Exit 2023, Enter 2024
January 1st, 2024
Not only is this the first blog post of 2024, but it is the first blog post since I finally upgraded WordPress to version 6.4.2! 2023 was a long year, things got stressful at work so things like updating WordPress let alone Google Analytics was not a priority. I had hoped to get more done during my vacation but I did a lot of sitting around my mom’s house. Now I’m back in Calgary I got my year end play list on and I won’t force myself to finish this post in a single day.
In 2023 I got along just fine without vanity metrics for Muschamp.ca but companies continue to insist they are important. Apple actually released my yearend playlist in November! Then after it not changing for weeks they updated it on the last day of the year, which just goes to show a year is 365.25 days.
Apple Music
Despite what the vinylphiles at the local record store and cafe want you to believe I do most of my music listening at my desk using my new MacBook Pro, my work computer, or at the gym using my JBL bluetooth headphones. So my yearend playlist is dominated by certain playlists I made or Apple made. Also Apple isn’t putting any songs on this playlist they don’t have legal rights to, no matter how many times I play it.
The passing of the last month changed my most played song, but that is fine, my two most played artists are still probably Lucero and Left Lane Cruiser and the album I listened to the most was supposedly an old one by Magic Sam which I ordered a vinyl copy of from Blackbyrd. Most people got into Magic Sam through the Blues Brothers but I may have got into him through the Hill Country, he’s covered on Ass Pocket of Whiskey for instance.
Sometimes my CSS file doesn’t seem to be applied but I noticed that before I upgraded WordPress, that is another thing to look into in 2024. Twenty years ago some browsers may not have supported CSS but now everyone should. I may have to change how I load that file or include some new fancy tag.
YouTube
I’m not a YouTube creator though some people seem to think I should have a podcast, but I’m just too busy and I’ve made enough mistakes in my life without ranting live on the Internet. At least with a blog I can edit before I publish not to mention after I hit publish. I’ve also deleted a lot of posts over the years now that I’m older and perhaps even wiser. I do spend a lot of time on YouTube maybe more than Instagram, but I still use Twitter a lot too, despite Elon Musk, not because of him.
The reason I’m starting with YouTube even before miniature painting is I want to find a few videos of the artists featured on my playlist in case it doesn’t work now or in the future. Of course YouTube videos disappear all the time.
Blogging
I was talking to my mom earlier today and I told her I had made about five posts in the last three years. That is of course an understatement but very few posts get made here. Most of my blogging is done about miniature painting specifically miniatures to use in Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 which is now in its tenth edition. But despite that my most popular blog nowadays even though I haven’t updated it in years is from when I was a CFA Candidate.
This blog and blogging in general peaked years ago. Nowadays it seems people can’t read so good. So they want short videos because they have short attention spans. I keep blogging out of stubbornness or nostalgia a fact I noted in one of my popular blog posts of the last year.
Despite Elon’s best efforts I still check Twitter most every day, that said, the social media network I spent the most time on over my recent holiday was Instagram. I did make sure to post today and use that image as my thumbnail. I think I’m going to give the guys over at TopNine a couple of bucks because it really is an interesting way to view your popularity or success for all your efforts painting, posting, commenting and liking random or not so random stuff.
Twitter has analytics or it did but it was never the easiest to use. I didn’t go particularly viral in 2023 and my refusal to pay for the privilege of sharing my wit blunts my possibilities. I pay to share my wit here and I pay for other things online such as Flickr. According to Twitter’s own analytics I was more popular before the ownership takeover.
I should probably use Pinterest more. My sister used to be big into it, but it got blocked in China and I stopped using it. For a while Pinterest was dominating Google image search, but Google wasn’t having that forever. I actually have been using Google less. I use DuckDuckGo on my phone and I use Apple Maps and Apple Translate for instance also on my phone. But Google until the regulators break is one of the dominate forces on the Internet, but whether they do no evil anymore, that is up for considerable debate.
It is pretty saddening that Pinterest gives me better analytics than Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. Of course Pinterest thinks I’m a business because I own my own domain. Apparently with no effort I had over 79,000 impressions in 2023 reaching an audience of over 60,000. I can’t find out which images or events caused the peak easily. The biggest peak was May 27th which was over six months ago. My top pin in November, the second peak may have been from this post and I found that image on Facebook. Now without Google Analytics I don’t know how much actual traffic Pinterest sends me. But based on my other blogs not very much.
Flickr
If you noticed a distinct lack of Facebook mentions it is true I do not like it so much. But it is a big force in the miniature painting community but also in music promotion at least for artists of a certain age. I swear Meta is listening to everything I say even though I did not grant that permission to Facebook or Instagram or WhatsApp. Who thought it was a good idea to let them buy the latter two? Anyway I do pay for and and should post more to Flickr. It has analytics and I can share something from there easily on my blog which is why I prefer it to Instagram.
Apparently I’m closing in on 300,000 views all time on Flickr but my popular pictures are from years ago. I need to upload more new images. My sister gave up on Flickr because it is not as easy to upload to from her iPhone and she likely just don’t get the dopamine jolt from the bots. Plus you can win stuff on Instagram just by liking.
Miniature Painting
This is actually a big part of my social media usage on Facebook, Instagram, Flickr and Pinterest. I don’t always remember to take and upload a picture to the Internet, one day I’ll just have to spend an entire day photographing miniatures and uploading them to Flickr as it is I try to put two pictures a week to Instagram and I usually fail. As with everything my most popular miniatures are not my most recent ones even though I think I still paint well. I just don’t do the new sexy models maybe when the next Chaos Codex comes out I can gain a few more fans and followers.
One of the big advantages of Flickr over Instagram let alone Facebook as a photo repository is you can organize your photos and share them easily on WordPress.
Travel
I didn’t travel internationally in 2023. I did however go to Vancouver and see the UFC for the second time. For 2024 I’ve already booked a vacation and a flight to London. I didn’t want to go to London, but the direct flights to Edinburgh are only in the summer apparently. Travel photography, blogging and social media is one of the ways people make money and get free swag, so I really should have blogged about my trip to Vancouver. I did take some photos and share them including to WeChat.
Beer
Untappd hasn’t given me a yearend update but yeah I drank too much in 2023. In 2024 I plan to drink less but maybe not on my trip to Scotland where I’m basically seeing several whisky distilleries. We’ll see if I have a future in group travel or if I stick to solo outings to obscure places. I’m getting pretty old to be a backpacker but I sewed a patch from Palawan on to my backpack so I’d like to get a flag one from the Orkneys. I’ve already tried the beer from there it is good.
Books I read in 2023
I didn’t read enough in 2023. I did finish a ridiculously long book I didn’t enjoy. That is probably the last time I do that. In 2024 I plan to read more and not just Twitter and Instagram text. Goodreads did do a year in review if you’re interest.
Gigs I saw in 2023
During the past twelve months I saw several gigs. I saw Emmylou Harris again. During the Calgary Stampede, I saw Talib Kweli. Later in 2023, I managed to catch Ariel Posen on a random Tuesday and then the Sunday before Christmas I went to a metal show and saw Zakk Sabbath. Hopefully 2024 brings some interesting gigs to Calgary but real soon now I’m going to fly to see a few of my favourite artists that are still alive, together, and touring just not necessarily to Calgary Alberta.
Time for more YouTube videos because not everyone listens to as much music as me and that seems to be the most popular part of these year in review blog posts.
Wrapping up 2023
I was going to take another day to edit and complete this post but I’m not sure there is anything I wanted to say. I’m going to try to lose weight in 2024. I’m also going to try harder to strengthen my back and rehab my shoulder. We’ll see what I can accomplish before I go to Scotland. Of course I plan to paint more miniatures, probably Death Guard in the first half but then I’ll likely become Nurgle Renegades again as that codex comes out first.
Of course I hope work becomes less stressful but I’ve been on the record for many months saying year end reporting will be a challenge. So I want to get some sleep tonight, not stay up late editing a blog post and listening to music. But I can probably stay up another hour, but this post seems pretty good and WordPress hasn’t crashed, so that is a big plus.
If you have thoughts on 2023 or the upcoming year or you want to slag my taste in music or my continual painting of Nurgle miniatures purple and green, well you can leave a comment below.
This entry was originaly posted on , it was last edited on and is filed under: Rambles and tagged: Analytics, Music, Social Media.
