Thank you, dear readers, for supporting ICTworks as we pass an amazing milestone. 10 years ago today – April 8th, 2009 – we launched ICTworks with a humble goal to increase the effectiveness of ICT programs in international development.
ICTworks has succeeded beyond our wildest dreams!
Over the past 10 years, we’ve published over 1,630 posts detailing the best and worst practices for using technology in healthcare, education, agriculture, and other development sectors. With input from your 800+ guest posts and 3,300+ comments, we’ve looked beyond the marketing hype and into the realities of ICT4D programs.
Quantitative results
Thanks to you, ICTworks now has impressive reach among digital development practitioners. Our quantitative results include:
- 18,000 email subscribers who get our updates 3x a week
- 75% are active subscribers, regularly opening our emails
- 20% average open rate, or 3,800 subscribers opening any given email
Subscribe now to join them!
Then we have 25,000 Facebook followers and 17,000 Twitter followers that join other Internet denizens to regularly click through to our website, which gets over 16,000 visitors a week.
Qualitative Results
Beyond the raw numbers, our posts travel far and wide on forwards from one friend to another, creating awareness and excitement well beyond our actual subscribers.
For example, multiple research requests are leading to new findings and your provocative posts calling for real change in the industry create new collaborations and new initiatives.
In addition, ICTworks posts helped create the MERL Tech and ICTforAg conferences, and contributed to USAID Digital Development Forums in Ghana, Zambia, India, and Central America.
My favorite are the April Fools posts that use skillful satire to generate needed debate around our practices and promotions.
What is next for ICTworks?
More of the same high-quality posts from your peers and colleagues at the intersection of technology and development, including:
- How to Get New Funding for Your ICT4D Project
- Key Takeaways from New Digital Development Research
- Insights on Improving Monitoring and Evaluation
- Lessons Learned from Project Failures
We also would love to hear from you. Consider submitting a Guest Post to share your expertise with 18,00 of your peers and colleagues.
Good job, most of the posts are high quality, though a few bad ones seep through the cracks.
Congratulations! Good achievement Wayan!
Congrats Wayan and ICTWorks team! This has become mission critical source of information for digital development community. It is one of a few blogs/sources I read regularly. I never miss a post.
Bravo to you, Wayan, for keeping such a high quality conversation going for a decade.
Thanks everyone! Of course, we could not keep going this long without your valuable input. Love to have your Guest Posts on the ICT4D topics that excite you.