--- title: "2005 reflections and plans for 2006" date: 2005-12-30 author: "Richard MacManus" categories: - name: "ReadWriteWeb" url: "/category/readwriteweb.md" tags: - name: "2005" url: "/tag/2005.md" --- # 2005 reflections and plans for 2006 It’s technically New Years Eve where I am, as I write this. I haven’t done much blogging over the past week, because I’ve been re-charging my batteries and making plans for 2006. In this post I reflect on the year that’s past and tell you a bit about my plans for R/WW in 2006. A year ago I set myself a goal to convert my hard work on Read/WriteWeb into real-world success, particularly career wise. The fact I was able to quit my day job in August and then earn a living as a self-employed Web Consultant — I think that means I achieved that goal. Plus I visited America, a place I’ve long dreamed about, for the first time in October and met many of the people I’d gotten to know via blogging. At the start of 2005, Read/WriteWeb had around 500 RSS subscribers. Just before the xmas holidays I’d reached a shade under 8,000. Not quite the level of growth [Techcrunch](https://web.archive.org/web/20060114061607/http://www.techcrunch.com/) has enjoyed, but not too shabby 😉 Since this is a personal post and all but the first 500 of my subscribers has by now tuned out ;-)… let me take this opportunity to thank some people. [Marc Canter](https://web.archive.org/web/20060114061607/http://blog.broadbandmechanics.com/) was the first person to give me ongoing work. Marc’s the first at a lot of things, so keep an eye out for DLAs and Broadband Mechanics in ’06. [Susan Mernit](https://web.archive.org/web/20060114061607/http://susanmernit.blogspot.com/2005/12/2005-three-more-people-to-thank-lisa.html) has given me a lot of interesting work this year, which has kept me on my toes and sharpened my skillset. I’ve also done work for [Rojo](https://web.archive.org/web/20060114061607/http://www.rojo.com/), [Nooked](https://web.archive.org/web/20060114061607/http://www.nooked.com/), [Aqute Research](https://web.archive.org/web/20060114061607/http://www.aqute.com/), [ZDNet](https://web.archive.org/web/20060114061607/http://blogs.zdnet.com/web2explorer/) (blogging), [New Zealand National Library](https://web.archive.org/web/20060114061607/http://www.natlib.govt.nz/), [Idealog](https://web.archive.org/web/20060114061607/http://www.idealog.co.nz/), [O’Reilly Media](https://web.archive.org/web/20060114061607/http://www.oreilly.com/). Also a huge thanks to R/WW’s sponsors this year. In 2005 I met a number of amazing bloggers in person. Too many to mention, so I won’t even try to list them all! But a special shout-out to my Web 2.0 Workgroup co-founders [Mike Arrington](https://web.archive.org/web/20060114061607/http://techcrunch.com/) and [Frederico Oliveira](https://web.archive.org/web/20060114061607/http://webreakstuff.com/blog/). Also I owe a big thanks to [Havi Hoffman](https://web.archive.org/web/20060114061607/http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-Koiy.8g5erBQbNe3hOk-) and Elizabeth Osder from Yahoo, who introduced me to the good people of Yahoo and showed me around the campus in October. Finally I must mention the [spicy noodles dinner](https://web.archive.org/web/20060114061607/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/twoway_web_blog.php) with Mike, Fred, Gabe and the one and only [Dave Winer](https://web.archive.org/web/20060114061607/http://scripting.com/). An evening to remember. ## 2006 Plans More travel beckons in 2006. I’m coming to Seattle at the end of January for Microsoft Search Champs. Also [Ben Barren](https://web.archive.org/web/20060114061607/http://benbarren.blogspot.com/) is trying to entice me across to Melbourne, to help him kick-start online media in Australia. So it’ll be interesting to see how it all pans out career and life wise next year. I’m planning to ramp up Read/WriteWeb in 2006, focusing on the intersection of Web technology and media. I really want to make R/WW a thoroughly professional site, where you can come to get the latest news and views relating to Web-based media. Just as one year ago I was excited by the possibilities of Web 2.0 (the Web as platform), now I’m excited by what I expect will be a huge year in 2006 for digital media. It’s building on the Web as platform, taking it to the next level. I like to be one step ahead of trends, so expect big things from Read/WriteWeb next year. Happy new year everybody! *Originally published on ReadWriteWeb ([archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20020204040018/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/2005_reflection.php))*