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I was five long years ago that I wrote my first ever post here and in remarking on this, I feel a sense of achievment but also a sense of sadness at how quickly time passes.  A lot has happened since I wrote my Welcome! post.

Five years, 912 posts, 1,527 comments 1,456 spams, three skins later and I’m still blogging.

Originally, my hope had been the blog would help the handful of PR freelancers I was working with “to interact among ourselves and with the outside world of PR, marketing and media professionals.  It is dedicated to discussing news and views on PR and marcoms trends, industry news, inhouse/agency relationships and more.”

I guess the blog did fulfil this ambition.  It’s chock full of stories about these subjects. In fact, this blog could be seen as a chronology of how the social Internet has changed the public relations profession and the media industry as a whole.

It hasn’t always been smooth sailing either.  There have been times when for days on end I just I didn’t feel like blogging. Other times I tried to pull other people in as authors. I’ve had angry phone calls from people not happy with what I’ve written.  I’ve even had a lawyer’s letter or two over the years.  I’ve learned from it all.

Highlights included having my posts run as a weekly column in the Isle of Man Examiner, getting covered by PR Week, The Guardian and the BBC.  I’ve made connections with some incredible people through this blog. It’s helped my stay connected to people in my profession despite my living on a rock in the middle of the Irish Sea.  Susan Getgood, Neville Hobson, Geoff Livingston and Joe Thornley are just a few people I’ve counted on for support, guidance and advice over the years. They’ve always been generous and I thank them.  There have been hundreds, if not thousands of others that this blog has helped me connect with and being part of this community has contibuted to my success and to my overall happiness.

From a tech perspective, hubby Graham is a constant help, and Owen Cutajar has been so generous with his time and skills, I cannot thank him enough.  Also Derek Richardson taught me about podcasting to help add another social media string to my bow.

What’s next? I really can’t say except for sure there will more blogging!  I’m hooked!

Related posts:

• Happy birthday Strive Notes
• Happy 2nd birthday Strive Notes
• The big reveal, the new Strive Notes

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