The Long Tail

This isn't a self-congratulatory post, but please spare me a moment - I'm going to introduce some numbers to make a point.

August was Mudville's most visited month ever, with a quarter million page views by readers from over 140 countries. Some of this was due to links from Foxnews, The NY Times, Washington Post, Wired magazine, and on-air mentions from CNN, MSNBC, The Daily Show. To give you an idea of the strength of the blogosphere, Powerline's decison to include Mudville on their news page resulted in thousands of visits - more than any of the sources listed above. Our top referrer's list for August reads like any list of the top blogs; The Corner, Hugh Hewitt, Michelle Malkin, Iraq the Model, Captain's Quarters, Winds of Change, Chrenkoff, Scrappleface, Protein Wisdom, fellow MilBloggers Blackfive, Smash, Froggy Ruminations, Stryker Brigade News... but our top single referrer was Instapundit - Glenn Reynolds sent over 20,000 visitors this way in August.

My thanks to them all.

But here's the fact I find most compelling about the whole thing. One of our site meters lists our top 50 referrers, then categorizes those who didn't make the list as "the rest". "The rest" sent 26,374 visitors here in August. "The rest" actually make the largest contribution to visits here, over any one of those fine bloggers, newspapers, and television programs above.

This is an illustration of the importance of "the long tail" - the mass of individual components of any system that are far more significant combined than any individual component of that system. And now we arrive at the real point of this discussion.

You may be one of those folks who hesitate to contribute to a cause because the donation you're capable of providing is small compared to the larger input from those who can do much more, and do so quite easily. You may think that your contribution is insignificant, lost in the noise. It is demonstrably not - the long tail theory does not just apply to blogs. It includes any number of systems - and charities are a perfect example.

Today many in the blogosphere are putting that "long tail" concept to work in an effort to raise funds for hurricane relief efforts. If you can spare a dollar, please give to one of the many charities you'll see endorsed throughout the blogosphere (here's a good place to look, the start of that long tail. UPDATE: or here, the headquarters of the long tail.).

I lived several years on the Gulf Coast, and I've been involved in hurricane recovery efforts. I've seen a couple of the groups in action. The Salvation Army does incredible work supporting victims and the volunteers who support them. They had set up facilities to feed and shade the "first responders", recovery teams working in the scorching sun in the wake of the storms - something I'll never forget. And as I sat eating a free meal in the shade during one such effort just hours after landfall I promised myself I'd never pass one of those Christmas bell ringers without dropping something in. It's not Christmas, but now is probably be an even better time to toss a few coins their way. They are on-scene, experienced, and dedicated - and from my personal experience, this is the place where your money will do the most immediate good. Donate here.

If you're looking for a military-related charity, Soldier's Angels and Operation AC are already preparing to respond to the potential problems awaiting if any Gulf Coast state National Guard members returning from the rebuilding of Iraq find their home lives devastated by Hurricane Katrina. (See here and here.)

Details on the project are here.

It takes a lot of drops of water to make a flood. It's time for a flood of a different sort on America's southern shore.

UPDATE: Also see this post. The Air Force Aid Society will also be a great choice for those wishing to help out. These guys will be doing incredible work over the next few weeks. Donations will go to assist those military members in the Keesler area who've obviously lost a lot. Here's their home page. There's a link for hurricane relief contributions on their front page, you can donate online with a credit card.