Stats show where the excitement lies!
12 May 2008
Some people like statistics – it is the sort of mentality that sits well with such disciplines as supply chain management and lean manufacturing. I am not one of these people - but while statistics might not set my soul on fire, they do have their uses. As we, this week, celebrate a year since the first issue of EMTWorldWide was produced, I am using statistics to demonstrate what you have found fascinating this year.
It was a year ago this week when EMTWorldWide first descended into your inboxes, admittedly it was on a Wednesday, even some desperate tinkering through the night couldn’t help us make our first deadline, but we have been delivered on time, every Tuesday, ever since. In that time we have seen our visitor numbers increase by 250% and the momentum we have gained is at least in part down to our readers who are circulating our articles and columns to their colleagues – many thanks to all those who have done this.
One of the interesting things about a web site is that we know how many people are opening each story and so we can start to tailor the news offering. It is obvious that the big corporate news will always be of interest. One of our most read stories to date was, understandably, the Flextronics buys Solectron revelation, that we brought to you on the day it happened. More general interest news, like progress in the One Laptop Per Child project and the introduction of Apple’s iPhone have also attracted huge interest. However, despite the fact that our core concern on EMTWorldWide is manufacturing, some of our best read news stories have in fact been about new and emerging technologies and techniques. Prime examples are ‘Spintronics set to have huge impact’ and a subsequent piece we covered recently from IBM called IBM moves closer to a new class of memory , which related to the same subject. ‘Light the way for supercomputers’ , looking at a breakthrough in optical electronics, was another huge hit, while the most recent ‘blockbuster’ was the report from the University of Manchester in the UK that ‘Graphene used to create world’s smallest transistor’ . I could go on and on – so many stories have appealed to our readers over the last 12 months.
However, I think it is fair to say (in fact it is what the statistics say), some of our biggest pulling articles have been the columns from our team of global correspondents. Local knowledge, industry expertise and engaging writing styles has resulted in these columns being read more than some of our lead news stories. All are faithfully stored on the website under ‘Comments’ , but here is a quick guide to the best read columns. Gordon Wong , our Asian correspondent, attracted most interest with his column back in January called ‘China makes its holiday plans’ , written around the time of Chinese New Year, and dealing with how China is altering its working practices to make itself more accessible to the West. Most popular column from our American correspondent Susan Mucha was her look at management strategies when outsourcing, ‘The Difference Between EMS and Outsourcing’ . And while our Indian correspondent Anand Sethi has dealt with many issues concerning his home territory, it was his outsiders view of what has happened to electronics in the UK, UK electronics – a fallen or sleeping giant?, that has been read by more than any other. My personal thanks to all three of these excellent contributors.
The steady increase in both visitors and page views to EMTWorldWide should therefore be no surprise as we gradually achieve, with the guidance of these statistics, to become what we set out to be – the online news service and magazine that the industry wants. There will always be ways in which we can improve and if you have any suggestions then please email me at the address below, I really do welcome the input of individual readers.
If you haven’t registered to receive your weekly copy of EMTWorldWide then please do so at REGISTER. Anyone who registers between now and the end of June will be entered into our draw to win a copy of Susan Mucha’s excellent new book called: ‘Find it. Book it. Grow it. You can read more about our competition here. This draw is also open to existing readers of our newsletter. If you re-register we will de-dupe the new list so that you will not receive multiple copies of EMTWorldWide in your inbox. It will, however, ensure that you do receive your weekly copy and will give you a chance of winning the book.
It only remains to say, thank you for reading us through our first year – we will continue to make EMTWorldWide as interesting and relevant as possible for your enjoyment in the year to come.
Contact Details and Archive...
Most Viewed Articles...