Greatest Greatest Hits: Your favorite posts of 2017
In 2017, we brought you 1,059 posts including 225 breakfast links, and you wrote 32,286 comments on them!
That's a lot of comments, and we want to sincerely thank you for your engagement. I often learn as much from the comment section as from the articles themselves, and I'm proud and appreciative to be part of the community of smart, passionate people that make up GGWash.
As we close out 2017, here are some of the most popular posts of this past year:
What you read most on the blog
equity | cycling | roads | buses | metro |
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Five of our top posts dug into equity issues in the region, including how policing, race, and segregation impact our communities. (Those are the stories highlighted in light blue.) We're working to reflect a broader range of experiences and perspectives on the blog, and it's good to see that you like what we're doing.
Three others (highlighted in purple) were about cycling, which is no surprise. We love our bikes!
The other top stories were mostly about roads (pink), buses (tan), Metro (green), infrastructure, and housing — all topics that will continue to be our bread and butter. It's been a busy year for Metro and the Purple Line, closing out with some positive news. The developments along I-66, from bike lanes to tolls, also kept us busy this year — as did Maryland Governor Larry Hogan's highway-widening plans. We're looking forward to digging into these issues even more in 2018.
What you commented on most on the blog
Purple Line | driving and roads | First-person |
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Rank | Title |
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1. | Judge Leon rules against the Purple Line again (223 comments) |
2. | I bought a house in Prince George's County, and I'm really happy I did (187 comments) |
3. | Yes, yelling at female cyclists is sexist (185 comments) |
4. | Why is a small grocery store blocking a Takoma Park development project more than 20 years in the making? (178 comments) |
5. | A Utah congressman wants DC to become part of Maryland. Let's examine that idea… (178 comments) |
6. | Gov. Hogan's plan to widen the Beltway, I-270, and BW Parkway won't make traffic better (165 comments) |
7. | A new Potomac River bridge is a bad idea, even for drivers, a study shows (155 comments) |
8. | A trail in Bethesda will close for five years due to the Purple Line. It's totally worth it. (155 comments) |
9. | The new $40 I-66 tolls offer great insight into commuter psychology (149 comments) |
10. | Breakfast links: Amazon, based in Washington and Washington? (145 comments) |
Three of the most commented-on posts were about driving and roads (in pink), and two were about the Purple Line (highlighted in purple). Two first-person posts — one about biking as a woman and the other about buying a House in Prince George's — both got a slew of comments as well. Although only one breakfast links post broke into the top ten most-commented this year, there's consistently been a lot of great conversation in those each morning.
Most popular on Facebook
Our most popular post on Facebook was Jared Alves' “Baltimore may sell homes for $1 instead of demolishing them,” which dominated in other categories as well. “The millennials who transformed DC after the recession are now leaving for cheaper cities” and “The healthy DC economy is leaving behind longtime black residents, new study finds,” both breakfast links from the Washington Post, were also popular.
PS: We like you, do you like us (on Facebook) too?
Most popular on Twitter
On Twitter, our most popular post was “Upcoming Metro shutdowns signal a new, better approach to track work.” It was closely followed by “The Purple Line will be so much more than a train. Here's why so many people support it” and “Swarovski Crystal City? Sunglass Hut Shady Grove? Jos. A. Bank Suitland? What funny/sad #WMATA corporate station names can you think of?”
Barrage us with thoughtful, supportive tweets here.
As we seek to do more and better analysis and journalism, we never forget that it's the community of bright and dedicated readers, commenters, writers, and volunteers that make this all happen every day. We truly appreciate you.
As always, if you find yourself thinking “I wish someone wrote X,” consider writing it yourself! You can reach out to us here. Wishing you all the happiest of holidays!