News and views from north Bristol's urban village

Sunday 28 December 2008

Popular Posts of 2008


The following have been among the most popular individual posts on Trym Tales this year, according to Sitemeter, who monitor this sort of thing free of charge.

Thanks to regular readers for your support and to those who subscribe via email or RSS.

In no particular order, here are the most read items from Trym Tales in 2008:


1. The Andrew Ibrahim Story

The local angle on a national story has always been a staple for regional newspaper editors and the same is true for those independent blogs which have a narrow geographical focus. The story of a terror alert in Westbury on Trym in April was fast moving and covered by national and regional TV and press. Trym Tales produced original photographs of the bomb disposal unit and also broke the story about Andrew Ibrahim's schooling history ahead of the national press. The story also received the highest number of coments so far on Trym Tales, not all of which were suitable for publication.


2. The Rogue Postman

Occasionally, a story receives a flood of readers because it is picked up on a message board. This was the case with the "counterfeit courier" story from July, which surprised me by being circulated nationally via the Royal Mail intranet over a two or three-day period. Not having access to this, I was not able to guage opinion on the story, but was mildly amused at the idea of hundreds of posties from Brighton to Glasgow reading the item and passing it on during their tea breaks.


3. Redland Green School

Education stories have always been popular on Trym Tales, with the blog routinely appearing on the top of the first page on Google under relevent search terms. Changes to the catchment area for the new Redland Green School produced concern among local families, as did the publication of figures showng that even in the new, smaller catchment area, 87 local children had been unsucessful in their application to the school.


4. Bristol Independent Media

The decision in November to include live RSS feeds to all of the city's independent media producers appears to have been a popular one and now means that Trym Tales has effectively become a portal for local news and blogs. It has even reached the dizzy heights of inclusion on the BBC Bristol web site as a source of local news alongside ITV and the Evening Post. Steady on!


6. The Severn Barrage

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the diagram of the proposed undersea turbine included with the story about harnessing the tidal power of the River Severn has been worth several thosand hits. The picture has been the landing point for hundreds of visitors from every part of the globe. Interest in the story has been particularly strong in the USA, Australia, Romania, Indonesia and China since it was published in January.


5. Cabot Circus

My inability to find a bookshop in the new £500 million Cabot Circus retail experience seems to have touched a nerve at Bristol University, whose members picked up on this story and whizzed it around the blogsphere in the second week of November. The post is also my personal favourite of the year.


Which just leaves me to say again a big thank you to my readers in 2008 and to wish you the very best for the 2009 when Trym Tales will return with more news and views from North Bristol's urban village.





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1 comment:

Revivalfire said...

heh, I left a comment on your other blog 'church of my dreams'. I noticed you havnt updated it recently. I'd be really keen to find out your thoughts on the comment. Cheers

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