The year that was

With only two weeks to go before we finally say goodbye to 2010 we take a look at the year that was and the articles that raised the most interest with our readers. The stats tell us that ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema was the newsmaker of the year with president Jacob Zuma a distant second.

One of the wonderful things about online publishing is that it gives instant and exact feedback on how many  readers read which articles. We give the feedback here of the top articles from the 583 published in nine categories in our weekly Bulletin. The number of articles published in each category naturally  had an influence on the number or reads each attracted. There were more than half a million reads of the articles in the 46 editions of the Leadership Intelligence Bulletin published since January, with this being the 47th and final edition for 2010.

Politics

With 201 articles since the first week of January this was the top category by a long shot with almost 192 000 reads.

The article on Julius Malema under the heading Kill the boer kill the farmer with 11 120 reads was not only the top article in this category, but also by far the most read article overall.

President Jacob Zuma is in the second spot with 3 602 reads for an article under the heading Long-term outlook has changed dramatically.

Sport

In true South African tradition the 96 articles on sport came in with the second highest number of reads at 75 724. Here the top article related to the Soccer World Cup with 1 920 clicks for an article under the heading Scarecrows are having a field day, which linked to political factors.

The same goes for the second most read article in this category with 1 711 reads under the heading Immediate reality check as visitors leave

General or other

Just to prove that South Africans are not totally obsessed with politics and sport, our open category on general news came in a close third with considerably fewer (78) articles that generated 66 639 reads.

Here the top story was on disaster management under the heading Lessons to be learened from Haiti with 3 751. Second spot went to an article on the quest to find answers to the shortage of skills in the country.

Economy and Finance

This category, with 46 articles in total, attracted just under 43 000 reads. An article on the recession under the heading Is a perfect storm building? hit the top spot with 3 120 reads, which is higher than the top sport article.

The second spot  went to an article on the question of whether we really need estate duty in South Africa.

Lessons on leadership

Interestingly the fifth spot did not go to a news section, but went to our regular feature of videos on leadership development, which posted 47 during the course of the year and viewed 37 276 times.  Video number 48 is being posted with this final Bulletin of the year.

Energy and  climate

While world leaders are battling to find consensus on this issue, as we also report in this edition of the Bulletin (link to climate article please), the subject proved a popular one with our readers. The 43 articles  attracted more than 35 000 reads during  the year.

The top article in this category was one on the Iceland volcano eruption earlier this year that caused havoc for international aviation and exposed the global economy’s vulnerability to some disasters. It attracted 5 705 reads, the third most reads overall after the Malema article.

Digital media

Articles on the phenomenon of digital media and related matters such as  the explosion of the social media, also proved popular with our readers and 24 articles produced no fewer than 21 600 reads.

That this form of media has become one of important economic concern is illustrated by the fact an article under the heading Why I spend online attracted 7 000                          -plus reads. it was also the article with the second most over reads in all categories!

The second spot in this category went to an article under the heading Dangerous world of make-believe, which dealt with the social implications of the rise in the use of digital and especially social media.

Worth a read

The regular meta-reviews of new books published, of which 26 were posted during the year attracted more than 16 200 reads. The most popular article in this category, reflecting the concerns of many people in uncertain economic times, was on Job retention in a recession with almost 2 400 reads, followed with 1 317 reads for The Ascent of Money.

Final word

The regular feature on the meaning and origin of words and expressions, which was introduced during  the year and of which 22 contributions were published, delivered just short of 10 000 reads. Here the most popular one was on the origin of the terms Bull and Bear markets under the heading Daddy, where do bulls and bears come from? which generated almost 1 400 reads.