Thank you for being part of a great start to Gen X Watch! March was totally awesome!
In a moment we are going to tell you how amazing March was here.
We started on Jan 20th with a website, a FB Page, and an article. We ended March with amazing growth! That could not happen without you clicking away, reading, sharing and commenting. We want to not only thank you, but share some numbers.
The Month of March Marches Us Forward
Gen X Watch was born in the wake of death. On Christmas day a dear friend of mine from high school died. According to my AARP card, I am leaving middle age and entering the third act of life. If not now, then when? I needed help and insight from others. In days I assembled a team of powerhouses in journalism that I’ve known for eons and we started planning. Part of that planning involved the goals and metrics this needed to last.
There is a magic number to an article and column driven Op/Ed site like this. 5,000. 5,000 reads of articles written in a month. When you hit that magic number you have hit a metric that shows sustainability for the long haul.
If you have ever read our About page, you will find that I have been doing this awhile. I started my first online column in 2004, that is 20 years now. Prior to that I have had a smattering of writings and photographs in print newspapers, magazines, and other adventures.
In those years I have had the honor of working with some amazing people who have helped me in the background plan this thing out and continue to help me pivot with the responses. We set goals. Getting to that 5,000 metric before the end of 2024 is one of those.
The halfway mark was a big benchmark and we hoped to hit that by the end of May, but set June so we could still be assertive, but not set ourselves up for failure. 2500 readers by the end of June. 50% of goal! Doable.
Something shifted in March. In less than 2 weeks into the month we knew 2500 by the end of March was in reach.
2,683 was where we closed out March. 54% of viability goal only 2 full months in!
The Femme Fatales Changed the Game
In March the readers made it clear that they were loving Fem Fridays! Other articles had strong showings, but the Fem Fridays become the anchor that drove March to show a 35% increase in new visitors and a 48% increase in unique page views. The top 5 read articles in March were as follows:
Also in the Top Ten you loved both of the columns by music and culture columnist, Jeremy Ritch. Pieces showing your love of new music and cultural impact of the old? You said bitchin!
And if it came from the 80’s, you also decided to put it in the top ten. Women’s history month made in the 80’s? Yearbook Nostalgia? Walkmans? Totally awesome you said!
Considering the all time favorite since we started was The Subversive Art of Mixtapes, that makes sense.
What you Didn’t Like
With the exception of the Nightline Article, you really did not respond to articles about news events in the past and how they relate today. Reagan Being shot and Gun Control, The Cold War, etc. You do not like journalism about the news, but you love journalism about powerful women, music, pop culture and some other things.
We are listening and responding. We’ll give you the Fem Fridays, Jeremy’s Music and social commentary, and insights about the nostalgic things you bought and used that changed today. We will also have fun in the playground and experiment with other things like Movies and Television and Books and Mags you were into. We also want to do a dive into some of the things from the 80’s and 90’s Gen Z loves and see what it is they love about it.
As always, we will be paying attention to your responses as we move forward.
Nostalgia That Matters Today!
You proved us right but also exceeded our expectations. When we started Gen X Watch, we did on the idea of writing about “Nostalgia That Matters Today”. So much of the content out there about Gen X are very surface and borderline toxic. We believed that readers had an interest in digging deeper, not shaming the younger generation, and know that there is a healthy balance between remembering then and living in now.
The topics that you are drawn to, sharing, discussing, and celebrating have shown us that we were right in our vision, but we did not know there would be so many of you so quickly.
As the Patreon support grows you show that you want to take the conversation even deeper and invest in the vision.
We were right, but we did not fully understand how deep the well of you goes. We underestimated how savvy, fearless, and hungry for intelligent conversation this community is. If we are going to be wrong about something, not knowing how rad you are is a great thing to be wrong about. We are sorry and grateful you are here.
Bridges Built With Like Minds
We recently did a showcase about a remarkable content creator named Tawn who runs Tawlanadia. Tawn and I have been having some high level discussions about joint ventures with our two communities intersecting while remaining our own communities.
Tawnlandia will be lending it’s voice to Fem Fridays…literally. Coming soon will be the Fem Friday episodes recorded dramatically just like they do for your favorite audiobooks on Audible.
Because the topics and stories of the powerful women are so important, we feel it is important not to have this content behind a paywall and we are confidant our communities will honor and support that with greater Patreon support.
In line with that I will be lending my voice to Tawnlandia. I will be a regular fixture by way of audio and video podcast live discussions with Tawn and others about the issues sparked from the Fem Fridays and things that are being discussed in Tawnlandia.
Again. No Paywall because of the import of the topics. Again, we are trusting that our communities know that this is a lot of time and effort and equipment and expense to bring this to the forefront and will support us financially to bring this content to the people who need it most.
I am also also starting discussions with a team of Gen Z creators who love the content here and feel there is an opportunity for them to share insights on what they love about the 80’s and 90’s, and also tell us what they need from us for a better world. When we watched the Breakfast Club we were moved because we knew what it was to be young and feel like the odds and the older generation are stacked against you. We feel that there is an opportunity for the generation of the Breakfast Club to properly listen and use our tenacious survival abilities to help support a stronger future.
We are feral and a little broken and that makes us dangerous and unpredictable allies!
These are important bridges and the foundation is being poured as I write this.
Still Young but Growing Fast!
All of this only took two months! Jeremy and I, along with my team are working our asses off to create the content you enjoy, but we are nothing without you.
You not only read the content, but just under 2% of you are our Patreons who fund this. You are the ones sharing the content and commenting on it and that drives the algorithm that makes it possible for more people to read and discover Gen X Watch.
We write, you read, give, share, and comment. We listen. Then we write some more!
Thank you for the last two amazing months and we look forward to many more.
Stay Totally Awesome!
Stay True to You!
Support Gen X Watch!
There are four ways you can do this:
1. Share this story with a friend and leave a comment.
2. Tip me! I need your support!
3. Become a Members Only Patreon! In the Patreon I will have unfiltered rants, exclusive content, free PDF copies of the upcoming quarterly magazine, and more.
4. Go to our store and buy the print magazine! It is art, news, and nostalgia that matters!
Thank you for your support and taking the time to read this.
Stay Totally Awesome! Stay true to you.
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