Evaluation

This page provides access to feedback and metrics about the UK Web Focus blog.

2012

Growth in Visits

There has been a steady growth in the number of visits since August 2011, with the largest numbers of monthly visits occurring in April 2012.

In April 2012 there were 10,683 visits, an average of daily 356 daily visits.

Reuse of Content

In February 2012 Ian Tilsed, Head of Academic Systems at the University of Exeter requested permission to use the blog policy for this blog on his Academic Service blog.  The following blogs have published blog policies based on the UK Web Focus policy:

• Academic Service blog, University of Exeter
• Blogging at UoD, University of Derby
• “… to Understand more …“, Aline Hayes, Assistant Director of Student and Learning Services and Director of Information Systems and Technology, Sheffield Hallam University

eBuzzing and Technorati Rankings – February 2011

In February 2012 the UK Web Focus blog was ranked in 34^th place of Technology blogs and in 1,026^th place of All blogs according to the eBuzzing service. As illustrated in the accompanying graph (which shows the trends for the Technology category) this is the highest ranking in the Overall category since February 2011 and the highest every Technology ranking.

On 6^th February 2012 the blog was ranked at 541 in Technorati’s Technology category (of 34,642 blogs), 3,503 in the Info Tech category (of 34,748 blogs) and 2,711 in the Overall category (of 1,293,010 blogs). This is equivalent to being listed in the top 1.56%, 10.1% and 0.21% of all blogs in the respective categories. Note, however, that Technorati rankings do seem to be volatile.

2011

Clustermap Geographical Summary of Blog Usage in 2011

A geographical summary of blog usage collected by the Clustermaps service for 2011 and the first two weeks of 2012 is available.

WordPress.com’s Review of Blog Usage in 2011

An annual WordPress summary of blog usage for 2011 has been published.

Blog Runner-Up in National Social Media Award – November 2011

In November 2011 this blog was the runner-up for a Computer Weekly social media award in the IT Professional Blogger of the Year category.  The following comments were made by people who voted for the blog:

Congratulations on the nomination. I have voted for you now :-) 
Your blog is an inspiration, long may it continue!

Well done by the way – I catch your bog in my rss reader and am flabberghasted that you can post so much (and all good) – I’m cheering for you.

I love your blog. You have a knack of finding the right subject and the right lessons from it.

delighted to nominate because it’s a well deserved nomination.

Your blog is an excellent way to keep myself informed about Web 2.0 and it’s good to have a HE perspective.

I have to say that I do admire the amount of time and effort that you put in to the blog and it puts us lesser blogging mortals to shame!

always find the blog really useful

I find people pointing me at [the blog] every now and then, on account of the useful and interesting content there

Wikio and Technorati Rankings – February 2011

In February 2011 the UK Web Focus blog was ranked in 35^th place of Technology blogs and in 834^th place  in All blogs according to the Wikio service (subsequently renamed EBuzzing). This is the highest ranking in the Overall category since October 2009 and the highest every Technology ranking.

On 25^th February 2011 the blog was ranked at 515 in Technorati’s Technology category (of 25,789 blogs), 1,176 in the Info Tech category (of 25,789 blogs) and 4,495 in the Overall category (of 1,256,805 blogs). This is equivalent to being listed in the top 2%, 4.6% and 0.04% of all blogs in the respective categories. Note, however, that Technorati rankings do seem to be very volatile.

2010

Evaluation

A survey was carried out in the 2 week period starting on 1^st November 2010. The results are available. In addition a blog post giving a summary of the findings has been published.

Shortlisted for Computer Weekly’s IT Blog awards 2010 in the Individual IT Professional Male category

The blog was shortlisted for the Computer Weekly’s IT Blog awards 2010 in the Individual IT Professional Male category.

WordPress.com’s Review of Blog Usage in 2010

A summary of blog usage in 2010 was provided by WordPress.com.

2009

WordPress Growing Blogs

On 15^th September 2009 the UK Web Focus blog was in 26^th place in WordPress.com’s list of Growing Blogs.
On 12^th May 2009 the UK Web Focus blog was in 13^th place in WordPress.com’s list of Growing Blogs.
On 13^th January 2009 the UK Web Focus blog was in 56^th place in WordPress.com’s list of Growing Blogs.

2008

Rather than carrying out a formal survey, details of comments about the blog and other examples which may illustrate the readers’ views of the blog are provided below.

Nomination for Edublogs 2008 awards

The blog was nominated for the Best educational tech support blog category of the Edublogs 2008 awards.

Martin Weller nominated the blog, stating that “rather obviously I’m opting for Brian Kelly’s blog. Brian manages to push at the comfort boundaries of IT services, but does so with intelligence and insight into the practical issues“.

AJ Cann also nominated my blog.

James Clay was torn, nominating Steve Wheeler’s  Learning with ‘e’ blog for the Best individual blog, although he went on to add that “Other blogs that were in the running include Josie Fraser’s SocialTech blog and Brian Kelly’s UK Web Focus. The key here was which blog did I read on a regular basis and which inspired me the most“. James went on to state that in choosing his selection for the Best educational tech support blog he “was torn between Andy Powell and Pete Johnston’s eFoundations blog and Brian Kelly’s UK Web Focus” before choosing eFoundations for this category.

Shortlisting for Web 2.0 and Business category of the Computer Weekly IT Blog Awards 08 competition

The blog was shortlisted in the Web 2.0 and Business category of the Computer Weekly IT Blog Awards 08 competition. The shortlisting was featured in a news item on the JIC Web site.

2007

An initial formal survey was carried out in the 4-week period starting on 28^th August 2007. The results are available. In addition a blog post giving a summary of the findings was published in October 2007.

2006

The blog was listed in first position is a list of Fastest Growing Blogs on 15 December 2006.