We are '16 going on '17

It's time for a very clever idea. It's the end of the year recap post!

Looking back, this makes my 167th post of the year. That's my most posts since 2013, and hold pretty close to the "every other day" routine that I pretend to stick to. That seems like a good number.

Along with that, this last month has been pretty epic. December 2016 is about to have more pageviews than any other month in this blog's history...by a factor of two! Whatever the reasons for that increase, it's a spectacular performance this month, and I'm excited to see that continue into 2017.

One possible reason for this increase could be my amped up social media presence. In 2016 the Section_36 twitter account went over 1200 followers. It's fun to have that much interaction. Likewise, the Section36 Facebook page crossed 400 likes! It's been climbing at a slower pace, so it's great to see another milestone crossed. The Section36 Instagram page is nearing 700 followers! It'll be fun to see it cross that threshold, hopefully in January. In the last few weeks, I've really increased my activity on the section36 Snapchat account. I've also actually started using the Section36 Pinterest account. With boards featuring all the great things about being a Red Sox fan. You should go follow it! 

I did an order of blog tank tops earlier this year. I don't know about you, but I think they came out great! Hope I can do it again in 2017.

Section 36 even expanded its empire to include blogs for the other Boston Sports, with a main home for all of them at Section 36 Sports.

2016 was definitely a year of growth!

But, my favorite thing is that 2016 was a year of visitors! I was fortunate enough to have five different people visit the blog for interviews this year, and it was a blast! People seem to like them too. After all, this post started out as a "top five posts of the year" recap, but all those posts ended up being visitor posts! My virst visitor ended up being my most popular post of the year. I was able to interview Alissa Musto just after she won the Miss Cambridge crown. After that, she advanced to Miss Massachusetts, and finished in the top 15 at Miss America. It was so much fun to follow along with her journey! Rylee Field is one of Alissa's Miss America Classmates. I was able to interview her after she was crowned Miss Vermont. As with Alissa, following her year has been a great time. I actually met Kailee Dunn at Fenway when I recognized one of the Fenway Ambassadors as the former Miss Washington. What a great happenstance. Thankfully she agreed to talk to the blog about her experiences. I can't believe it took me so long to interview Samantha Russo. I started following her on twitter when she was Miss NH 2013. Since then she's gone on to create a fine radio and television career. Josh Berube wrote a great Red Sox season preview for AOSN. Thankfully he agreed to expand on his thoughts for the blog.

They were all wonderful interviews, and I can't wait to see if 2017 brings even more visitors. I sure hope it does!

On to 2017!