2015 Year-End Numbers and Open Thread
If you've been here for the stats posts in the past, you'll notice things look a little different this time! That's because Google Analytics has been watching both s2b2 and shousetsubangbang.com, and the numbers from there are a lot more detailed than the ones LiveJournal generates.
Here is what LiveJournal traffic for 2015 (blue) looked like, compared to traffic from 2014 (orange), first graphed for pageviews and then broken down further:
Meanwhile, here are the same statistics, only for our website:
Google Analytics also makes it possible to put some of these numbers in perspective. Here are the top fifty most visited LiveJournal pages from last year:
For comparison, here are the top fifty most visited shousetsubangbang.com pages from last year:
And finally, here's a snapshot of the number of comments left on stories at LiveJournal:
Keep in mind, too, that the red number isn't just readers leaving comments; that's also counting authors and artists responding. So this year even more than ever, the response contributors see does not reflect the readership contributions get.
A couple of things to notice:
The readership numbers look a lot more even across the sites when you realize that an overwhelming number of visitors are coming to LiveJournal to see 25 Lives -- and nothing else. It's taken on quite the life of its own; I'd guess that well over 75% of our referrals to LJ are to that page alone. While we're thrilled to be the home of such a popular piece, you can see how it skews the data considerably.
That said, despite LJ's continuing decline as a journaling platform, people are still reading SSBB there. Only three of the most-visited pages from the website were published in the past year (counting December 2014); the LJ list, however, is full of recent stories. This supports my continuing impression that people come to LJ mostly a) for new issues and b) through outside links (usually several years old) to specific stories. The website is much better for people who want to go exploring beyond the current issue.
That sharp spike to website traffic in April was (so far as I can tell) 100% the result of the traction this Tumblr post got. Many of the responses to that post were variations on what is this, this sounds great, I've never heard of it! I feel as though sometimes there's a perception among longtime readers that SSBB is such an institution that surely everyone who would be interested already knows about it. This is not correct.
The little green hearts are important for directing website readership. The Favorite Submissions lists have a lot of overlap with the top pages.
And the whole takeaway from last year's numbers post is still applicable, especially the part about how spreading the word is important for keeping the project going. We've had a whole lot of new contributors this year, and that's awesome! We'd love to have more!
This post is also intended to be an open thread for all issues, questions, comments, concerns, suggestions, and the what-not. Got questions or feedback? Leave 'em here! They don't even have to be about the data in the post; we also have some further topics for discussion and consideration where we'd love your thoughts:
Thanks for a great 2015, everyone, and we'll see you next year!
Here is what LiveJournal traffic for 2015 (blue) looked like, compared to traffic from 2014 (orange), first graphed for pageviews and then broken down further:
Meanwhile, here are the same statistics, only for our website:
Google Analytics also makes it possible to put some of these numbers in perspective. Here are the top fifty most visited LiveJournal pages from last year:
For comparison, here are the top fifty most visited shousetsubangbang.com pages from last year:
And finally, here's a snapshot of the number of comments left on stories at LiveJournal:
Keep in mind, too, that the red number isn't just readers leaving comments; that's also counting authors and artists responding. So this year even more than ever, the response contributors see does not reflect the readership contributions get.
A couple of things to notice:
The readership numbers look a lot more even across the sites when you realize that an overwhelming number of visitors are coming to LiveJournal to see 25 Lives -- and nothing else. It's taken on quite the life of its own; I'd guess that well over 75% of our referrals to LJ are to that page alone. While we're thrilled to be the home of such a popular piece, you can see how it skews the data considerably.
That said, despite LJ's continuing decline as a journaling platform, people are still reading SSBB there. Only three of the most-visited pages from the website were published in the past year (counting December 2014); the LJ list, however, is full of recent stories. This supports my continuing impression that people come to LJ mostly a) for new issues and b) through outside links (usually several years old) to specific stories. The website is much better for people who want to go exploring beyond the current issue.
That sharp spike to website traffic in April was (so far as I can tell) 100% the result of the traction this Tumblr post got. Many of the responses to that post were variations on what is this, this sounds great, I've never heard of it! I feel as though sometimes there's a perception among longtime readers that SSBB is such an institution that surely everyone who would be interested already knows about it. This is not correct.
The little green hearts are important for directing website readership. The Favorite Submissions lists have a lot of overlap with the top pages.
And the whole takeaway from last year's numbers post is still applicable, especially the part about how spreading the word is important for keeping the project going. We've had a whole lot of new contributors this year, and that's awesome! We'd love to have more!
This post is also intended to be an open thread for all issues, questions, comments, concerns, suggestions, and the what-not. Got questions or feedback? Leave 'em here! They don't even have to be about the data in the post; we also have some further topics for discussion and consideration where we'd love your thoughts:
- Signal boosting: It just isn't happening. On the whole, people aren't reblogging, retweeting, or otherwise spreading the word, despite repeated reminders and entreaties to do so.
- The Artist Special issue: We created this initially as a place to house comic submissions. However, there are so many other opportunities out there for sequential art that someone who wants to create a gay kissy comic doesn't need to wait for our annual issue. We'll still do 2016's issue, since we're all set up and planned for it, but while we'd like to keep it going, we're considering having this one be the last.
- The Wiki: It's taken a while, but people are getting into the swing of using it, especially authors who want to add notes to stories. How else could it be of use?
Thanks for a great 2015, everyone, and we'll see you next year!