360DigitalInfluence

On 17 July 2009 at sundown, ten brave souls ran a 24-hour race. Blisters and bruises damned their feet not, although sore fingers and tight bladders weren’t pleasant neither, I don’t suppose. Welcome to blogathon 2009.

The 10 brave souls chosen for this run were already champions in their own domains. United by a common thread for blogging, they are undoubtedly the pulse that pumps through the veins of Singapore’s social media community. As they reached the finishing line, I was left feeling like a junkie fixed on an emotional high.

I applaud the 10 brave souls – Claudia, DK, Dottie, Hillary, Jayden, Melly, Nadia, Nicholas, Sheryo and Stephie. Personally, I can’t go beyond half an hour without fidgeting and these fellas did so for 24 freaking hours. What’s more, they were gracious enough to pose for, and with, the river of curious people strolling by Orchard Road. Such sport. Singapore Tourism Board should take note. Tons of tourists went on a shooting spree with their cameras that day.

The post-event video says it all.

One of the topics the brave souls had to write about was about the race itself, and 10 things their readers should know about it.  In the true spirit of the race, let me, the organizer, share with you 10 other things you should know about blogathon.

1. The concept of pitting 10 bloggers against each other was conceived some time in December last year by the Ogilvy 360° Digital Influence team in Singapore for Intel, at the balcony of the office. We like the balcony. It is our Mecca.

2. The idea would not have come to life without Lenovo providing the machines (Lenovo IdeaPad U350) and TANGS playing host. Typically, the collaboration of 3 brands would’ve been a logistical nightmare for any agency but in this instance, it was smooth sailing with everyone on the same page. I apologise if I’ve been too bossy with any of the brands though.

3. 5.8 blog posts and 34 comments were generated every hour for 24 hours. Yes, we have a lot to say.

4. The average person viewed 11 pages per visit to our blogathon website.  Not too bad, considering a good number of us don’t flip that many pages in our newspapers even. Over 44,000 page views were made during this period.

5. The average person stays for about 12 minutes on our blogathon website. If you think about it, that’s like watching 24 30-second television commercials consecutively without a toilet break.

6. Speaking of toilet breaks, we were originally deliberating between intervals of 3 and 4 hours, but decided on 2 hours because hell hath no fury like a tight bladder scorned. The official toilet break sign is now in the hands of the unofficial toilet break announcer, Tania.

7. Miyagi and baby Kai popped by to say hi. On that note, I’d just like to add that my left bicep has grown more muscular courtesy of baby Kai.  Forgoing dinner, Irene Ang came by to say hi too, and tweeted a picture of DK’s nephew before heading off to yet another event.

8. It felt more like a social media summit for the country, with bloggers nationwide coming by to rally support for the 10 brave ones. Both Pamela and Melly have an intensive list each that you should check out.

9. DK should really consider the hat as a permanent fixture to his outfit considering the rave reviews. Given what the Girlfriend thinks of the Boyfriend, Nicholas should make Fred Perry his next best friend.

10. No event is truly successful, without a troll or two. I echo Ben Koe’s words. Thank you, #BthonSucks.