State of the Blog 2026: What You’re Reading & When You’re Reading It

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes of a blog? I recently took a deep dive into the data from the first few months of 2026 to see which stories resonated most, when you all are most active, and what the “vibe” of this community looks like.

Disclaimer – WordPress SUCKS for this. I should be able to dump all the data easily and see likes, comments, views, and visitors easily, but you can’t. There are some plugins you can try, but they SUCK too! After hating with their AI and a human, the best they can suggest is jumping through screens and selecting copy/paste into Excel, then it puts things into split cells to clean. No issue cleaning data, but this is just stupid. I did resign myself to a combination of copy/paste, some plugins, and writing down the number. After all that the below is what I have, it is not bad but I would like a better and easier solution (SOMETHING PROFESSIONAL) I can leverage to look at my data! Below is what I came up with after far too much work, and it is not bad and shows some nice trends.

The results were a mix of expected favorites and a few surprises! Here’s a look at the “Being Kevin” numbers so far this year.

One of the things I did in my previous job was analyze data. I looked at change rates, errors, code deployment volume, impact, risk, and other factors related to the software change management cycle.

That type of information I find fun, and you can learn from this. I also completed the Google Certified Data Analyst course several years ago. Because of that, I decided to take a look at the first three months of 2026 and how my blog is performing. If this is something you would like some assistance with, let me know.

Once I had all my data, I used the typical Excel functions to look at totals by day and month for everything, made some graphs, and saw some trends. I then crafted a prompt for Gemini and ChatGPT, asking specific questions based on my findings to get an analysis. Below you will see all my data, findings, trends, and actions I can take to improve my blog’s reach and engagement.

This shows a good use of tech skills I have and how to leverage AI. It provides insights and shows how I can use the information to plan my posts and themes for maximum impact.

The Topics You Love Most

While I write about everything from daily life to tech, a few specific categories have been sparking the most conversation. Our “Blog Of The Week” and “Daily Prompts” are the heavy hitters, but I’ve noticed a huge surge in interest whenever I talk about:

• The Big Questions: Posts in the Musing and Thinking categories are where we have our best deep dives.
• Life in Brazil: My posts about the “Dislikes of Living in Brazil” and general culture there have seen some of the highest engagement.
• The Future: My series on AI Impact remains one of the year’s most-read pieces.

The “Golden Window” for Connection

If you’ve ever noticed a post dropping at a strange hour, there’s a reason for it! According to the data, our community is most active at two specific times:

• The Early Bird/Night Owl Special: 1:00 AM – 2:00 AM (catching that global audience!).
• The Afternoon Break: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.

And if you’re looking for the best time to join the conversation, Tuesdays and Saturdays are officially our most “social” days of the week.

Trending Upward

After a massive start in January, we had a bit of a quiet February, but things have been heating up again through March and April. It’s been incredible to see the #BloggingCommunity and #DailyPrompts tags bring so many new voices to the comments section.

What’s Next?

Based on what you’re enjoying, I’m planning to lean more into the “Musing” and “Culture” topics while keeping our “Daily Prompt” rhythm going strong.

I want to hear from you: Do these stats surprise you? Do you prefer the quick daily prompts or the deeper, long-form musings? Drop a comment and let me know—apparently, if it’s a Tuesday afternoon, I’ll see it right away!