Diverse Tech Geek 2022 year in review

Last updated on May 30th, 2023

Once again, it’s the end of the year, and time to look back over Diverse Tech Geek for 2022. The data below is taken from Matomo analytics’ unique page views; figures are as of December 26, 2022.

The top 10 Diverse Media Notes posts for 2022

Comic speech balloon — Image by Stefan Schweihofer from Pixabay

Below are the 10 most-read media posts written in 2022.

The most popular post for both Diverse Media Notes and the site overall this year is the year’s first post: my look at cartoons that should’ve entered public domain in 2022.

At #2 is another post from last January: animation-related cable networks’ ratings declining. Between cord-cutting and streaming services (plus the impact of the pandemic on TV production), things didn’t look good for cable overall in 2021. I doubt things will improve any for 2022, either.

At #3 is my look at “Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City,” the latest incarnation of the “Strawberry Shortcake” franchise. Cartoon reviews seemed popular, with PBS” “Jelly, Ben & Pogo” coming in at #7 and Nickelodeon’s “The Loud House” at #10.

At #4 is my look at basketball in cartoons, from “Space Jam” to the various fictional pro basketball teams in DC Comics. (Did you know Metropolis’ basketball team is the “Generals?”) Basketball’s a popular sport, so I guess I can see why it got more readers versus the similar posts I did for baseball, football, hockey, and even soccer (despite the World Cup taking place this year).

At #5 is this year’s list of my 10 favorite webcomics and comic strips. Writing about webcomics seems to be more popular than I expected, even if I always figured my favorite strips were a bit obscure. Perhaps in 2023, I’ll write more often about individual strips I enjoy.

My annual looks at comic sales (at #6 and #9) showed that comics are more popular than ever, thanks especially to children’s/young adult graphic novels and manga. Not so much Marvel and DC.

At #8 is my list of what I consider the most famous Western animated cartoons. Unsurprisingly, most of the list is made up of cartoons owned by Disney and Warner Bros., two of the biggest studios in American animation.

The top 10 Diverse Tech Geek posts for 2022

TV remote — Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

Below are the 10 most-read tech posts written in 2022.

I noticed most of this year’s top tech posts directly result from multiple major problems emerging in 2022.

Topping the list at #1 is where to buy DRM-free digital comics, followed by how to read digital comics at #2. Last spring, Amazon undermined how Comixology worked in the name of short-sighted simplification. They basically folded Comixology into the existing Kindle service, with little regard for how digital comics work. Needless to say, comic fans hated the change.

Netflix comes in at #3 and #5. Netflix made headlines for its first-ever subscriber loss, leading to the streaming service making numerous questionable changes, from layoffs in its animation department to price hikes to cracking down on password sharing. That said, HBO Max seems determined to tell Netflix to “hold my beer” when it comes to making bad decisions.

Another problematic tech issue is the sale of Twitter to Elon Musk. As such, my posts about Twitter alternatives like Mastodon clock in at #4, #6, and #9. The post about popular sports on social media (at #8) was written a month before the Musk/Twitter sale was finalized.

Two streaming-related bright spots are my posts on the best streaming services with LGBTQ content (at #7) and this year’s recommended streaming services for cartoons (at #9). That said, I did have to make some revisions to the latter; not long after the post went up, HBO Max launched into its slash-and-burn austerity drive.

2022 Diverse Tech Geek highlights

Laptop — Photo by WOCinTech Chat (Flickr / CC BY / cropped from original)

Some of the site’s highlights over 2022:

Early this year, I launched a new newsletter. So far, it seems to be working OK, even if there are relatively few subscribers. I just use it to send subscribers new blog posts.
It wouldn’t be my site if I didn’t switch themes occasionally. After a few short-lived themes, I’ve settled (for now) on a theme called Bam.
In April, I switched the site’s back end to ClassicPress, a WordPress fork using the old editor. While it’s going OK so far, it has one major downside: themes and plugins need to support WordPress version 4.9, which fewer and fewer are doing. The alternative would be running WordPress with the Classic Editor plugin, if I ever need to switch back.
Also in April, I signed up for a new Mastodon account. A good thing too—Elon Musk finally bought Twitter in October, and is currently running the site into the ground. I finally stopped using Twitter in mid-November (Musk overturning Trump’s lifetime ban was the final straw), and permanently switched to Mastodon. I also have Instagram and Tumblr as social networks, but don’t use those as often.
In September, I decided to rename the blog’s longtime two categories, “tech” and “media,” as “Diverse Tech Geek” (keeping the site’s overall name) and “Diverse Media Notes” (all the other media blog names were taken), promoting the two as semi-separate blogs. I figure it resolves my longtime concern that readers interested in, say, tips on using Mastodon won’t want to read about Cartoon Network’s ratings (or vice-versa). Setting things up this way also means not having to pay for or deal with a separate blog host. So far, things seem to be going OK.

Overall, 2022 was a good year for Diverse Tech Geek. Thanks to everyone for supporting my blogging efforts. I look forward to seeing what 2023 brings!

Image by Susan Cipriano from Pixabay