Patch Blog

Something to celebrate.

Posted Aug 3rd 2011 7:12AM by Brian Farnham

One of the benefits of an online business is having access to a lot of numbers. The Internet runs on computers and computers run on numbers, so everything you do can be counted, usually in five different ways. And when your online business is words, stories, conversations and information -- like it is at Patch -- the numbers can get interesting.

For instance, across our 850+ sites, we publish a new piece of original content every 12 seconds. That stat persistently wows me, because it speaks to the work our nearly 1,000 editors put in every day. (It also always reminds me of an old Saturday Night Live "news report" about how a man is mugged every 11 seconds in New York. Cut to street reporter standing with hapless interviewee: "And here is that man.")

But we recently encountered a big number. One million. As in, Patch has now produced one million articles. That adds up to over 382 million words. All that in just 30 months, and with over 600 of our sites having launched in the last eight months. (Another number we love? 391. That's how many articles we've published about lost pets - and in many cases, we've heard that our stories helped reunite those pets with their owners. Woof.)

For the record, the one millionth article was this one, from Local editor Katie Dolac, about a man in Dunedin, Florida who honored the memory of his late mother by continuing her virtuous habit of donating backpacks to a local Catholic school.



This story is pure Patch. By that I mean it's a small, meaningful story that goes to the heart of our mission: connecting users with their communities, and with each other. Of course, we also produce bigger, more broadly impactful journalism as well, such as our photographic scoop of Coptergate, or our Millburn-Short Hills editor's big "get" of the infamous "slut list" of Millburn High School.

People both internally and externally have asked us, sometimes indignantly, "Why don't you respond to the criticism of Patch?!" Here's the reason: none of it matters. If we spent time worrying about or responding to such things, that's time we're not spending fulfilling our mission to serve our communities.

All of our editors are due a big congrats on reaching this epic milestone. I've invited them to comment on this post with links to the stories they've done that they think are most meaningful or useful for their readers. I expect it will be a long thread.

Here's to the next million.

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