years old, 19.8% are 35 to 44 years old, 8.6% are 45 to 54 years old, 4% are 55 to 64 years old, and 3.3% are 65 years old above. This is yet another proof that we are on the right track.
As always, it is with utmost gratitude for each and every one of you that we have achieved so much. I hope for your continuing support for the Filipino Historian. May this miracle be a sign for many. There is nothing impossible for anyone who believes, so let us continue believing.
Five Million Miracles
Despite all the bashers, critics, and detractors who believed in the futility of academic writing for free public consumption, opposition to the use of globally recognized languages as media, and belief in the uselessness of parading data for such purposes, this history website has broken a new record as it accomplishes the so-called Five Million Miracles, the third expansion of the initial One Million Miracles project (first publicized in 2016) which calls for five million people being reached by 2020. As of June 21, 2019, the Filipino Historian has reached more than 5,859,500 people. Like the Two Million Miracles conceived three years ago, attaining this feat was considered a long shot. After all, how can a lone, penniless writer afford to grow an audience? Not only does the single author have no resources for advertisement, promotion, and purchase of a personalized domain name for better search engine optimization, article production has slowed down in recent months. It was not easy, but the Filipino Historian is well on its way to becoming one of the more popular sites in the discipline. Accompanying the Five Million Miracles pledge is to have the website itself reach 500,000 views. To date, it has yet to punch through this record with more than 440,000 views. This is twice as large as the readership gained at the same time in 2018. As it goes, we can be confident that the goal would be achieved by 2020 or earlier. It gives the Filipino Historian much needed boost in the years to come.
Countdown to Ten
By 2022, the Filipino Historian would have been online for ten years. Considering this, a new set of objectives is set as this history website ushers into a new decade. This will become known as Double Ten: 10,000,000 people reached and 10,000 followers in social media. Added to this is one million reads. Initially, there are doubts on whether such lofty goals should be established so early. However, as previous experiences have displayed, there is no harm in dreaming high, especially for the greater good of history to the Philippines and the world. Even if they are not to be met, at least we persevered for their attainment. What else is to be expected from this rising star among Filipino history blogs?
To level off, not only had there been five million people reached as of June 2019, but also more than 5,300 followers in social media (Facebook and Twitter combined). As it goes, social media has posted great contributions towards driving traffic. From 32% by the end of 2018, Facebook has contributed 28.3% of total traffic by midyear 2019. Twitter, which showed great promise with 6% share in 2018, contributed 5.2% this year. In addition, ranking better in search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, Naver, and Weibo, among others, have also helped growing readership. For instance, from 4.7% in 2018, Google has contributed some 15.5% of traffic by midyear 2019. If Twitter was the turnaround source last year, search engines have been ramping it up this year.
Diversified Movement
But of course, what is the impetus of breaking the glass ceiling? Who else but from the growing number of people who subscribed to this movement promoting greater appreciation of history, culture, heritage, and the social sciences in the Philippines and beyond. Admittedly, the Filipino Historian is one of the younger platforms to have entered the web with a similar agenda, but as the media put it, the nation's "youngest historian" is making ripples and waves. This is not so much because of becoming famous or popular, as the author himself is a believer of keeping a low profile, but for the noble cause of raising awareness for an underappreciated field and discipline that is history. Besides, as this single author advances in age, the "young" tag may no longer hold. While many nations in the world have grown to love their historical roots, the Philippines among others has yet to reach the same status for its general population. And so, where do these supporters come from?
In connection to this, statistics show that the Philippines remains the largest source of readers with 66.7%, followed by the United States (14.3%), Canada (1.8%), United Arab Emirates (0.8%), Australia (0.8%), and Russia (0.7%). Other nations with significant audiences include Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United Kingdom, Brazil, Germany, Spain, Singapore, and Indonesia. In terms of gender, 67% were male and 33% were female. And of course, in terms of age, 3% are below 18 years old, 60.7% are 18 to 34 years old, 19.8% are 35 to 44 years old, 8.6% are 45 to 54 years old, 4% are 55 to 64 years old, and 3.3% are 65 years old above. This is yet another proof that we are on the right track.
As always, it is with utmost gratitude for each and every one of you that we have achieved so much. I hope for your continuing support for the Filipino Historian. May this miracle be a sign for many. There is nothing impossible for anyone who believes, so let us continue believing.
Since no one knows the future, who can tell someone else what is to come?
(Ecclesiastes 8:7)
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