Searching for Friendship: 2012
As the year draws to a close, here is some information, statistics and insights about The Friendship Blog—and my wish for you for the New Year.
When we are struggling with any complex problem—whether it’s medical, emotional, or social—it’s natural to think we are the only ones grappling with it. But when people read, share and learn from the experiences of others, they suddenly realize they aren’t alone. Not only is that recognition reassuring, it is also empowering.
At the end of the year, I like to provide a bit of feedback to visitors who have shared, commented, lurked (which isn’t a bad thing!), alerted me to spammers, and supported me and each other in so many ways. Here is a brief report:
Visitors to The Friendship Blog
In 2012, people from 205 countries across five continents visited the blog. Traffic increased nearly 30 percent over last year. In terms of numbers of visitors to the blog this year, the top ten countries in 2012 were: the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, India, the Philippines, Singapore, Ireland, Malaysia, and Ireland. This is the first time that Ireland made the top ten list (Welcome!) as visitors from New Zealand dropped in numbers (Miss ya!).
About four out of five visitors found the blog through searches; the remainder were referred by friends or found it after reading my blog posts and articles on Facebook, Huffington Post, Psychology Today, or on Life Goes Strong.
For the first year, more than one-third of visitors accessed the site on their mobile devices, which comes as no surprise. More and more people are relying on smartphones and tablets.
Media Interest in The Friendship Doctor
Media interest in the topic of friendship has consistently remained high. This year again, I was interviewed by scores of media outlets, both print and electronic—here in the US and internationally.
Due to your support and interest, The Friendship Blog was named the Best Friendship Blog in a competition sponsored by the New York Times and About.com. My book, Best Friends Forever: Surviving a Breakup with Your Best Friend (which went into a second printing this year) was named Best Friendship Book in the same competition.
My high point: I was especially pleased to be interviewed by Katie Couric of ABC News. That interview on the topic of breakup up with a friend, seen around the world, was also posted on the Yahoo main page and many other media outlets.
Redesign of the Blog
While migrating the website from Drupal to WordPress wasn’t completely painless, we have worked out most of the kinks and hopefully, this site will be even more reliable and secure than in the past. Part of the reason for the change was to minimize unwelcome intrusions by Voodoo Doctors and other spammers, and also to permit some advertising to support the upkeep of the site.
The site has maintained a Google Page Rank of 4, which is impressive.
Searching for Friendship: 5 Most Popular Friendship Posts
Here are the top 5 posts on the Friendship Blog that most resonated with readers this year, in terms of the number of views and comments each received:
Why would someone have no friends? (2011)
More than 46,000 views; 464 comments
Why do some women have such a hard time making friends? Nature or nurture? (2010)
More than 26,000 views; 605 comments
Needy friends: A friend indeed? (2008)
More than 23,000 views; 433 comments
My friend suddenly shut me out of her life (2010)
More than 13,500 views; 125 comments
Making friends at 60; I don’t want to die alone (2010)
More than 12,500 views; 696 comments
Why People Visit The Friendship Blog
The top posts (many written years ago) were read over and over again during 2012. Collectively, they suggest the reasons why people visit this blog: 1) To learn how to deal with negative friends, 2) To understand and find ways to address the loneliness of having no friends 3) To find ways to end toxic friendships, 4) To learn new strategies for making friends, and 5) To find ways to mend failed friendships, AND 6) To share what they’ve learned about friendship with others
My Wish for You
The wisdom, kindness, understanding, and compassion of the readers of this blog — who come from all walks of life, from all around the globe, and who have had widely varying experiences – have truly enhanced my own life and that of others, as well our shared understanding of friendship. Wishing everyone who reads this blog every good wish for the coming year: May your life be filled with happiness, peace, good health and rewarding friendships.
3 Things You Can Do to Nurture The Friendship Blog and Your Friendships:
- Continue to contribute your experiences and ideas.
- Tell your friends about the blog. Share, tweet, retweet, and stumble links to posts – including this one.
- Subscribe to monthly blog updates and Follow me on Twitter.
Category: MAKING FRIENDS
I enjoy your perspective on different issues. This is a terrific resource for so many.
it was amazing to see the posts that were most talked about. I can really see what strikes a chord with folks.
I discovered your blog this year and I enjoy your frequent format of taking readers’ questions and then offering detailed advice. I’m looking forward to reading more in 2013.