Final Post of 2024 before we sign off tonight to celebrate with family.
A little recap to end the year on a high. It’s been a brilliant 12 months here at Blantyre Telegraph! Expanding from Facebook into other social media platforms including Instagram and X and seeing increased traffic to our main website. We’ve successfully migrated our graphics and design to a more mobile device friendly format, something we’ve been wanting to do for years. Our Facebook page has grown by another +3,000 people now followed by almost 27,000 people, right on par with far more major, professional news outlets! It’s fabulous also to hear feedback from people who use Telegraph as their primary source to find out what’s going on in this area.
Readership has grown far beyond Blantyre, with (for the first time!) just as many people in both East Kilbride and in Hamilton following our posts , as in Blantyre. With so many media outlets and organisations now also providing us with press releases, posting about regional or National news every now and again has certainly helped growth! As always however, first and foremost we’re a Blantyre page.
We became ‘blue tick’ Meta verified in the summer as part of efforts to grow and protect a more professional brand. Subscribing to absolutely amazing new software and with occasional time saving AI assistance, we’ve been able to ramp up meaningful content to ensure the page is engaging, interesting yet always maintaining a human touch (avoiding clickbait!). Importantly, thanks to our amazing Supporters Group, we’ve been able to make many dozens of charitable donations to local Blantyre good causes, worth many thousands of pounds, making a real different to lives! That’s what this is all about and why we continue!
A reminder, this is all done in spare time, volunteering for no reward. Writing and pre-scheduling articles at evenings and weekends and strictly out with a busy daytime job elsewhere. No recognition or reward is sought, but if you can stretch to some likes, shares, comments on each of our posts, or becoming a Supporter, that’s always nice and appreciated. Finally, on a more personal note…..
“After a difficult 4 years, health has finally returned in 2024 and I’m thankfully now fighting fit, fully recovered and back feeling good again! Never one to sit back, I remain ‘super motivated’ to ensure Telegraph is as engaging and informative as possible, hopefully continuing to make a difference for this wonderful community and town I care so deeply about. There’s a LOT going on in the background including an astonishing network of ‘content providing’ organisations, businesses and individuals which I’m sincerely thankful for. With over 23,000 posts, I’ve now been doing this for 14 years and openly admit, I’m extremely proud of where Telegraph has reached! So, if you’ve got as far as this…..here’s wishing all readers, no matter where you are in the world, a Happy New Year for 2025, peace and happiness. Thank you for your continued support. Stay safe, have fun tonight and see you….well …..next year! Cheers!, Paul.“
