Saturday, February 16, 2013

Through Colby's Glasses: One Year Later


Just over a year ago, I made my first post on this blog. I started this blog for a few reasons. Number one is because I love Top Shot. I still think it's one of the best reality-competition shows out there. Also, I felt that it was a show that doesn't get a lot of press because it isn't a huge hit, so maybe I could give it a little grassroots support. I didn't have any expectations for what this blog might become when I started. I didn't expect contestants to reach out to me on social media and comment on this blog. I didn't expect History Channel to start following me on Twitter. I won't claim this blog has burned up the internet in anyway, but as of this posting I'm just shy of 30,000 views. I don't think that's too shabby for some kid in Wisconsin with too much time on his hands.

Of course that success (and yeah I'm going to call it a success) wouldn't have been possible without the support I've received, so I wanted to take a minute to thank those who helped me out. 

First, Carol Vaughn, Terry Vaughn's wife. She was the first person connected to Top Shot to follow me on Twitter and to really share this blog. That leads me to my second thank-you, Terry Vaughn. This guy was awesome to talk with and he retweeted links and even mentioned me in a few Follow Fridays. 

I wanted to give a big thank you to Chris Cheng. Like Terry, he really promoted this blog over his own Twitter, and even gave me some advice when I was looking for a job after I graduated. That's a class act right there.

Thanks to Dylan Fletcher, who promoted this blog even when I was not saying the nicest things about him on it, and who ultimately proved that I had made the wrong assumptions about him. Also he posted some awesome insights in the comments of some my recaps that gave me a better understanding of how the show works behind the scenes. 

Tim Trefren and I also had some good back an forth on Twitter, so thank you to him. 

Season one competitor Kelly Bachand posted some comments while we wait for Season 5 to get underway. Hopefully, we will continue to hear from him once the season actually premieres, whenever that may be.

Lastly, I would like to thank you for coming and reading this blog. When I started, I couldn't even find this blog in a Google search. Now it's the number one result when you search "top shot blog." I don't know when the next season is going to premiere, but I'll be ready to pick this up when it does. I still need to figure a few things out, like how I will watch it since I don't have cable, but I'm geared up nonetheless. 

I have some fun new ideas for the blog too. I recently did my first Storify which I think could be a fun way to do Top Tweets, and I might try and freshen up the layout a little for some more visual appeal. So thank you again to everyone who has shared this blog or just stopped by for a good read. There will be much more to come.

I thought I would leave you with a few stats from the first year of the blog. 

Top 5 Viewed Posts

Top 5 Search Terms
1. top shot season 5
2. top shot all stars
3. top shot all stars cast
4. top shot 2013
5. top shot season 5 start date

Top 5 Countries Reading This Blog
1. United States
2. United Kingdom
3. Canada
4. France
5. Germany

As always, leave your comments below, and follow me on Twitter @cswiets for the latest updates to this blog.

4 comments:

  1. Chris: Well done for sure! Please correct the spelling of my last name, it's Bachand :-P. Thanks! As of right now regarding season 5 I can say "no comment."

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chris: Sweet blog! Just found it about a week ago while looking for info on Season 5. I just finished reading it in entirety. lI look forward to reading along once Season 5 begins airing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Chris, the reason the audience for Duck Dynasty is different from Top Shot is for religious reasons. If you do your research on Duck Dynasty you will find the Robertson family is a very outspoken evangelistic family in the Christian community (their oldest son, who does not participate in DD is a preacher). That is where the larger following comes in it comes from the Christian community who is hungry for clean family shows. Look at "The Bible" by the Downeys it is No. 1 in ratings now. As you know Top Shot does not fall in the category of "clean" family type shows due to the large large large amount of cussing and attitude display. Your conservative christian following will not put up with that type of language or behavior for their families. Just look at the movies put out by this small church in Georgia (Fireproof, Courageous, Facing the Giants, Flywheel, etc.) They were all sold out movies and they still rate top of the charts on classic movie sales. You cannot beat a good clean show/movie for the family, people will pay for good clean fun. Good job on the blog.

    ReplyDelete