Blogress Report

Back in February, members of the Committee for County Progress began discussing the advisability and feasibility of launching a group blog to host and stimulate intelligent political discussion with a progressive flavor. At the time, the KC Buzz Blog was a highly visible but deeply flawed venue, and the local political landscape was otherwise populated by personal or single-issue blogs. It seemed that the local political scene could benefit from a lively, frequently-updated site featuring an intelligent, informed group of writers on a variety of political topics.

A few months later, the Buzz Blog converted into a $400/year irrelevancy, and we decided that it was time to stop talking about Blog CCP. The site launched on May 26, totally without fanfare, since we weren't sure we had worked out all the technical bugs.

Today, less than three months after the launch of Blog CCP, the CCP has extended its reach and influence far beyond what it could have accomplished without the blog. We started tracking statistics a month and a half ago, and, in that time, we've had over 1400 visitors and almost 4500 visits. While most of our hits are from local sources, we get lots of visits from computers in Jefferson City and in Washington, DC. Visitors have come to our site from 5 continents.

All those visitors have found an interesting site. We've hosted a blog post by a United States Senator. We're averaging a post a day, and we have a lively commenting community that is growing. We've had 8 people author posts, and expect that number to grow as CCP members see how easy it is to voice their opinions.

During a period without any Jackson County elections, the Committee for County Progress has hosted a conversation that has reached over a thousand people. As we move toward 2008, we expect to continue our steady growth in both participation and audience. For over 40 years, the CCP has been encouraging and supporting progressive change in our county, state and nation. Blog CCP can support and amplify that impact, and has already begun to do so.