Thursday, January 13, 2011

Is there a future for CaGreening?

I feel that I need to ask our few readers is it is worth continuing California Greening. On a daily basis, we generally do not have over 10 readers. I am not sure why that is. What is it about California Greening that fails to attract followers? Should we make changes in how we cover issues? Might it be better to shut this down and move on to facebook or twitter? (I really dislike that fact that you can not cover any complex issue is the few words that they allow and a blog does allow us to explain, expand in a way that is not otherwise possible.

Is the problem that we focus on ecological issues and most Greens do not have the same level of concern?

I would like to have some advice on this, because my instinct is to shut it down.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Wes! I think what you do is important especially your knowledge of the San Joaquin water issues. Accessibility may be an issue so Facebook might help. I would see it more often if that was the case. Make it a Cause on Facebook?

Ross Levin said...

Personally, I would hate to see CaGreening go. I don't live anywhere near California, but it's still one of the best American Green blogs there is.

You could have a twitter feed in addition to the blog, maybe? And you could even cross-post some stuff on GreenMassGroup.com, which has a bit of a national Green following.

Unfortunately, Greens don't have much of a presence online. But it would still be a shame to see this blog go

Wes said...

Thanks, Ross. CAGREENING posts are also automatically republished at greenchange.org.

I have started to reference these posts on both twitter (@wrolley) and factbook.

Maybe readership will pick up. Analytics will tell me.

Anonymous said...

I'm only an infrequent visitor, but I've linked to you in the past. RL gets in the way of following politics sometimes, and I forget a lot of valuable resources like this are still out there for the viewing.

I don't have Twitter so I won't be able to participate there, but good luck to you, regardless.

-- ms_xeno @ livejournal

Ross Levin said...

Wes, wrt GreenChange, it would be better if you manually crossposted each post there. The way it is, it's just another RSS feed update that gets lost in the abyss of RSS feed updates, and people can't even comment on it there.

Martin Zehr said...

We need to become not just advocates but also organizers who can develop new ideas and take them to people. There are so many blogs, but real people connect less and less in effective organization that addresses their concerns and integrates their input in ongoing work.

Lisa in L.A. said...

Yes, we need you and CaGreeining and even though thoughtful, long articles don't get the play that twitter and blogs do, they are necessary.

I still like to read books, too, my LAPL card is usually maxed out-- how very retro, ha! I remember being in Boston in 2002 and thrilled that people read books everywhere there-- in line, in the laundromat, in the crosswalks too. In L.A. we read more privately, but we do read!

What about cross-posting more to GreenParty Watch? I see you are already a contributor there. And can you get to be a contributor on grist and some of those other science blogs that you read and respect, to get the GP message out more?

thx,
Lisa Taylor
L.A. City Greens Volunteer Coordinator

Lisa in L.A. said...

Also, Wes, Bob Morris was looking for occasional contributors to his Polizeros blog a while ago,
http://polizeros.com/

He even asked me if I wanted to blog on the GP, which I don't. I see Byron De Lear (former Green moved back to MI), contributed a few weeks ago there.

If you want to do it, let me know, and I'll recommend you to Bob and copy you both.

cheers,
Lisa T