10 October 2010

The Eastman Effect


You wouldn't confuse them in the hotel lobby.

Oprah is the one with more hair, except on her face.

Rated as one of the richest and most influential women in the world, her core audience is estimated to spend more than $7 trillion dollars a year. Any book or other product she features on her ratings-dominating television show becomes an instant commercial success. It's the Oprah Effect.

Then there's Dick Eastman. I haven't noticed his name on lists of the rich and influential. He may not pull in a comparable salary. Occasional appearances on Roots TV may not have quite the same impact. But there is also an Eastman Effect.

Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter proclaims itself to be the most popular online genealogy magazine in the world according to Alexa. Statistics on hits on this blog can testify to its influence. On Saturday Dick blogged about a flood in the OGS offices and linked to this blog. Within minutes folks started arriving at this blog. Two hundred came in the first twelve hours. Folks kept coming and have blown away the record for most visits in one day.

Thanks Dick. Thanks Mike for the info.


2 comments:

Ellen Thorne Morris said...

I look forward to the Eastman newsletters for the details on the newest Internet uses for genealogy. He gives such a clear explanation as well as his opinion of the tools, toys, and genealogy programs that I have a begun a wish list. He is my technical source to the Internet. ETM

Chris Whitten said...

Bingo!

Last month Dick reviewed WikiTree.com http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2010/09/wikitree.html

Before that review, we had 200,000 profiles in our database. It took two years to get those first 200,000. Two weeks after the review, we had 400,000. As of today, we have 500,000.

The Eastman Effect!