Three Years and Counting

Mayor Van Johnson

Today marks the third year anniversary of “The Mayor’s Blog”!
 

On June 12, 2008, I launched this blog as a means of staying connected, keeping the residents of Apalachicola informed, and bringing transparency to the daily activities of local government. 

Three years later and the blog has expanded beyond the cyber borders of Apalachicola, reaching into the depths of virtual reality, bringing in visitors from every state in the union, plus 71 different countries from around the globe. Florida, has the honors of leading the way by sending visitors from 210 different cities to the site.  

The most notable visits have come from governmental agencies such as the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the State of Florida, the Florida Supreme Court, the Florida Legislature, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. House of Representatives, the United State Senate, and the U.S. Department of Justice. 

Last year I met a man and his wife from Tennessee – the couple shared stories about how they enjoyed learning about Apalachicola through this blog.

Over 700 posts have been blogged to date concerning the activities of my administration, and events surrounding the City of Apalachicola. In case you missed reading them, listed below are the top twenty that sent the most traffic to the site.

1. Tragic Fire Hits Apalachicola

2. Zumba gains popularity in Apalachicola

3. A Spectacular Grand Opening

4. Judge rules in 20-year old Water War

5. Havana officials tour community garden

6. City adds Social Service Component

7. New group formed to lead Economic Redevelopment in Apalachicola

8. Oil spill awareness march and rally held in Apalachicola

9. Apalachicola to expend $2.491 million to support local seafood industry

10. A plea for the protection of Apalachicola Bay

11. The Mayor's letter to the President

12. Government and BP ignore Apalachicola's plea for protection

13. Apalachicola's oil spill protection strategy

14. City to meet with State and BP officials

15. Magnuson issues ruling in Phase II water rights litigation

16. Apalachicola artist captures local essence

17. Skate Park named in honor of Justin “Scab” Griffin

18. Mayors Letter to FDIC Chairman Bair

19. Apalachicola Celebrates African-American History

20. It’s the Main Street Way

I would like to commemorate “The Mayor’s Blog” third year anniversary by thanking each of you for visiting, reading, and for commenting on my posts, and for everything that you do to keep Apalachicola special. I trust you'll hang around and bear with me for another year or perhaps four.

 



With warm regards, 

Van W. Johnson, Sr., Mayor
The Historic City of Apalachicola

The Mayor’s Blog celebrates its 2nd year anniversary

This past Saturday, June 12, 2010, marked the second full year since the conception of “The Mayor’s Blog”, created as a means of keeping YOU the residents of Apalachicola up-to-date concerning the activities of YOUR local government.

Your frequent visits and comments is the fuel that has kept this blog going over the past two years, and I just like to say THANK YOU. Those comments have been extremely helpful, as they have served as one of many ways for me to gauge the pulse of the community.

I am very excited to be celebrating this milestone with all of you; however, before we start the celebration, let’s take a quick look at what’s been going on over the past two years.

- To date, I have written 489 blog posts, including this one.

-New traffic to the site increased by 30.32% over the past year.

- Readers from 33 different countries have visited this blog, with most of the traffic coming from Canada and India.

- The blog has received traffic from every state in the union with the exception of Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Vermont.

- Out of all the states that visited, Florida, Texas, Georgia, Missouri, and North Carolina accounted for most of the traffic.

- 133 cities within the State of Florida have visited the blog, with the majority of traffic coming from visitors living in and around Apalachicola.

-Posts receiving the most hits were the ones written about the Tri-State Water War and the Grand Opening of the City’s Community Youth Service Complex.

However, the greatest news of all is YOU, the followers of “The Mayor’s Blog”. I have really enjoyed using this means to communicate with you and I’m looking forward to many more conversations in the years to come.

Blog’s 1st Year Anniversary

Today one year ago on June 12, 2008, I created “The Mayor’s Blog” as a means of keeping the residents of the City of Apalachicola informed as to the daily activities of their city government.

However, since that June 12 date, the popularity of this blog has grown to receive hits from 68 other cities and 19 states within the United States alone.

In addition, the blog has received hits from seven other countries, which include the countries of India, Bulgaria, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Spain, and Slovakia plus eight different cities within those countries.

During the 12-month period from June 2008 through June 2009, I’ve posted over 230 posts covering a range of subjects from the city’s budget to community events and received over 8,000 hits.

The posts receiving the most hits was the thread concerning the Tri-State Water Wars, that thread alone has accounted for more hits from the States of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Texas and Washington, D.C. than any other posts thus far.

With an estimated 100 million blogs over the internet, that’s not bad for a first year blog.

Because of this, I just like to thank each of you for taking time out to visit and for being interested in what I have to say.

I trust that you’ll stick around as I continue to use this tool to keep both you and the residents of the Historic City of Apalachicola informed.