Here’s an update on PROpenMic‘s traffic over the first year. Only April ’08 through February ’09 (11 months) are available.

I’ve used publicly available information from Compete.com and Alexa.com.  They are services used by media buyers to determine rates for ad buys, for instance.

I’ve chosen a selection of sites for comparison that are considered by many to be staples (of sorts) in the online communication, marketing and public relations professions.  All are niche.  All, but PROpenMic, are actually organizations or businesses with budgets.  We don’t have one of those ‘budget’ things at PROpenMic.  ;o)  More on that, later.

The reality is that we are the only social network site soley focused on bringing together students, faculty and professionals.  So, it is kind of hard to make strong comparisons.

We do (IMO) seem to be performing pretty well when stacked up against these larger organizations.  Does this mean that for social networks, it is what the members make of it?

Read my thoughts, or go straight to the stats.

For example, you’ll see that if PROpenMic accepted ads (we don’t, and never will) our network would likely be more appealing to advertisers than all but O’DwyerPR.com (and we’re pretty close to them, too).  Does this mean that low budget / no budget social networks can be monetized?

I believe it is important to note that all of the other sites in this comparison have staff and budgets. PROpenMic is a voluntary and organic social network. By organic, I mean that the site perpetuates itself. The growth of the site, and the content posted in the site, is all determined by the membership. We are all volunteers. Even me.

Our audiences are somewhat similar.  All five of the other sites either charge subscription, membership fees – or, they are using their sites to drive interest in their enrollment, seminars and conferences.  PROpenMic isn’t doing any of that (for profit).  Sure, some people promote their events in our Events group, but it is hardly the same.

All of the other sites have staff devoted to their sites (and budgets) in order to populate, promote and maintain their sites (and/or organizations).  In some instances, they have paid authors/writers creating the content for their sites.  Each of the others sites (aside from PRSSA, I imagine) produces, on average, more promotional emails to their members than PROpenMic.

Overall, I’d say PROpenMic.org is a success.  Depending upon the metric you look at, we seem to be performing close to, equal to, or better than all the other sites – except O’Dwyer’s … again, we’re awfully close to them, too.

Look, none of us are buring up the internet in Top 1,000 site traffic, but that’s not the goal.  We’re all niche.  We want to reach those relatively small audiences (that’s small in a world view of Internet traffic).  So, how do we perform in comparison to one another?

Here is the breakdown…

For the graphs below, click on them and they will enlarge.

Compete.com stats…

Unique Visitors: (average per month)

propenmic.org 7,312
odwyerpr.com 8,668
myragan.com 6,225
prssa.org 5,258
communitelligence.com 3,068
holmesreport.com 2,078

Rank: (the lower the number, the better your rank)

propenmic.org 199,336
odwyerpr.com 172,873
myragan.com 227,762
communitelligence.com 410,099
prssa.org 262,202
holmesreport.com 566,512

Total Visits: (monthly average)

propenmic.org 22,918
odwyerpr.com 11,530
prssa.org 9,221
myragan.com 6,704
communitelligence.com 4,030
holmesreport.com 2,563

Page visits/views: (monthly average of per visit pageviews)

myragan.com 12.1
propenmic.org 7.5
odwyerpr.com 6.3
communitelligence.com 5.8
prssa.org 3.2
holmesreport.com 2.6

Alexa.com stats…

Note: In Alexa.com stats the lower the number, the better your site ranks.

odwyerpr.com has a traffic rank of: 232,877
propenmic.org has a traffic rank of: 291,090
myragan.com has a traffic rank of: 508,609
communitelligence.com has a traffic rank of: 550,729
prssa.org has a traffic rank of: 644,172
holmesreport.com has a traffic rank of: 670,656

Averaging the rank of both Compete & Alexa stats:

Note, again … the lower the number, the better your site ranks.

PROpenMic: 245,213 compared to…

ODwyerPR: 202,875
MyRagan: 368,185
PRSSA: 453,187
Communitelligence: 480,414
HolmesReport: 618,584

Please let us hear from you.  I’d love to know what you think, one way or the other.

Thank you to all that have made PROpenMic what it is!  I’ll do another post on the anniversary day (April 1st) thanking some very kind people that have helped along the way.

Well, we got quite a response. Students, faculty and practitioners responded.

The list below represents the post I shared on the front page of PROpenMic. I hope you’ll go check them out, too. And, join PROpenMic if you haven’t already. We just crossed the 2,000 members mark and well on our way to 2,100 and beyond.

We want to promote your blogs, and have created this post for you to share your’s for a mention here. I wanted to rotate these, but got so many. So, I’m sharing them all for a week and will put next week’s up here, etc. Go share your blogs, too!

• Leo Bottary, Practitioner – Client Service Insights…(CSI/Season2)
• Paul Matson, Student – Off the Record
• Brian Camen, Practitioner – Everyday PR
• Katherine Lynch, Practitioner – Dine Magazine
• John Taylor, Practitioner – Dilbert is Funny for a Reason
• Marsha Keeffer, Practicioner – ToneHall
• Katherine Strate, Student – Dawg Food – A class project that Katherine has kept up for the past year. Great inspiration of what you can do in your own town!
• Samir Bhavnani, Practitioner – Got Tannins?
• Luke Walker, Prospective Student / Aficionado – Media Ramblings
• Nicole Stivers, Practitioner – Brown Miller Communications
• Joan Holman, Practitioner – Joan Holman’s Quiet Time
• Daniel Lally, Practitioner – Pit Bulls and Labradors – The Dominant Narrative Theory
• Termeh Mazhari, Practitioner – New York Buzz
• Barbara Nixon, Faculty – Public Relations Matters
• Brigitte Andrade, Practitioner – The Adventures of Bibisports in China
• Kate Scozzaro, Student – Scozz Blogz
• Helena Makhotlova, Post-Graduate – Helena Makhotlova’s blog
• Malayna Williams, Practitioner – Release It!
• Holly Grande, Practitioner – HollyGrande.com
• Rosalind Sedacca, CCT, Practitioner – Child-Centered Divorce
• Jeffery Biggs, Practitioner – Jeffery’s World
• Texas Public Relations Association, Practitioner – Communicators’ Connexion
• Miguel Albano, Practitioner – (It’s) Not About You – A Blog about Digital Communications and Social Media written in Portuguese for the Portuguese blogosphere
• Shane Haggerty, Practitioner – Social Avenue

And those previously promoted here:

• Allie Osmar, Practitioner – The Creative Career
• Carlos Teixeira, Student – fractura
• Bill Handy, Faculty – OKPRPROF
• Mihaela Vorvoreanu (Dr. V), Faculty – PR Connections
• David Binkowski, Practitioner – DavidBinkowski.com

Paull Young, of Young PR and Converseon emailed me the other day with news. He reminded me of the two people at Converseon that found their way to the firm through social media, and PROpenMic, in particular. 

Maria Garcia De la Ossa (right) and Lindsey George (left, and her digital resume) are both working with Converseon today. Maria is a new hire and Lindsey is doing her internship. She’s from Auburn, too.

Maria’s story revolves around her involvement in a student competition that Shel Holtz discusses … actually, raves about – in his blog. It is the National Student Advertising Competition sponsored by AOL.com. Maria is participating as a member on the Emerson College team.

Each of these students joined PROpenMic in its earliest days. They were active in creating contacts with people within the network. That’s how you get where you want to go, folks. And, they did it.

So, here’s the video from both Maria and Lindsey. Thanks, Paull!

Find more videos like this on PROpenMic

Ya’ know, there’s another Auburn alum at Converseon, too. The wonderful Christi Eubanks began working with Converseon last year, actually. ) And, let’s not forget a shout out to the great Constantin Basturea, too! ) Hey, Constantin! Thanks for taking care of the students/alums and helping them grow and learn.

I’ll admit, all of the people signing up are my favorites. I’m still kinda stunned by the turnout we’ve experienced. We surpassed the 500 members mark in just 3 weeks.

Today, however, a new truly favorite member signed up. Look at her work and her involvement online. She’s remarkable, and I haven’t even met her, yet.

Meet Danielle Warby at PROpenMic (free signup required). But, you don’t really have to go there. Trust me, there is much more out there online.

templatedata – The web at www.usyd.edu.au

“This blog is based at the University of Sydney. It is written by members of the Digital and Print Media team. Other university staff members with ideas for articles are most welcome to contact us about writing for Templatedata. Readers and comments from the general public are most welcome. The views expressed on this blog are those of the respective authors and not those of their employer.”

Oh, to be sure … there’s more: Danielle’s DesignDyke’s bookmarks on del.icio.us, her Flickr: Photos & Video from danyell.com.au, even a MySpace.com account – Design Dyke, not to be outdone … she’s into video, too. YouTube – LesbianIntent’s Channel.

Staff – The University of Sydney

“Danielle is the Web Support Officer for the Faculty of Economics and Business. Danielle’s responsibilities include website content management and production of marketing materials for print and web. Her main interest is in the area of Social Networking and other Web 2.0 technologies such as blogging. Danielle is also a qualified graphic designer.”

From there, we find Danielle engaging in all manner of social media sites, like Twitter / designdyke … Danielle Warby – FriendFeed … and her personal blog at Vox.

Design Dyke at Vox. Danielle is a student, too.

“I’m an independent, creative woman and I know what I want from life but I’m usually too busy enjoying myself to get my shit together. I have my own graphic design/digital marketing business, I work at Sydney University on their online marketing communicatiions [sic] (specifically social media) update a few of their websites and design the occasional logo. I’m studying Post-Grad Marketing at Sydney Uni… all which leaves me with little to no social life but plenty of time in front of the computer. In my spare time I sleep.”

She’s also a business woman. LinkedIn: Danielle Warby. And that brings us to her business. Design.

Yes, I saved, perhaps the best for last. warbyweb: graphic design web design

Visit and look at Danielle’s work. The level of broad interests at work here is quite simply amazing. She’s even “in the process of setting up an online lesbian magazine that focuses on art and design. I am here to check out what the dykes are doing.” (Source: YouTube)

Now, I ask you. When would I have ever been able to meet someone like Danielle without the advent of social networks? Never. I’m very happy we started PROpenMic. Danielle, you’re pretty damn cool. We must ask her to chat with our class next semester. Hope she’ll agree.

Admit it. You love her. I know you do. Yeah, and a bit of jealousy, too, I think. Yep, I hear ya’.

The experience of launching this community, and watching it grow, has been very enjoyable. I deeply appreciate all of the people that have visited the site and signed up. PROpenMic is actually turning into a worldwide social network for public relations and marketing communications worldwide.

The post is here: Diversity :: PROpenMic’s Demographics, by Country. An excerpt is below, but you’ll have to visit the site and sign up to read the post. Sorry, but I’m trying to continue to build the community.

As of today, we have 361 members (in a little over 12 days). They hail from 25 nations. There are at least two (2) members from each continent (well, sort of … you’ll have to read it to understand). North America and Europe are the largest contingent, but we’re now reaching other continents, too.

Students are our largest group, 220+. Faculty represent, I believe, some of the most active and creative researchers and experiential educators in the world. That is particularly true with regard to online public relations. We have the honor of welcoming Dr. James E. Grunig, easily the single most prolific public relations researcher and publisher in the world. Our practitioners represent a wide variety of experience and sectors within the broad field of public relations practice. PROpenMic has welcomed people with the title of CEO, President, SVP, and VP from some of the largest PR agencies, as well as some of the most prominent boutique agencies, in the world. Even more Managers, SAEs and AEs have signed up, too. But, just as important, we have practitioners from NGOs, PA/Government practice and local/regional practitioners, too. I won’t even try to represent the broad range of practices they hail from, please just look for yourself. The experience runs the gamut.

I hope you’ll visit the site and consider signing up. We are especially interested in attracting students and faculty from PR/Marcom programs around the world.

Sure, we’ve been creating our blogs and podcasts. We’ve been following each others writings and media. All fun. All good. But, there really hasn’t been one place for everyone to do a meet and greet … until now.

PROpenMic.org is the place.

PROpenMic? A metaphor. Step up and speak your mind. Our goal is to be the social network for PR students and faculty worldwide. We have common interests, goals and certainly can learn from one another.

The site is open to practitioners, too. So, if you’re interested, please come and join in the discussion.

We can share documents, audio, video … a music / podcast player, forums, blogs & photo albums for each member … RSS feeds, photo albums, and more. Already people are blogging and four forums have begun – PR Syllabi & Resources, PR / Marcom Pros, Faculty and Students. We can start more, too.

Connect & Collaborate

I love sharing and learning. No better way to do that than to interact with your peer groups, right? So, my hope is that we can all come together – from around the world – and connect in this community.

The site is built upon the Ning.com platform, so it has a sort of Facebook-like appeal. The difference? No ads. No apps sending you numerous emails. Just PR people. Hey, I like Facebook for connections, but to do what we wanted to do … a mashup of content in one place … we had to have our own platform, in my opinion.

Meetup, Mashup & Share

Already, in one day, we have people signing up. Blogs, forums & video sharing are already seeing a bit of activity. We want more, though. Interest has come in from Asia, Europe, North America & Australia. How about you? and your students?

I realize that starting this at the end of a semester isn’t the ideal time. But, I had an epiphany on Sunday night and just started building the site. By Monday morning it was essentially ready to go, so I shared PROpenMic.org in Twitter and through an email to about two dozen people.

Please Join

I’m seeking your support, please. Share PROpenMic.org with your students, fellow faculty, PR/Marcom colleagues and more. Sign up yourself and there is a very easy “invite” process for you to use. Thank you.

Note: PROpenMic.org will never sell or share your email address or personal information with anyone else. You choose what to share on the site. This is a nonprofit academic project, primarily for the benefit of our students. No cost. No ads.

And, just so you’ll know … This is for real, too. No April Fool’s silliness, here … unlike this one from Google. Hat tip to Brett Pohlman for that one.