A View From The Press Box

After one month as a blogger, I had about 2,500 unique visitors and nearly 15,000 individual page views--many of them no doubt curiosity seekers. The traffic dipped a bit after that and remained fairly stable through February.

However, both the number of visitors and page views started growing in March before peeking in July, when the number of unique visitors topped 7,000 for the first time, while the number of page views soared to nearly 32,000. Not too shabby.

Early on, I realized that to keep readers interested, I had to remain actively engaged myself, so I've tried to post at least three times a week, although often I post four, and sometimes even five entries. Overall, this is my 217th entry over the past 12 months.

But what made the blog come alive was the feisty feedback from readers. While I understand most prefer to remain in the background and read the various postings while keeping their own opinions to themselves, my blog has drawn 740 reader responses thus far--many of them quite lengthy, and a number from a loyal cadre of regulars. It's been a terrific give-and-take, and I've learned a lot from the exchanges.

I launched the blog on Sept. 5, 2006, with two postings. One was "Friedman's Challenge," which asked readers: "Would those of you longing for federal regulation of insurance be quite so enthusiastic about having Uncle Sam overseeing your business if the National Insurance Czar ended up being Eliot Spitzer, the person whose relentless probes turned the industry upside down?"

The other was "Hillary's Misfire," which took my U.S. senator to task for making a "glaring gaffe" that "inadvertently exposed one of the biggest problems facing the National Flood Insurance Program—the fact that too few outside the industry have a clue about what the coverage entails, whether they need it, or even who writes it."

Within 10 days, my blog started paying dividends, providing me with a scoop after I speculated in one entry about the reasons behind the surprise resignation of Ernie Csiszar as president of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America. That prompted some whistleblowers to tip me off about the real inside story, which I revealed in a subsequent blog and print column.

Of the many subjects I've talked about in the blog, certain topics always generate more (and more heated) responses than most. Any mention of the debates over credit scoring, the flood exclusion, broker contingency fees and the industry's reputation always gets readers excited.

However, to my surprise, the most feedback I've received has come whenever I bring up our cockamamie health insurance system. My Jan. 22 post--headlined "What If Hillary Was Right About Health Care Reform?'--helped put my blog on the map after I ran my online musings in my Feb. 5 print column. I drew a ton of comments, generating a second blog entry on Feb. 18 featuring all of the reader responses.

After that, traffic really started picking up, before exploding in early July, after I posted a series of blog entries inspired by the Michael Moore film, "Sicko."

It's funny, but a number of readers have challenged me for addressing this topic at all, wondering why someone covering property-casualty insurance would even bother with health insurance issues.

I explain patiently that for one, the general public does not distinguish between the property-casualty and life-health sectors the way those in the business do, which means controversies and bitterness over gaps in health insurance impact the entire industry's already battered reputation.

Second, I note that any comprehensive health care reform would no doubt impact, one way or the other, the way medical care costs are handled in workers' comp and auto insurance, thus making this public policy debate quite relevant to carriers of all stripes.

Speaking of "funny," while I appreciate that insurance is a serious business, I try to have fun with it sometimes. On March 13, I posted my "Insurance Idol" spin-off, while on April Fool's Day I ran a piece about the new captive haven of Fredonia, led by President Rufus T. Firefly--Groucho Marx's whacky character in "Duck Soup." I've even posted a baseball prediction or two. Most readers seem to appreciate the break in the routine.

When I started this blog, I said I wanted to take advantage of the Web's timeliness to comment immediately on breaking news and create an ongoing dialogue with readers--mission accomplished! But what I didn't foresee was how I could use the blog to call attention to the work of our other staff members and outside columnists, as well as particularly significant news and feature stories. It's been a win-win all around.

So, if you'll continue to indulge me, I'll keep blogging away. I'm counting on you to keep the momentum going by reading my diatribes and musings, letting me have it when you think I am totally off base, and rushing to my defense if you believe I'm right on target.

Thanks again for all your support!