Community Corner

A Patch Milestone: One Million Articles Published

Patch.com, which numbered only about 40 sites a year ago, has grown to more than 850. That means 850 towns helping community members stay informed and connected.

Brian Farnham is the editor-in-chief of Patch. Here are excerpts from a blog post he wrote about Patch publishing its 1 millionth piece of content.

One of the benefits of an online business is having access to a lot of numbers. The Internet runs on computers and computers run on numbers, so everything you do can be counted, usually in five different ways. And when your online business is words, stories, conversations and information — like it is at Patch — the numbers can get interesting.

For instance, across our 850+ sites, we publish a new piece of original content every 12 seconds. That stat persistently wows me, because it speaks to the work our nearly 1,000 editors put in every day. 

But we recently encountered a big number. One million. As in, Patch has now produced one million articles. That adds up to more than 382 million words. All that in just 30 months, and with more than 600 of our sites having launched in the last eight months. (Another number we love? 391. That's how many articles we've published about lost pets - and in many cases, we've heard that our stories helped reunite those pets with their owners. Woof.)

Find out what's happening in Dover-Sherbornwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

For the record, the one millionth article was , from Local editor , about a man in Dunedin, Fla., who honored the memory of his late mother by continuing her virtuous habit of donating backpacks to a local Catholic school. 

This story is pure Patch. By that I mean it's a small, meaningful story that goes to the heart of our mission: connecting users with their communities, and with each other. Of course, we also produce bigger, more broadly impactful journalism as well, such as our coverage of the  in San Bruno, the plight of a missing  who jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge or the ongoing saga of local  on multiple felony charges.

All of our editors are due a big congrats on reaching this epic milestone. 

Here's to the next million.

Find out what's happening in Dover-Sherbornwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Dover-Sherborn Patch is your site. Tell us what you want to see covered or cut out the middle man by using our Local Voices blogging feature. We'd be remiss without extending a special thank you to our Dover-Sherborn Patch bloggers, columnists, contributors and readers. Are you interested in blogging for Dover-Sherborn Patch? Send an email to Benjamin.Paulin@Patch.com or call 508-736-9016.


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