Everyone come and say happy birthday to this atrocious blog of mine (and the mascot too if you care to). It’s been a year since I first started this blog and it’s time to sit down and take a look back at what has come to pass. Yes, yes, it is time to see that statistics and reflect on this past year’s posts. Not all, mind you, but the more interesting posts which are like 2, haha.
The host for this post is of course, the blog mascot, which is fitting since his own birthday is just around the corner as well, so rejoice Kookie stans~
Before I get into the stats, I wanted to thank anyone and everyone who took the time to come to my blog. Whether that be through Twitter, another blog (i.e. Kpopalypse’s), or YouTube (yes, if you didn’t know, I’ve dipped into the YouTube pool), I really really want to share my gratitude. I have been on hiatus for the past couple of months for a few reasons I gave in my now taken down hiatus post, but I have not given up on this blog or myself most importantly.
Even if it’s one person cheering me on, that is more than enough and surprisingly a few people have shared some kind words with me since I started this project. Thank you. You know who you are.
Before I begin, I would like to preface that this site was down for about a week due to maintenance so the statistics are from right before it occurred. Now, without further ado, here are the statistics!
All-time views:
1129
I believe this just means that the total number of views I got since I started this blog whether that be people just visiting my homepage or looking at a particular post. I think it’s pretty cool all the same that I have over a thousand hits on my site which is quite incredible for a little bitty nobody like me. It is actually not the number of people who’ve visited my blog.
The number of people who’ve visited my blog is:
660
Which I suppose means that I actually do get repeat visitors to this blog which is wonder to me cause I don’t know how you guys put up with anything I post on here. Also, so close to the devil’s number of 666, come on you lot, you can do it! Although, it’s my fault for closing down the site like I did.
However, I think now’s an appropriate time to shoutout to one particular visitor who left the very first comment on this blog: Ms. Anneliese Silence.
I was pretty stunned when I got it because out of all posts it was on my Jungkook Dating Scandal post way back in September of last year and this girl left a mini essay. I honestly really appreciated it then and now. Since she was the first, I promised her more Jungkook content but that came in the form of the mascot post in April so I don’t know if she saw or appreciated it.
Keeping up with the views counter, apparently my best day for views ever was: May 10 (2020 of course) with 30 views. All thanks to Twitter and a few of my followers for sharing the link to the blog post that made it possible – RM’s Reading Recommends.
My best month for views was:
June. Funny, since I went on hiatus right after that.
I think the best part of looking at stats is seeing who visits my blog and from where. Surprisingly, I actually get visitors from all around the world and I have gotten at least 1 visitor from most of Europe, most of the Americas, and most of the South Pacific. Africa I’m still trying to break into apparently (shout out to my Malians, Nigerians, and South Africans! I see you).
But the top 5 countries with the most visitors are:
The United States I 508 views
South Korea I 60 views
Canada I 56 views
India I 50 views
The United Kingdom I 42 views
I find this really interesting because I wouldn’t have expected to get any views from Korea honestly and it to be second is a bit startling, though the difference between the US is vast. Is it other expats or unfortunate Koreans who stumble across this half-baked blog of mine. To any Koreans who may visit in the future, here’s a message for you all: 제 블로그를 방문해주셔서 감사합니다. 하지만 한국말을 잘 안 해서 한국어로 포스트 올리기를 아직 안 해서 최송합니다. 게속 방문했으면 좋겠어요. 진심으로 감사합니다.
If you’re interested, I will now shame the countries that only gave me one visitor each. Let’s try better this coming year, yes?
Next, I wanted to highlight the statistics for referrals to my blog. What does that mean? It basically means that somewhere in the vast space of the internet, a link to my blog was shared and brought people back here from whatever original site they came from. On the other hand, a referral could be a search engine.
By far, the most popular referrals was indeed the search engine with 288 hits. Followed by:
2. Twitter (136 hits)
3. Kpopalypse.com (50 hits)
4. Vigilantcitizenforums.com (22 hits)
5. Facebook (15 hits)
I want to first and foremost apologize to anyone coming from Kpopalypse’s blog because I didn’t know pingbacks were a thing until earlier this year and apparently I pinged him quite a few times. I even apologized to him for it on Twitter though he didn’t seem to mind. I will turn them off from now on when I remember. But damn, sorry. My blog is such a drop in quality compared to his.
In case you’re wondering about the fourth place hit, vigilantcitizenforums, I was also curious as I had never heard of that place. As it turns out, someone had found my BTS World post and pasted a link on their BTS forum. It definitely is a questionable forum. Curiosity really got the better of me and I read through enough of pages to realize that this wasn’t quite my cup of tea. I think one way to describe the forum is that it is thick with conspiratorial and occult-like speculation of BTS and their music with a healthy dose of no nonsense Christianity. I would like to emphasize that I’m not knocking them for their beliefs. Though as a Christian myself, some of what they said in the forum either went over my head or was a bit too much.
Of course, not everyone was like that in the forum as is always the case with large groups (even ARMY). Actually, my initial impression of the people in that forum was that no one seemed to like BTS and despite that, some of them seemed to be more aware and more importantly, open to the idea of problems and issues surrounding BTS and BigHit that are controversial in some ARMY circles. Amazing.
Lastly, I don’t use Facebook at all. So I’m just wondering who is spreading my stuff on there. If anyone knows, please tell me – I’m just curious.
On the flip side, what about links that I place in posts? How many people actually click those, if any? Well, the answer is as follows:
Twitter (20 hits)
Kpopalypse.com (12 hits)
Asianjunkie.com (3 hits)
Cardoorguysgirl.com (3 hits)
Superbthemes.co (2 hits)
Answer: Not a lot. Given the amount of links I can put in one blog post, this is kind of sad, but I’ll keep dumping them links on you. Under each site, my statistics link back to whatever page or post I had linked to. For instance, the most visited Twitter link was my profile surprisingly. I’m not interesting that’s why I’m surprised. I’ve changed my handle a couple of times from originally being InsomniaCynic to Kpopslostfangrl to finally being A_Lost_Idiot which I believe is a title that’s here to stay.
Kpopalypse’s site is self-explanatory with the top hit being his BTS Saudi Arabia Concert podcast with AustralianSana which I linked in my most popular post so that also explains why it’s a top hip.
Asianjunkie was tied with three articles: BigHit denies Jungkook dating rumors, the 97-line Itaewon debacle, and G-idle’s Soyeon’s Ethnic Hip.
Cardoorguygirl’s own generic af K-pop blog whose tagline I stole for the name of this post, is a site I recommend to anyone who wants a site in the similar vein as mine or even Kpopalypse’s who she emulates far better than me. In general, she does a far better job than me with certain posts like reviewing music and choreography. She also creates fun informative posts that some k-bloggers wouldn’t dare tackle like her SA post on BTS’s Saudi Arabia performance or questioning EXO Sehun’s sexuality. Clearly not as generic af as some other k-bloggers in my personal opinion.
And finally, I guess someone was interesting in what theme I was using for my WordPress blog because that is what the last place hit is – funnily enough. Hope you found your answer, whoever you are because I know use a completely different theme.
Okay, now for the second part, the posts.
I guess I should start with my most popular post, but nope. I want to shame you all and first present my least popular post because it needs some love, too.
*Drumrooolllll* It is….
A Long Overdue BTS Conference Story part 3. (1 view. Hah!)
…actually that one does suck, not gonna lie. I will keep it up for the sake of it being a series but I should have definitely tried harder especially since how many times in my life am I gonna get into a BigHit-centred conference for free and as a student (most people at the conference were journalists or reporters of some kind and Korean).
I will highlight the next least popular post because I think that one does actually deserve some more hits (maybe).
Trouble in the Grammys’ Boys Club. (2 views)
This was a post I did around the time of the Grammys earlier this year where I highlighted some of the complaints surrounding the awards show mainly through Ms. Deborah Dugan’s, the former Recording Academy president, lawsuit claim. I read 40+ pages of it and it was quite an easy read actually but it was very telling. I plan to create a YouTube video of this post in time for the next Grammys, so look forward to that.
Funnily enough, the least popular posts are the ones I put the most effort into: the LGBTQ in Korea, Escape the Idol Dungeon (YouTube video), etc. So, does that mean you all care less for my more informative top-tier effort posts or what? I thought people liked more effort? I am confusion. I guess that old saying is true: Work smarter, not harder.
Okay, now I will get to my most popular post. In technicality, the most popular page people have visited is my homepage but that doesn’t count really.
No, the most popular post is:
BTS World: Cultivating Parasocial Relationships (153 views)
That should not come as a surprise to the ones who follow me on Twitter (unless you ignore me, understandable), since I advertised this as my most popular post so I made my first video essay on it.
I apologize. As so many have pointed out, I should’ve halved that video so it was more digestible. I was planning on during that but decided against it since I spent a hard week editing it and really just wanted to go on my hiatus as I was already feeling burnt out in so many ways. Maybe in the future the BTS World video will get a much better and deserved reboot.
Following that post, second through fifth place for most popular posts are:
2. RM’s Reading Recommends and a Lesson on Racial Fetishization (106 views)
3. Conspiracy Theory: The BTS Imposter and the Dating Scandal (52 views)
4. What Do You Think, Yoongi? (46 views)
5. Dreamcatcher Deja Vu Showcase and my love for Jiu (42 views)
Well, that certainly is something. I’m not all that surprised that my BTS posts do fairly well especially if it is connected to some controversy or scandal. Second and third place kind of scare me though. RM’s Reading Recommends I hope I did some justice. The post turned out to be quite different than how I originally planned it to be. I really was going to go through a list of books he recommended and comment on those in juxtaposition of the fetishization of black women in that one book he talked about. Yet, I ended up diving too deep into the research and the post evolved into what it is today.
As for the Dating Scandal post, which was mentioned earlier, you guys know that I was off my rocker when I typed that up? I sort of cringe when I reread it but I can honestly say that to this day, it is still the funnest post I have typed up. It makes no bloody sense and it was made at the expense of the blog mascot, but all in good fun. It is shocking that it is the third most visited post on this blog though. Why?
Speaking of, I wanted to say that I did not really intend for this blog to turn into a BTS-heavy blog despite have a mascot from BTS. Though due to the fact that out of all K-pop groups, I’ve followed BTS for the longest (5 years, wow!) and am fascinated/interested in the goings-on within their…lovely fandom and their…equally lovely company, I ended up writing up on BTS a lot. This is actually one facet I would love feedback on, but because my blog is still small, I don’t think anyone would leave sufficient enough feedback.
In actuality, if my blog was bigger, I would have this post be a blend of statistics and feedback, but again, as you can see by the numbers, I don’t have a following. Actually, I will post a short survey at the very bottom of the post (below the mascot) to be filled out by anyone interested.
No one follows the blog through WordPress or Email (which I finally fixed I believe), except for one friend who apparently doesn’t receive them anyway. I’m not saying this all to shame anyone or for pity points. I just wanted to let you all know. I want to improve the blog and cater to whatever my demographic whoever that may be, but I guess until if and when my blog gains some traction, I’ll just continue to do my own thing.
I hope this next year in the blog will bring more posts that improve in quality. In actuality, I started this blog at a bad time, a time that began many many ups and downs in my life and my health. To see it still going rather strong and with side projects to boot, it’s nice to see despite not many caring. It honestly makes me happy to see even some people reading my mess and getting something or anything out of it. Thank you.
Until I become a better blogger and K-pop writer, I hope some of you stick with me for another year on this blog. While I’m not the best, I try to just be me which is a terrible idea. And until some K-pop news site sweeps me up (not happening with my writing style, but a girl can dream), then I’m here for the long run and even then I would still love to continue this blog. Thank you again.
Happy September, everyone~! Take care.
