I was asked this question several times at PTC ‘09 by different individuals.
Well, here’s the answer:
This past weekend, CW crossed 8,000 views. The busiest day for this site was the day Digicel launched operations in Fiji. The figure for views today is representative of a modest growth in traffic to about 40-50 views daily.
Thinking out loud: If you consider that in the Pacific, only 4 out of 100 people use the internet and factor in the ‘missing’ users, do a little bit of math and wishful thinking and you can see that if internet usage rates were similar to OECD countries, this site would have 150,000+ views.
Of course, if this site had 150k views, there probably would not be any need for discussing ways to improve internet accessibility in Fiji.
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February 9, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Isaac
I think I would perhaps take a more qualitative approach to thinking about the impact and significance of this blog. Because the bottom line is – who else is blogging this subject right now? Who else is thinking critically and creatively and just plain making noise about these issues? Personally, a lot of what is covered here was not even on my radar before I started stopping by. So, one the one hand, now I am more sensitive to how things play out in a little corner of the world. But much more importantly, I think, this sensitivity puts a bunch of other over-analyzed and yet undertheorized things into perspective. In other words – it’s by thinking about places like Fiji that we can better understand things like the BPO movement in India, the tussle between government and industry to bring wireless to the great cities of the developed world, and the relationships between infrastructure, hardware and applications that will dictate the evolution of information technology as an agent of socio-economic evolution. All of which is to say – Keep it Coming!
February 11, 2009 at 11:46 pm
coconutwireless
I’ve been doing this for more than two years and very much intend to keep it coming.
Thank you for putting the value of this site into context. It was somewhat disheartening to be at PTC ‘09 and continually have to answer the question, “how many hits do you get?”. Coming from industry-insiders I really had to wonder if they’ve contemplated the issues of improving connectivity.
The small readership has never been a disappointment for me… it only steels my resolve… because it’s indicative of the size of the problem that exists.
It’s my dream that internet access in Fiji becomes less of a ‘walled garden’ and status symbol for wealthy urbanites and more of a public good shared by everyone.
February 12, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Emmanuel
CW, you are doing a great job and I’m sure your hits have been climbing steadily. We all have to start from somewhere and lucky for everyone in Fiji and for some of us in other parts of the Pacific (like PNG), we are are fortunate to have people such as yourself who have taken the initiative to raise, record and reiterate important development issues in ICT.
The ‘Majority World’ is rising, things are changing rapidly so it’s important that the change is done properly. You are just the first but through bloggers like you, more will be encouraged to speak up and to tell their stories as well.
February 21, 2009 at 4:00 am
Justin L.
I agree with Isaac’s comment above. While hit counts and website traffic can be useful metrics, to be sure, they hardly do justice to the value of this blog. I have been a regular reader for some time and find all the posts both incredibly informative and highly relevant. CW, hats off to you for keeping this a consistently invaluable resource for those of us in the islands.
February 26, 2009 at 11:01 pm
coconutwireless
Just crossed 9,000 hits this past weekend.
May 9, 2009 at 3:44 am
Mark S
Bula CW.
Kerekere… the next time you are asked how many hits your site has received, kindly correct the questioner by explaining that the correct term is “page views”.
A request for a file from the web server by the browser is a “hit”; and a single page view can involve between one and n hits.
Your server received 26 hits when I viewed this page.
Love the blog btw, keep the posts coming
Vinaka
May 9, 2009 at 6:38 am
Coconut Wireless
Thanks for the tip Mark. That means I received 1 1/26th of a visitor today. I’m hoping to link to some video that should really be amazing.
You’re really helping utilize this site. If you like the site, then definitely stay tuned. I’m trying my hardest to keep a routine of articles going while some really stressful stuff is going on. This is really therapeutic for me.
What do you think? Unwired caught the worst of my frustration. As was pointed out by another reader, they were 10 years off in predicting where we should be.
I hope to be able to shed some light as long as I can.
I crossed 14,000 views this week. We have to think constantly about the people who are not part of that number.
May 19, 2009 at 9:55 am
Vic
This is a great feat!
Building traffic can be one of the joys (and burdens) of having a website.
Good luck.