State of the Blog 2026: Following a new direction
I’ve blogged in one form or another for about 20 years, but never really knew what I wanted this site to be. Since its inception circa 2013, it’s fulfilled the roles of journalism portfolio and online CV, and served as a kind of technical notebook as I honed my trade in cyber security. Then from 2023 it stagnated as work demands increased and I struggled to carve out time to write.
Not anymore! From April this year, I was determined to restore the site to its former glory, and from that point published 23 blog posts and launched my Field Notes newsletter. Initially this involved more personal posts, but I eventually found my voice with commentary covering AI, security, and wider technology trends and wrote some pieces that I’m quite proud of.
It wasn’t all plain sailing - there were some lengthy gaps between articles, and only five editions of my supposedly monthly newsletter were sent after it was established in May. Heading into the new year, consistency will be as big a focus as anything else. People can’t read posts I don’t publish.
MattCASmith.net received just over 9,000 visitors in 2025, and around 30 percent of those arrived in the final quarter. That’s a positive trend in my eyes - it shows my more regular writing is attracting some attention!
Top blog posts of 2025
I was pleased to see so much of my 2025 writing gaining traction. My Claude café piece especially struck exactly the right balance between timeliness and topic, and stood head and shoulders above the rest of this year’s top five.
1. Claude’s café pop-up convinced me to switch LLMs [AI]
2. Amazon Kindle review: I wish I’d bought one years ago [Consumer]
3. Death Stranding 2: The journeys lost to life on demand [Gaming]
4. Fixing weak WiFi and slow speeds on my home network [Consumer]
5. EtherHiding: When good blockchains turn bad [Security]
Three of the five most read articles are from my newer, more focused tech commentary - validation that the editorial shift is working. But looking at the analytics more broadly, there’s still healthy traffic to my older evergreen content, which I’d like to transition from as AI chatbots erode search traffic.
Any writer or artist will tell you that the work that receives the most attention isn’t always their personal favourite. If you’re looking for some holiday reading, I think the following articles are worth revisiting:
• Agentic AI could be the catalyst for safer autonomy [AI]
• Humanising AI encourages intellectual lethargy [AI]
• AI chatbots are kicking journalism while it’s down [AI]
• ChatGPT Atlas positions AI as the internet’s gatekeeper [AI]
• AI shopping only works if you give up your privacy [AI]
• Quality products begin with detail-obsessed leaders [Business]
• New York City: Observations and recommendations [Travel]
What’s next in 2026?
This year I read two pieces of advice around blogging and creative work that stuck with me. The first was that you should measure your performance on the inputs you control, not the outputs you don’t. The second was that it’s easy to drive yourself crazy tracking metrics too regularly, and that zoomed-out annual figures are the best way to tell how things are progressing.
To that end, my main focus in 2026 will be to publish posts more regularly, and to keep up the cadence of my Field Notes newsletter. I hope readership continues to grow, but I won’t pay much attention to the figures until 2027’s review - more frequent checks could tempt me into knee-jerk reactions that sacrifice quality or enjoyment in search of numbers. Writing is an important outlet for me, and producing popular slop wouldn’t scratch that itch.
Thanks for reading in 2025 - whether you’ve been here for years or found the site recently. I’m excited to see where more consistent writing and publishing takes this in 2026. If you have any feedback on the blog, you can reach me on X or via email. And if you’re not already subscribed, join Field Notes here for monthly roundups and observations I don’t post elsewhere.