John W. Carlin and Civic Leadership
Join the Conversation:
  • Home
  • About John
  • Blog
  • Leading and Learning Moments
  • Leader Corner
  • Resources
    • Feedback

Celebrating One Year of Johnwcarlin.com!

1/26/2016

0 Comments

 
Today marks one year since the launch of my website and social media presence! It’s been a year of exciting growth and a lot of learning. In addition to building my own understanding of technology and social media, I’ve also learned a lot from my fellow Kansans and Americans about the things they care about and the issues that impact their lives the most. So for the many who have been engaged with this site, I want to express my gratitude and appreciation for being part of this new journey for me.
​
Civic Engagement is my passion in life, and it also represents an on-going challenge—the eternal quest to form that “more perfect union” envisioned by our founders. I am so fortunate to have had the opportunity to live out this value as a private citizen, a public servant, a teacher of Civic Leadership, and now through this website. It is the true definition of a “passion project” for me that involves reaching out and engaging as many people as possible with the issues and challenges facing our future.

A Look Back at Year One:

In the first year, we’ve built a strong following of over 1,000 on Facebook and reached tens of thousands more with our posts through your Likes, Comments, and Shares. The site receives around 300 visits on an average day and can top over 3,000 on days when particularly engaging content is shared. Growth on Twitter has been modest but steady, and it will be an area of focus in the coming year (by increasing the activity of the account—including some content available exclusively on Twitter).
​
Below are some highlights from each month of Year One of my blog, hover over the photos to read more:
January: "Where to Start?"
February: "Not the Kansas I Came Home To"
March: "Solving the Fiscal Crisis in Kansas"
April: "Elections Do Have Consequences"
May: "Back to the Spoils System in Kansas"
June: "Top 10 Memories from the National Archives"
July: "How Can We Bring About Change We Want?"
August: "Kansas Election Results: Why Not Audit?"
September: "What Will it Take to Turn Things Around in Kansas?"
October: "The Drinking Age: Time to Go Back to 18"
November: "Senator Dole and the Eisenhower Memorial"
December: "The Nixon Tapes and the Bush-Gore Election"

Looking Forward:

So what’s on the horizon for Year Two?
  • As current events happen, I’ll have more to share on state and national issues, along with more stories and examples from my personal experience to be incorporated into future blog posts on issues from education, to infrastructure, to the growth of the middle class.
  • With help from several media outlets, the State Archives, and a lot volunteer hours on the part of my sister, Ann Carlin Ozegovic, we’ve cultivated plenty more great photos to share in “Throwback Thursday” posts and future blogs.
  • The guest contributor section of the site—the Leader Corner—averaged one post per month from seven unique contributors, and growth is on the horizon with more voices and more issues to cover.
  • In the Leading and Learning Moments section, you’ll find a set of short YouTube videos on several areas of learning that I discuss in my classes and can be used for personal or organizational learning on leadership. This year, I’ll be releasing a new set of videos focused on Civic Engagement that can be helpful in community-focused work, involving others in the democratic process, and mobilizing others in efforts for change.

Growing Together:

My goal with this site is to reach people of all backgrounds and political stripes and advance important dialogues and ideas from around our kitchen tables all the way up to making changes—both big and small—in our communities, our state, our country, and the world. I hope you’ll consider joining me in this by being part of these dialogues and helping us grow as an online community to reach more citizens and involve them in a conversation that can help us—together—shape our future.

If you have about three minutes to spare, I'd appreciate hearing some of your feedback in the short survey below. This information will be very helpful as we continue to grow together in 2016!
Click Here to Take the Survey
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    John W. Carlin​—​61st Speaker of the Kansas House, 40th Governor of Kansas, 8th Archivist of the United States, and student of leadership

    Categories

    All
    Agriculture
    Budgets And Taxation
    Capital Punishment
    China
    Civic Engagement
    Drinking Age
    Education
    Election 2016
    Election 2018
    Election 2020
    Election 2024
    Environment
    Health Care
    Higher Education
    Historical Perspective
    Infrastructure
    Judicial System
    Leadership
    LGBTQ Rights
    National Archives
    Research
    Teaching

    Facebook

    John W. Carlin

    Twitter

    Tweets by @johnwcarlin

    Subscribe

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    RSS Feed