Lines of Copper: Seven Years of the Filipino Historian


Lines of Copper: Seventh Anniversary of Bringing History 


"For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land... a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper." 
(Deuteronomy 8:7-9)

The Laguna Copperplate Inscription (LCI) is considered as
the oldest intact document in the Philippines
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
As you may know, this emerging history website, the Filipino Historian (#FilipinoHistorian) commemorates its anniversary every 15th of December. Founded on the eve of the "end of the world" (according to the Mayan calendar) by an unknown author writing somewhere in the Philippine archipelago, there has been historically low expectations for it. Low profile is exemplified at its finest when this blog began in 2012, and the expectations were not without basis. Blogging was a relatively new trend in the Philippines then, and not much deal with an unpopular discipline. In the first two years of this blog, it registered only a little more than 1,000 reads. So much about writing for free and for public consumption. It has become the laughingstock of "professional" and "amateur" historians alike. Then again, had this single author given up, there is no way the Filipino Historian would forge on. As was the annual tradition, let this be taken as an opportunity to witness how much we have accomplished.

From Iron Way to Lines of Copper 
In popular culture, copper is one of the trademark items for remembering what has reached seven years, and it is quite apt for the occasion. In 2017, this website has been compared to travelling an iron path. Similar to travelling an iron way, progress may have been steady but slow. At that time, the vision dubbed as "five million miracles" has been publicly declared. It is quite straightforward - 5 million people reached by 2020. As this deadline has come to a close, it is time to evaluate if it was just empty boasting or a testament to a nation's growing support for the discipline.

When 2019 started, the blog exceeded 365,000 views. A year hence, this almost doubled. Reads registered by website exceeded 570,000. For more accomplished bloggers who earn massive incomes monthly, and even those cool vloggers (video bloggers) with their armies of fans, this does not bring much to the table. However, for an author that has been through historic lows, this is a boost like no other. This is affirmed by the Filipino Historian being the only history blog ranked in Feedspot's Top 100 Philippine Blogs, a position it has retained for two straight years since December 2017.

This phenomenon has been aided by the Filipino Historian's continued presence in social media. Entering Facebook in 2014 and Twitter in 2015 in hopes of reaching more people, it has yet to see a large sea of followers which thousands of bloggers and influencers enjoy to this day. From 800 Facebook followers and 5 Twitter followers in 2016, this history website has grown to more than 7,600 Facebook followers and 41 Twitter followers as of 2020. While this can qualify as remarkable growth in a way, this can also be seen as the passing point for future record breaking milestones.

More significant among social media metrics currently being observed is the number of people reached. As envisioned by the revised "million miracles" goal, the Filipino Historian's social media outlets must be able to reach five million people by 2020. Not only was this achieved, it was even exceeded. As of January 31, 2020, this history website has reached more than 7,652,900 people, more than triple the number reached just a year ago. This unprecedented development has led the author to create yet another vision for the greater good of history to the Philippines and the world. As the Filipino Historian enters a new decade in 2020, and will be celebrating its 10th anniversary by 2022, it is aimed to record 10,000 followers and reach ten (10) million people with its new Double Ten campaign. Similar to the original "one million miracles" vision in 2016, this can be considered a long shot. Not only does the single author have no resources for advertisement, promotion, and even to buy a personalized domain name for better search engine optimization, article production has slowed down in recent months. Then again, even at the time, achieving the million miracles is not expected as well. It may have been difficult, and bashers are everywhere, but it may not be outright impossible.

Social media has contributed greatly towards increasing traffic for this history website. Readers from Facebook amounted to a 23% share for all audience sources in 2019, down from 32% a year prior. Twitter, the breakthrough audience source for this blog last year, had its 4% share, also down from 6% a year prior. Direct searches increased their overall contribution to web traffic as the Filipino Historian ranked high among various search engines (e.g., Google, Yahoo, Bing, Naver, Weibo) in selected topics. Google alone had an audience share of 16.5%, down from 4.7% in 2018, while Bing had a 0.1% share.

Speaking of audiences, the Filipino Historian has been read in more than 90 nations worldwide besides his homeland, the Philippines. The installation of its translating feature is just about half the battle. Continually churning out interesting articles and stories for greater and more diverse readership is no small feat. Outside the Philippines (63.5%), most of the views can be traced from the United States (14.9%), Singapore (new entry, 4.5%), Canada (1.6%), Australia (0.7%), United Arab Emirates (0.6%), Russia (new entry, 0.6%), and Saudi Arabia (0.5%). Nations with significant audiences including the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Mexico, and Germany, follow them closely. There are also rising audiences from other countries, such as Korea, France, Spain, and Dominican Republic, among others.

The single author writing somewhere in the archipelago has also embarked in speaking engagements and media appearances. Since at least 2014, he has been invited by local, national, and international media outlets to discuss history and related disciplines (mainly in the social sciences). This has enabled him to reach millions of people in the Philippines and the world through radio, television, and even internet videos. While people in the media has given him the unofficial title "youngest historian" for being featured by them at a relatively young age, this has earned him ire and doubts among academics and non-academics alike. While it needs further verification, it appears that the author has been seen on your screens even as a teen, which led them to say so. There is no need for criticism on a person who just got a moniker granted by others. Of course, the author believes it to be too presumptuous and undeserving to be called a "historian" because a historian is also a scholar, and usually requires graduate studies. However, there appears to be no alternative term to apply for disciples of history at this moment. For the author, it is a humbling experience as he keeps a low profile to this day. Besides, as time progresses, he would no longer be qualified as "young," and it may be asked how long would he be a faithful disciple of this discipline. Ultimately, only God knows when his record would be broken as many more people become appreciative of his art and works.

More Lines To Be Laid For Zero Backlog
Within a few years, a relatively obscure blog has become the leading Filipino history website, laying down the foundations of copper lines to expand awareness and appreciation of the discipline. It has distinguished itself as an innovating take in developing local and national historical consciousness, albeit it is not something that could swell heads of some who seek tomi (wealth), meisei (fame), chikara (power). For this author, it has never been the case ever since this history website began. In achieving all of these, it is not the sole work of this single author writing somewhere in the archipelago. More than sheer individual will, this goal of bringing history to the Philippines and the world has been driven by the thousands, if not millions, of readers and visitors who collectively made it possible. With some statistics at hand, we can ascertain that our demographic has developed as follows. In terms of gender, 68% were male and 32% were female. In terms of age, 2% are below 18 years old, 57.6% are 18 to 34 years old, 21.8% are 35 to 44 years old, 10% are 45 to 54 years old, 4.5% are 55 to 64 years old, and 3.6% are 65 years old above. Since the past year, there has been slight increases among women and single professional readers. It is with utmost thanks for each and every one of you that we have reached this far. I pray for your continuing support for the Filipino Historian. Let us continue this walk to remember the best way on the best day, to infinity and beyond.

Sarangi geureoke himdeulge hanayo? 
Maeumi geureoke neoman chatgo itnayo? 
(from Another Day

Comments

  1. You should see how my friend Wesley Virgin's tale launches with this shocking and controversial video.

    As a matter of fact, Wesley was in the military-and soon after leaving-he unveiled hidden, "mind control" tactics that the government and others used to get anything they want.

    THESE are the same secrets many famous people (notably those who "became famous out of nothing") and the greatest business people used to become rich and famous.

    You probably know how you utilize only 10% of your brain.

    Mostly, that's because most of your BRAINPOWER is UNCONSCIOUS.

    Perhaps this thought has even taken place IN YOUR own head... as it did in my good friend Wesley Virgin's head seven years ago, while driving an unlicensed, garbage bucket of a car with a suspended license and on his banking card.

    "I'm very fed up with going through life check to check! When will I finally succeed?"

    You've taken part in those types of thoughts, isn't it so?

    Your success story is going to happen. You just have to take a leap of faith in YOURSELF.

    WATCH WESLEY SPEAK NOW

    ReplyDelete
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