10,000 hits and counting, and who's the mystery Meccan?

Everyone else seems to be reviewing their stats, so in for a penny.....

It's been the busiest month ever on SAtAM, mainly thanks to Gareth Malone and BBC2 , with over 1,000 unique visitors in the last 8 days alone. It took about 3 months to register the first 1000 hits on this blog, it took 4 days from Friday to last Tuesday to register hits 9,000-10,000. Somehow this site also ended up at the top of most search engines for 'The Choir: Boys don't Sing' - maybe it's doing several postings on the same topic, I'm not really sure what Google etc. pick up on.

A few more folk seem to be coming for a 2nd look as well: in December there were 30 returning visitors per week, it's now up to about 70. Which isn't masses, but it's nice.

The oddest thing, after BBC2, is the little map down the right hand side. According to this, there have been visitors from Yemen, South Korea, Brazil, Lesotho, and in the last week or so, Mecca. I just find this incredibly strange. To be communicating (or, lets be realistic, failing to communicate!) with people seemingly at random is a very odd feeling, which I actually try not to think about when I'm putting a post together.

Having started this blog with a focus on mission, leadership, Yeovil and church, it's splurged a bit into different areas, and I want to make sure it doesn't lose that core focus. Doing the columns at the Wardman Wire has forced me to think about other areas too, but that's no bad thing. Any Christian communicator or preacher should be working out how the gospel applies to day to day life, and equipping people to have a Christian perspective on the things that are going on.

At the same time, there is a ridiculous quantity of information and opinion out on the internet, and it can be easy to just get used to blogging, rather than feel that you need to earn your right to be here. That's something I felt quite keenly at the outset, and the best thing for keeping me honest is a critical comment or two. I don't enjoy reading them, but they are a great gift, in their own funny way.