Anyone who puts a clustr map on their blog knows how you feel when you first see the little red dots appearing. First up, you’re amazed that anyone is reading at all, and then you’re amazed to find that they’re coming from many different parts of the world. It’s one of the visible signs of our flattening world and our ability to connect with like minds who we’ve never physically met.
Just the other day I checked in with my Clustr map and discovered this;
‘This map will be archived on approximately 2nd Feb 2009’.
Now I knew this happened, but I didn’t know they notified you. So I’m going to have to adapt to a blank Clustr map in the coming days. They suggest you take a screenshot for posterity’s sake. Hence the above picture.
Ahhh well. It doesn’t matter so much to me now the accumulation of red dots, but it does act as a good talking point when you try to explain to people new to the world of blogging just what the big deal is. I’ll watch with interest over the coming days as it reverts to a blank landscape.
Lucacept - intercepting the Web 
Thanks so much for writing about this! I didn’t think about taking a screen shot but that is a great idea. I also went to the map and looked at the list of countries that have visited my blog. I don’t know why I haven’t done that before but it was really interesting!
No problems Pat. I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who don’t know about the archive that happens on what I assume must be a yearly basis. And I’m also sure there are plenty like you who have never clicked the map to see it in its large version, giving you a better picture of where the hits are coming from.
I use google analytics which drills down the locations so you can even see the regions, states, provinces, counties, etc… where your readers are coming from.
What will be interesting from your clustr map, should it go “blank” is to compare from year to year where your readers are. I wish there was some way to analyze what brought your readers to your map by country. I get those statistics from google analytics, but it takes a lot of evaluation (which honestly, I’m a bit lazy about doing, especially when I should be using the time to write my dissertation).
I have to admit I am looking forward to seeing where the dots appear this time around. It will be an interesting study on its own. A dissertation Virginia? I feel like I’m writing one here, but no-one’s going to give me a piece of paper that will enable me to apply for higher education appointments on the basis of the effort I put into this blog!