In this case it has taken about 18 months so far.  From a lone blogger with less than 40 readers in the first month to nearly 300 times that now. From subletting a kind man's host space, to joining a large network of blogs, Sounder at Heart has found ways to grow not just its audience, but our contributors as well.

Carlos was the first. Graham the second. Both are free to write at their will and leisure, but more importantly with this software, so are you. Through a FanPost you can write as much as you in your own personal blog entry. These will occasionally be promoted to the frontpage. With a FanShot you can share a link, image, or other media that you feel should be shared with the community.

When I talk about Democracy in Sports, I also meant the open nature of modern blogging. Part of the appeal of SBNation.com was that it would empower readers to be members of a community. This goes beyond reading and hopefully writing. You also have tools like "Flag" to notify us of something wrong, and "Rec" which will help let other people know of something which you agree. Matt at LookoutLanding.com has a great post summing up these two functions and how they help.

This also gives me the opportunity to share some stats about the blog over the past few months on the new software. These stats also indicated that maybe not all the readers knew the power they have in this community.

Stats For 2009

New Members

200

Total Comments

2435

Total Stories

340

Total FanPosts

12

Total FanShots

14

Most Active Commenters

Most Stories

Most FanPosts

Most FanShots

This is our blog. While yes, Dave Clark is the manager, most of the readers are Sounders at Heart as well. Next year I hope to see your name on those lists too.