Is The DC Blogging Community Dead?

I'm a blogger between two cities. I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, so I often write about Pittsburgh sports. I have lived in Northern Virginia for more than a decade, so I often write about my experiences living in the Washington DC area. Within the past year, I was invited to join the Pittsburgh Bloggers group, I participated in a fantasy football league consisting of Pittsburgh Bloggers and I was part of the Spring 2013 Pittsburgh Guest Blogger event where 30-40 Pittsburgh Bloggers wrote a guest post on another blog. Although I don't live in Pittsburgh anymore, the group has been extremely welcoming, so it's a little disappointing when I can't participate in events for Pittsburgh Bloggers including a recent TweetUp or attend the Pittsburgh Opera Bloggers Night.

Meanwhile, I don't see any of this happening in DC for bloggers. I attended a DC Bloggers Happy Hour almost five years ago and Lacochran organized a group of bloggers to run a 5K about three years ago. Please note the phrases "years ago" from the last sentence. The Washington Post had a local blog directory, but that doesn't seem to exist anymore. While I like DC Blogs (even though my posts don't appear on the live feed until hours later and then get lost in the middle of the page) to highlight some of the best blog posts and as a blog directory, I don't see any activities or camaraderie among DC Bloggers.

Are blogs played out in DC where they aren't in Pittsburgh? Perhaps the problem is that DC is too spread out. At this point, it is unlikely that I would attend a DC Happy Hour because I'm old(ish) and want to see my family after a long day and commute home. (Although I would jump at the opportunity to get free tickets to a DC Bloggers Theater Night!) However, a Northern Virginia Happy Hour in Fairfax, Vienna, Chantilly or Reston could be a possibility.

So is there still a DC Bloggers community that I just don't know exists or is there little to no DC bloggers community anymore?

Big Week for Sean’s Ramblings

Thanks to DC Blogs and Deadspin, there were more visits to this site in the past 2.5 days than there usually are in an entire month.

On Thursday, DC Blogs linked to my bus story by writing “Harry Potter book interrupted by the sight of finger nail cutting woman. Metro bus story at Sean’s Ramblings.” Technically, the nail cutting incident took place on a Fairfax Connector bus, but that’s irrelevant.

On Friday, Deadspin linked to my recap of the Argentina-U.S. soccer match. As a comparison of how much Deadspin has grown, they linked to a post I wrote about Ben Roethlisberger attending a Penguins game in January 2006. On that day, I received 78 visits, a personal record at the time for most hits in a day. Yesterday, I received an incredible 848 visits, primarily from Deadspin readers.

The total number of visits on Thursday through 10:30am on Saturday = 1036! So thanks again to DC Blogs and Deadspin, and if you have not already visited these sites, I hope that you do (often).

Have a great weekend!