CultureGrrl’s Two-Millionth Hit and Our Upcoming Live Chat

How meaningful is this blog’s two million-hit milestone, which has just been attained this morning?

Not very: Due to the vagaries of Internet searching, a great many people arrive at CultureGrrl by sheer accident, Googling things like “museum of murder and mayhem” (having to do with some TV show episode) or “rose image” (wildly popular around Mothers Day), they arrive at the right blog for the wrong reasons.

I wish I could identify today’s two millionth visitor. I’d like to give you (a devoted art-ling, I hope) some kind of prize—a CultureGrrl Cap? Should I make one? Would you wear it?

I haven’t stooped to hawking merchandise (yet). But while the blog keeps evolving in both style and substance (better photos, more videos, more focus on my own reportorial and analytical strengths, rather than news aggregation), my business acumen hasn’t. I can’t troll for ads (and ArtsJournal blogs’ righthand columns, where AJ used to place ads for us, have remained dormant). I don’t like nagging for donors (though I really do need some).

So I post and I wait.

What I’m waiting for (probably in vain) is to be “discovered” by some media mogul or a sympathetic backer who appreciates the value of what I’ve built—a loyal following of the most savvy, sophisticated art professionals and art lovers around the U.S. and, to a lesser extent, abroad. CultureGrrl‘s got Google power, pundit power, staying power (blogging for more than four and a half years and counting). What I need is support.

But enough self absorption. Back to you, loyal readers: At 3:30 p.m., Eastern time, on Thursday, we’re going to try a technological experiment—CultureChat, a live instant message-type discussion, right here on the blog. Given my usual technophobia, I strongly fear that this is not going to work. So I’m starting small, with a relatively inconsequential topic—“State of the Blog.” I’ll be interested in getting your feedback about CultureGrrl—what you like, what you’d like to see in the future, what you don’t particularly care for (civility, please!). More generally, let’s also talk about the roles (or lack thereof) of the art blog.