Starting back in Jully of 2008 Windows XP started to give Linux quite a run for its money in our web stats, surprisingly that trend seemed to contiune for a few months straight. It was growing so fast for a while that I suspected it might be an error in the reporting software’s numbers.
Once I dug deeper I also noticed the iTunes RSS client agent was growing at the same rate as Windows XP was in our general web stats. Because I am not the smartest man in the world, it took me a few minutes to put the obvious bits of the puzzle together. July… What happened in July? Ah yes, the iPhone 3G was released! “That must be it” I thought to my self. People bought an iPhone, then fired up Windows XP for iTunes and iPhone sycning and starting using that environment. This was an interesting snapshot in time for us, do we continue down the strictly Linux focused content even though our webstats are quickly trending to Linux being the minority or do we mix it up, and go more of a balance between Windows, Mac and Linux. We spent some time kicking this idea back and forth and never really came to a final decision.
Though through the process of analyzing this type of shift in our viewer/listner base we realized that the best way to reach more people, would be to promote the technologies we felt passionate about through a more realistic approach. We came to the realization that if you want to convince someone that technology X is better than technology Y you need to speak to them like an adult, and not like a religious zealot that only sees things in basic black and white.
If I show you doing something fun or intresting using the technology I’m excited about, like say a Drobo, that is going to be a lot more effective of a message then me just simply ranting about how great a Drobo is.
It’s with this approach that we have focused our new format of shows, like In Depth look and while we have only been at it for just a few months, I am so happy with the results we are seeing. Honestly I think the data speaks for it self. Since the change to the new format 2.4 million people have watched our videos, and we’ve reached entirely new areas of the technology community that we’ve never spoken with before. I get emails daily from people who are being introduced to new technology through our videos, and emails from old pros who just love the content and find it engaging.
On top of that, I’m pleased to see that Linux has again climbed to a comfortable lead in our web statistics, to which I primarily contribute new eyes and ears to our content:
Our new format understands and appreciates that not everyone uses computers in the same way we do. I have no doubt that this is going to be successful for us, and proves that there is a right approach that encourages audience growth and learning, and a wrong approach that is thick headed and talks down to their audience by not respecting their choices and their reasoning.
I hope everyone continues to enjoy the content we produce at Jupiter Broadcasting and I can’t wait to meet even more of you that are out there!
