For the second time in a month, United Methodist Insight has been rated among the world's top faith-based blogs and websites, this time ranking fourth among the top 60 Methodist blogs evaluated by Feedspot, a blog reader website.
Feedspot collects the best of blogs from thousands of categories worldwide, including those focused on Methodism. As the website explained its ratings, Feedspot chooses the "best Methodist blogs using search and social metrics." Blogs are ranked based on following criteria:
- Google reputation and Google search ranking
- Influence and popularity on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites
- Quality and consistency of posts.
- Feedspot’s editorial team and expert review.
Methodist Blog Award
In late November, Feedspot ranked Insight as 10th among its top 100 worldwide Protestant blogs.
United Methodist Insight was founded in December 2011 by veteran religion journalist Cynthia B. Astle, former editor of The Progressive Christian magazine and the United Methodist Reporter weekly newspaper. She created the online forum originally as a temporary project to amplify news and views from the margins of The United Methodist Church in advance of the 2012 General Conference. Sponsored by St. Stephen United Methodist Church in Mesquite, Texas, the temporary project became an ongoing publication after readers and followers encouraged Ms. Astle to continue publishing after the 2012 General Conference.
Insight is a not-for-profit publication sustained entirely by grants and donations, with major support from the Temple, Texas-based Joe B. and Louise P. Cook Foundation.
"The past six years have seen an amazing growth in Insight's readership, now between 8,000 and 9,000 followers," Ms. Astle said. "I think that's a quite respectable showing given the narrow scope of our specialty, which is intended mainly for United Methodist leaders, influencers and other decision-makers.
"I'm especially proud of our continuing efforts to publish writings by more women, people of color and international contributors," the editor continued. "Our editorial vision is for Insight to be a reflection of a 'beloved community' as we stand firm for God's inclusive love and justice proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's a difficult mix to maintain and at times we've stumbled. But we've also gotten back up, brushed the dirt off our knees and kept on moving.
"Most of all, I'm grateful for the constant support of our followers who both contribute their writing and point us toward news and views they think are important to the United Methodist conversation. Their participation means they find us worth their time, and that's the biggest value we can bring."
The Methoblog, Good News Magazine and World Methodist Evangelism were the top three Methodist blogs rated by Feedspot.