Screenshots

Today, Screenshots is 5 years old.

It's like a democratically-elected government that has completed its first 5-year term. You ask: Have I done OK? What's next? How can I do better to be of service to my constituents?

I started blogging, with full disclosure of identity, on January 2, 2003. I faced my readers almost everyday ever since. They are a demanding crowd who know things better than me, and I have learned a lot from them.

Right from Day 1, Screenshots has been a blog that consistently focussed on the broad issue of governance, notably in public policy, corporate behaviour, technology, print and new media, and international relations.

As a one-man-show, a blog dwarfs against commercially-run news portal like Star Online.

So, the first question is this: How far can a blog reach its target audience with scant resources?

And the second question is: Is it worth the while to endure the threats, trial and tribulations of a hostile power paradigm, and to continue blogging and opening mindset?

I took a dipstick test, by taking a 5-year search on Alexa.com, to try answer Question No. 1

Screenshots is Alexa-rated with a traffic rank of 27,227 universally, and 385 in Malaysia, respectively. It touched a 0.012% daily reach throughout the entire Internet universe over the last five years. [ See permalink here ]

The term "Daily Reach %" is referred to by Alexa as the percent of global Internet users who visit a particular site, whereas the "Alexa Traffic Rank" is based on a combined measure of page views and users (reach).

However, it is a midget when compared to the two extremes of the online news portals in Malaysia.

Pure-play Online Media vs MSM News Portals

In comparison, Star Online -- with content generated by hundreds of full-time staffers -- is Alexa-rated with a traffic rank of 1,696 universally, and 27 in Malaysia, respectively. It touched a 0.083% daily reach throughout the universe of Internet over the last 5 years -- a whooping eight times greater reach than Screenshots. [ See permalink here ]

Whereas, Malaysiakini -- with content generated by scores of full-time staffers -- is Alexa-rated with a traffic rank of 8,732 universally, and 93 in Malaysia, respectively. It touched a 0.024% daily reach throughout the universe of Internet over the last 5 years. [ See permalink here ]

Interestingly, the husband-and-wife team at Malaysia-Today -- OK, with some guests helping -- has garnered an Alexa-rated traffic rank of 5,846 universally, and 80 in Malaysia, respectively. It touched a 0.026% daily reach throughout the universe of Internet over the last 3 years plus. [ See permalink here ]

One-one-one, both Malaysiakini and Malaysia-Today beat NST Online, which is traffic-ranked at 9,399 universally, and 160 in Malaysia, respectively. It touched a daily reach of 0.02% measured on the same parameters. [ See permalink here ]

theSun, the second largest circulation English newspaper acclaimed to target the young urbanites -- supposedly Internet-dependent -- has a minuscule presence on Internet daily reach. It's traffic-ranked at 135,727 universally, and 2,266 in Malaysia, respectively. It touched a daily reach of 0.005%. { See permalink here ]

Based on the same parameters in the comparative study, Screenshots managed to improve its Daily Reach by 24% over a 3-month average.

In comparison, the Daily Reach for Star Online improved by 4%, Malaysiakini by +43%, Malaysia-Today by +6%, and NST Online by +3%, respectively, over the same 3-month average.

theSun, in contrast, contracted by 5% over the same period.

On the global scale, the Top 5 are yahoo.com, google.com, and Windows Live, YouTube and MSN.com, and in that sequence. They each enjoy a daily reach of 20% and above.

I leave it to you to do the maths on the cost-efficiency of a blog if you don't mind the David VS Goliath scenario when it comes to the dollars-and-cents aspect of reaching out to the target audience.

Some history of Screenshots is archived on the Wayback Machine. The present feel-and-look was launched circa April 2006.