Wednesday 13 February 2008

Thousands round the world read minewatchzambia

To break the pattern of news reports and opinion I just thought I'd let people know how minewatchzambia is doing. I have a free 'statcounter' service that lets me know how may people have accessed the site each day since I started writing fourteen months ago. And as the battle over the mines heats up, I can tell you that:
- Today was the single biggest day in minewatch history! About 200 people looked at the site.
- So far just in January and February this year almost exactly 1,000 different people have looked at the site.
- Many of them come back every day to see what's changed.
- Only about 11% of readers today were in Zambia. Other countries that have shares of the readership - Britain (18%), Canada (17%), Mauritius (15%), US (12%), South Africa (8%), Germany (4%), UAE (3%), Kenya (2%), with France, Norway, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Botswana all chipping in. I don't know if that's to do with where shareholders in the mines live (certainly stories about ZCI lead to explosions of interest from angry French shareholders). Alternatively the spread could easily be an effect of where the educated Zambian diaspora end up.

Anyway, it amused me. If anything, it increased my frustration we don't get more comment and discussion on the site. Come on people, join in! And to think, I haven't even managed to get paid to do this, or to get any advertising etc. etc... damn! Any ideas people have about how to spread the news would of course be very welcome. Cheers folks and thanks to those of you who continue to offer ideas and encouragement!

Alastair


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