Something kind of big happened today.  I received a notice on my Facebook Page that there were now 3000 “likes” for this little community that I started back in February of this year.  imagesI was asked early on what the purpose of this blog and Facebook page were and in response I wrote the piece Inside the mind of a Neonatal Blogger. Why am I doing this?.  If you are curious, this gives you a good glimpse into my motivations.

Truth be told though I wasn’t really sure what this would become and early on my goal was to have 300 likes and then when that was passed 1000.  What has happened since has been quite the surprise.  I could not have imagined the growth in the page and the blog since that time.

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The map above actually represents all the countries that have read posts from this blog.  The red colour aside from being Canada indicates the top country in terms of views, the USA is second in orange and then yellow being the rest of the countries on the map.  The white areas are as of yet countries that have not read a piece but who knows what will happen given a little more time!

An interesting shift though has occurred on the Facebook page and that is over the last month a real community has evolved.  Up until recently a given post might generate one or two comments but I have noticed something quite special evolving on this site.  That is that not only have the comments increased with each post but you the readers are beginning to use this site as I had envisioned.  Comments are being made and you are responding rather than leaving it all up to me.  Don’t take this the wrong way though, I am more than happy to respond but I am enjoying reading your own thoughts as well.  We come from such a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences and these differences are beginning to express themselves in your written words.

As much as I enjoy finding interesting Neonatal content to share with you, I equally enjoy seeing how you respond.  An additional complement is that the interactions are almost always respectful, productive and generating of even more dialogue.  I learn from you just as you learn from me so let me say thank you for that!

Lastly, I have come to understand that “All Things Neonatal” really does have to be just that.  Try as I might I have not been able to unlock the secret of what truly interests the reader.  Topics that I would have predicted would “go viral” have been put out into the internet only to produce a sound “thud” as they fall flat which others that I might have thought would generate mild interest have exploded.  It is this unpredictability that keeps me excited about putting out each post as I continue to be fascinated by my inability to predict what leads to a boom or a bust.

In case you are wondering though the top three posts have been:

  1. Winnipeg hospital now resuscitating all infants at 22 weeks! A media led case of broken telephone.
  2. Automatic adjustments of FiO2. Ready for prime time?
  3. Marijuana Coming Soon To An NICU Near You!

If you haven’t read these then you may be missing out as your fellow readers seemed to think these were a big hit.

Thanks to each of you for following and keep the comments coming.  Also if you try something out that you see on this site and adopt it in your hospital please let me know how it has gone.  We can all learn plenty from each other.  As our base grows so does our collective knowledge and in my opinion that is a good thing.