Wallyhood Evolving

Since the first Wallyhood post appeared back in January 2009, it’s grown considerably: over 1,600 stories, five writers contributing regularly, ten sponsors, 9,000 unique visitors per month, 2,100 Twitter followers, over 800 Facebook fans and, as of this writing, a record 116 comments on a single post (carrying on the most respectful discussion of a controversial topic one can imagine on a blog, we’ll add). The level of engagement and interactivity we’ve achieved in our little neighborhood of Wallingford is gratifying and inspiring.

It’s also a lot of work. That’s why we’re pleased that long-time Wallyhood writer Margaret Steck has agreed to add administrative and editorial duties to her portfolio of responsibilities here at Wallyhood. If we were a real fancy media company with offices and a masthead and stuff, she’d have a title like Deputy Managing Editor or Associate Partner or something like that, but we’re just a simple neighborhood blog, so we’ll go with “Margaret”.

We hope that having someone else sharing the editorial and business responsibilities will make Wallyhood more responsive, more responsible and just a better read. Thank you and welcome, Margaret!

We’d also like to take this opportunity to remind everyone what we’re all about and to solicit your involvement. The goal of Wallyhood is to create a deeper sense of community in the Wallingford neighborhood by fostering a channel of communication among its citizens. Some of that happens through the articles that appear here, some of it through the comments that you leave on the articles and in our Forums.

All the writers who contribute to Wallyhood live here in Wallingford neighborhood and every one of them started off by dropping us a line at [email protected] saying “hey, I’d like to write for Wallyhood!” If you’re interested in getting involved, you should do the same. Don’t worry about whether you can write twenty articles per week or anything: start with one and see how you like it. Some of our writers only contribute an article every few months, others many times per week. It’s up to you.

And finally, if you’re a business in Wallingford or elsewhere in the city and want to support what we’re doing, please drop us a line to learn more about sponsoring Wallyhood. It’s affordable, and it can help us do what we do better.