Hooray!  It’s hard to believe, but Cosmic Revolutions has been tracking trends and pondering the future for one full year as of today.  Back in October ’11, CR was little more than a vague idea pinging around in my skull, a general craving for discussion and big ideas.  It finally took shape as a blog over the course of a single week – a week that I spent holed up in the backyard lounge of a New Orleans hostel with a laptop, a cold beer, and a dream.

Now, a year after launch, the blog’s still mixing the latest future news with opinions, theories, and a generous dash of child-like wonder.  Best of all, I can’t take all the credit.

And that’s because I owe a big thanks to YOU, cherished readers, for Cosmic Revolutions’ success.  You’re the ones who tune in every week to read my thoughts, share your vision, debate our future, and help me wrestle with the big questions.  I couldn’t have done it without you!

To celebrate the milestone, I ran the numbers on Cosmic Revolutions’ first 12 months of existence, and I’m sharing them here for fun.  Afterwards, I’ll take you on a brief tour of the future (naturally) of Cosmic Revolutions itself.  There are lots of great things in store for the next phase of the blog, and I hope you’ll stick with me for another year of exploring our fascinating future!

Cosmic Revolutions by the numbers

Total views: 18,061

Countries reached: 138 (!)

Continents reached: 6 (I’ve yet to get any Antarctic readers, but crossing my fingers for this year)

Email subscribers: 42

Facebook fans: 25 (not many so far, but that’s because I only set up the page last week.  If you haven’t yet, click “like” in the right sidebar now! —->)

Twitter followers: 284 (click here if you’d like to join them).

Most covered subject: Digital Space.  No surprise there – I have a long-standing fascination with this parallel digital universe we’re constructing for ourselves.

Most viewed post:  No contest, it’s the holographic iPhone 5 article by a mile.  I guess I shouldn’t be shocked that a shiny consumer gizmo brings me more search traffic than edible algae does.

Weirdest search terms: Yes, people really typed these things into Google, and they really found Cosmic Revolutions when they did so.

• “Origami War Machine”
• “Lonely two person”
• “Heavy metal paper airplane”
• “Young Santa”
• and my personal favorite, “Burrito to the future.”

All I can say is, I sure hope that last person found what they were looking for.

Best discussion: The Bookless Library was one of the very first posts up on the blog, and people are still adding thoughtful comments as recently as last week (and to my great shame, I’ve still not responded to any of them).  Something about the overlap of digital life with local communities makes for a compelling conversation.

Favorite unexpected opportunity: A trend-hunting website found Cosmic Revolutions and asked me to do an interview.  The questions were remarkably insightful, and a lot of fun to answer.  They also illuminate my philosophy and my blogging process.  Read the full interview here if you missed it.

The next year of Cosmic Revolutions

Format: No changes.  I’ll keep the usual Wednesday noon posting schedule for regular essays.  I’ll also keep the Future Bites department, to keep you current on the latest future news.

Topics: I’d like to focus a bit more on your preferred topics, so let me know what you’d like to discuss!  In particular, I’ll use the results of the reader survey to guide me.  (If you haven’t added your two cents yet, click here to check it out).

Interviews: I’m planning to start offering occasional interviews in addition to the usual essays.  Over the last year, I’ve managed to build up quite a network of thinkers and writers who have an interesting take on the future, and I’d love to introduce them to you here on the site.  If you know anyone who’d be a good candidate (or if you’d be willing to be interviewed yourself!) please contact me.

Guests: Like interviews, I think guest posts would be a great way to broaden the blog’s perspective.  I’m interested in the views of researchers, engineers, environmentalists, journalists, teachers, writers, consultants, philosophers, parents, advocates, and really anyone who thinks about the future.  I’ll develop a set of submission guidelines soon, but in the meantime, if you have any interest in submitting a piece to Cosmic Revolutions, or know someone who would, let me know.

Finally, if there’s anything else you’d like to see on the blog (or that you’d rather I get rid of), I’d love to hear your vision for what Cosmic Revolutions can do for you over the next year.

As always, thank you for reading my work and joining the conversation.  I’m looking forward to more!

Ever your faithful future correspondent,

~Scott