NBI: One year and a week later

It's been a year since the Newbie Blogger Initiative (NBI) and this has hardly gone unnoticed - many former newbies (like me) or sponsors have written posts to commemorate the event. The first posts where already at the start of May, so I'm a bit late to the party. On the other hand, this means that I can wrap up what other bloggers have written about this subject.

Present state

I have the luxury of being lazy, because others have already done the hard work and counted the numbers. Of 111 blogs, 28 (over 25%) are still active (thanks, Ocho!).* This is not bad, considering that the average blog apparently has the "livespan of a fruitfly", with 60-80% of all new blogs stranding within just one month.

So why was the NBI so successful? It might be all those fantastic guides that experienced 'sponsors' wrote us. It might be the energy that goes around when multiple bloggers are talking en masse about the same subject. Or it might be the welcoming community that gave us newbie bloggers a great head start with the feeling that we were valued members of a group.

Ocho speaks about "my fellow NBI brethren" in his post, and I thought that was actually a cool thing to say. True brethren do of course need a mark to strengthen their relationship, so I crafted us our own badge. It's all yours! Show it off on your blog somewhere, or of course, laugh in my face at my inferior drawing skills. Do with it whatever you like.

I for one loved the NBI and the amazing blogs that emerged with it. I've learned many things and it was good to look back to for a moment. See you around, my fellow brethren. To many years to come!

Click here for a larger image.

Others about NBI's anniversary

Let me know if a post escaped my attention and I'll update the list.

Avatars of Steel: Virtual Party to celebrate the original Newbie Blogger's Initiative
Casual Aggro: The Newbie Blogger Initiative - 1 Year Later
Healing the Masses: Newbie Blogger Initiative Info and Guides
I Have Touched the Sky: NBI: Retrospective
World's End Tavern: Newbie Blogger Initiative: One year later
The Ancient Gaming Noob: New Blogger Initiative a Year Later - Who Survived?

Edit: The badge is there for any NBI participant (newbie or sponsor) to use. Rowan made a cool version for sponsors specifically.

* Others have come up with slightly diferent numbers, depending on the criteria used to define an 'active' blog. Calculations range from 28-40% still active.