DemolitionNews is celebrating its fourth birthday today.
The story of the site’s conception is one that I never tire of retelling. I was in a bar in Istanbul with current IDE President John Woodward discussing the fact that there was no single place that gathered together demolition news from across the globe. Sure, there are magazines and websites but – by and large – they are tied by geographic boundaries or have specific allegiances to trade associations.
After, perhaps, a Turkish beer too many, I boasted that I could create such a news hub and, on my return to the UK, set about doing just that. The website was built in a few hours and went live a day or two later. By the end of our first week, we had four subscribers and had received 81 views (and I think most of those were myself, John Woodward and, perhaps, my mother).
Today, exactly four years since the site was originally conceived, we’re averaging well over 80 views an hour. Our list of subscribers is more than 1,000 times our first week’s total together with another 3,700 on Twitter and 1,300 via LinkedIn. We have produced just under 4,000 articles and posts, and our video channel has enjoyed over 1.13 million views. And our iPhone/iPad app is now used daily by more than 1,000 demolition professionals around the world.
We are, of course, immensely proud of how our baby has grown. But that growth – which I don’t think any of us could have predicted – is entirely down to you, our loyal and constant readers. Without your input and engagement, your contributions, criticisms and support none of this would have been possible.
So if you’re reading this, have ever viewed one of our videos, added a comment to a story, shared one of our posts with a colleague, or hit the Like button on our Facebook page, please raise a glass to yourselves.
We are eternally grateful.
