That Was The DCBLOG Year That Was

By DC Cueva

@DC408Dxtr

A year ago today on June 1, 2013, the headline was: "I'm here." With those two words - the same two that also marked my entry into the twitter sphere 12 months before, we heralded in a new era in my social media life that is DCBLOG. Three-hundred sixty-five days later, you could say that time has flown by very fast, and it always does when you're having fun and enjoying yourself on here.

   DCBLOG's very first post, as well as the description that you see in the header on top of this site, promised that this would be a platform for me to blog in the things that I am passionate about: sports, entertainment, my life experiences and beyond...it sure has delivered on that pledge here. In this last year, I have had a blast posting nearly 100 articles on here in the past 12 months, with a good number that I haven't posted yet that are still in draft mode. If you count those nearly 40 of them and add them all up, then I would have done a post every 2-4 days. And I've gotten nearly 8800 total page views, while my page has had visitors from countries all over the world from all six continents.

Most of all, this has become primarily a destination for those who love MTV shows as much as me. While I kicked off our blog in a soft-launch style with just a few things, of course, DCBLOG went into full gear when one of my new favorite shows, The Challenge, began its 24th season with Rivals II last summer. We supplemented the predictions, the power rankings and the cast interviews of fellow blogs that cover this franchise and The Real World with a site of my own that added a further dimension to their coverage. We've brought you the tweet-by-tweet diaries of the cast as they saw episodes on twitter. I took the opportunity to tell stories relating to the cast members, and provided the Fan's View.

   Then, we transitioned into covering my first Real World season on here, a season which has revived this reality franchise in more ways than one. We also are covering a great season of The Challenge that has lived up to the fact that anyone could win and anyone is vulnerable, Free Agents. And during the cold of winter, we even got to discover a brand new show which brought elements of The Challenge and Real World to the world of dating & romance, and made staying up late mid-week worth losing some sleep for. Of course, that would be Are You The One?, which became my new guilty pleasure.

Most importantly, in perhaps the signature feature on DCBLOG, we have provided the SocialPulse of each and every episode of these shows. What goes into the making of every SocialPulse post? Well, while viewers out east are watching the episodes, I actually keep a monitor on the tweets by either copy & pasting the tweets of the cast members onto the notepad on my iPad, or I favor those tweets so I would eventually do them later. Then I retweet those tweets in real time on twitter when I see it here out west, eventually moving it to my dedicated twitter account to live tweeting, DCNOW. Then, I stay up afterwards to begin (or continue) the process of compiling all those tweets. And it's not just of the cast; starting with RW Ex-Plosion I decided to also include tweets from fans as a way to also involve them more on here. And I finally conclude with my own tweets as I live tweeted the episodes.

   Yes, it's such a long and tedious task that takes anywhere from an hour and often more to do, it also takes a couple other people to also help out - They actually requested that I don't name them on here just for the sake of not getting any attention, so they'll remain anonymous. Then, I write my own episode wrap-up, and I do wait for a wrap or two from other fans so then I can then base my recap so I can make sure I have the right things covered and also carefully re-word them in covering it in my own words so I don't get myself in trouble. Plus, when necessary, I add in some perspective on things relating to that episode, typically with a historical outlook.

   Then I paste the tweets onto the blog after I write my wrap-up & epilogue, and once I'm done pasting all of them onto the article, I post it right here. And in the case of RW/Challenges, the first people that I typically tweet the link to are to fans of the shows who live out west, good friend Andrew Kirk and fellow video blogger Ace Nichols, who, like me, both don't get the privilege of live tweeting episodes at the same time as cast members do out east, and by tweeting it to them first, they are able to catch up on tweets from the cast along with my wrap up. It was, after all, AK who recommended to me that I should do a wrap-up of sorts of the tweets as a response to me over-tweeting during episodes (I no longer do it on my primary twitter hub having moved them to DCNOW in March).

   Besides including their tweets in our SP diaries, we have included the fans even more on this site by way of our Fan's View posts. Thanks to me working those social media contacts and politely asking them too, we've provided you exclusive looks inside the reunions of Real World Portland, Rivals II and Are You The One?, plus the After Shows for Real World Ex-Plosion, from the point of view of those who attended those shows live and saw much more than what we saw on TV. As I wrote here a number of times, this is actually the only interviews that I do here (the podcast hosts take care of talking to cast members), which have added a further dimension to the reunion experience to that as seen from the cast. And I've gotten nothing but great & positive feedback on all eight of my subjects.

It hasn't all been about MTV here on this blog, we also provided a decent amount of sports coverage on here. And in particular, back in February I wrote a number of posts pertaining to the Olympic Games during the Sochi Winter Games. I have planned to write posts on other sports as well, but with me being busy with MTV over the past year those posts still haven't reached the end of their drafts, but rest assured they will be posted on here over the summer, along with new ones. We are, after all, in a summer where soccer will dominate our attention as we head towards football season.

   I've also blogged a little bit on the music industry including my great relationship with the industry and posted a couple SocialPulse posts on last year's American Music Awards and this year's Grammys. I've even provided a couple views on the holiday season and the party known as Mardi Gras. And for those life experiences, I got to write on two of the most exciting days I've ever had: graduating high school and meeting Linkin Park. I wish I could do more of these posts, but again I've been so busy I haven't completed those drafts. But rest assured I'll be doing more of them here.

I've received nothing but great compliments from fans for the great work I've done over the last 52 weeks, here's a sampling...

"well written DC. Good job - and thanks for watching."

- RWSTT's Trey Weatherholtz (@MTVTrey), on post explaining story behind his 11:11 tweets

"dope article bro"

- RWPDX's Marlon Williams aka "Jay Dillinger" (@TheJayDillinger) on my Rivals II Newbies post

"Thanks for all the support this season. Nice job yourself with your posts!"

- David Bloom (@DavidBloom7), fellow Challenge blogger, during Rivals II

"your doing a great job man keep doing it."

- Andrew Kirk (@CSUAKirk)

"Aww DC thank you so much, it's a great read!! Thank you for being so kind and nice appreciated :)"

- Neya Sivera (@NeyaSivera), RW/Challenge superfan from Croatia, after being mentioned in one of my posts during Rivals II

 > on my first Fan's View post: The Real World Portland Reunion Revealed:

"just read it!!! good job!! It was perfect."

- Kaitlyn Macisco (@KMacisco)

"Cool read DC!"

- Kevin Gonzalez (@KevinGonzalez_)

"Cool post. I liked seeing other people's perspectives."

- Brian Cohen (@BusDriversRoute)

"I saw! Loved it! Thanks again!"

- Drew Consolo (@CiaoBrooklyn), on my Fan's View: Rivals II Reunion Revealed post

"thank you again buddy for having me, very much appreciated. You're an amazing blogger! round of applause to an amazing blogger 👏👏 great job buddy!"

- Eric Ceballos (@EricC_Official), on my Fan's View: RW Explosion After Show post

> on my latest Fan's View post: The Are You The One? Reunion Revealed:

"Awesome glad you liked it! You're welcome anytime!"

- Meagan Cartwright (@Meag_Cartwright)

"im glad you enjoyed it!! Thanks so much :)"

- Janette Diaz (@janniel0ve)

And now, year 2 of DCBLOG is just beginning. Over the course of the next year, you can expect the same kind of coverage of the entertainment and sports you love that you've become accustomed to over the past year on here, plus my stories and much more. From taking the SocialPulse of your favorite shows & big events to covering things you may not have known, it's all here.

   With its reunion taking place this weekend, Free Agents is heading towards its homestretch, and we'll be on top of that as the quest for the cash takes place. Soon enough as soon as this summer rolls along, we'll be thinking about new seasons of Real World and Are You The One?, and even a Challenge as well, along with anything else that might grab my interest in the next 12 months.

   And starting in just a couple weeks, the FIFA World Cup will be taking place in Brazil, and I plan to cover soccer on here, along with sports coverage that aims to go beyond the scores & headlines and even the big name sports here. And we'll have a bunch of other things posted on here as well, especially during the summer along with those sports posts and entertainment as well.

Last but not least, I saved the best for last: a chance for me to say thank you. To all of you who have visited DCBLOG, whether you're a regular visitor who bookmarks this site or not, whether you're famous to everyone or just to family & friends, or whether you're here or halfway around the world, thanks for your patronage, support & loyalty. To those who have left me positive feedback - and there's been nothing but it - from those who I've talked with for my Fan's View series or from those who've read these posts and have given me props for the great work I do, a thanks to you as well. And for those who have promoted my blog by retweeting my links on your twitter page to help drive users to my site, thanks also for helping spread the word.

   As I wrote on here when I celebrated my 1st anniversary on twitter last June, the great support & respect I've received from everyone is very gratifying, and as always I am most appreciative. It's doing these posts - providing great depth & insight, the long hours compiling the SP posts and much more - that have undoubtedly made this hobby of blogging worthwhile and something that I am most proud of. I have always been a great writer going back to when I was in school and college, but had yet to exhibit what I'm capable of to the world. Now thanks to this Blogger platform, I am able to showcase it to everyone, and I have succeeded in doing that beyond my initial expectations.

   It has been a great 365 days being able to blog on the things that I am passionate about on here, and I can't wait for what the next 12 months have in store in covering the entertainment and sports you & I love, and the things I'm interested in & want to share with you. So, here's to a great year on DCBLOG, and here's to another great year and beyond. Thank you.

- DC