THE UNPLUG... FOR THE FIRST TIME IN BYB'S HISTORY

I have never walked away from Bleeding Yankee Blue in the history of this Yankees fan site.  Since it's birth in September 2010, I have never taken a vacation and not monitored or written for BYB.  Well... I did last week and thank god... I NEEDED THAT!

In my absence Managing Editors Suzie Pinstripe and Jeana Bellezza were at the helm. I gave very little direction which is crazy for me because I'm a control freak. But I have reached a point in my life where trust needs to happen and in the end, when push comes to shove, Suzie and Jeana are my family and I trust them with the product we have created. They did a fantastic job. When I returned and logged on and saw the readership, I was happy.  It also made me realize that things will probably change around here at BYB in the future and it will help catapult us to the next level successfully.

What I noticed is while Social Media is great, not all social media works.  Facebook for example really doesn't get us much of a readership.  Facebook users read headlines and don't read articles.  I can't say that happens for all of our BYB fans, but for a large group of it, the bottom line is... YOU DON'T READ. And so... why should we bother posting our article on all these Yankee Facebook groups? We probably shouldn't. It's literally a waste of about a half hour of my morning, and so, this will eventually change.  Instead, over time you will see a transition where we will be removing ourselves from many of the Yankees fan pages on Facebook, and not posting BYB there.  Why? Because it doesn't help my product. We don't need to waste our time. In fact, we've reached a point where if you need to find us... you know you can go to Bleeding Yankee Blue and read us.  If you are the Facebook person that actually reads, then go to my Bleeding Yankee Blue group on Facebook. Or, if you and I are friends on Facebook, I will post our articles there on my page and you will see it each morning.  Being on vacation and unplugged really helped me realize how much time I waste... and for what? So people can see an article, not read it and formulate an opinion based on a headline? Bologna. It's not worth it for me... so yeah, over time, this will change. Time to clean up the clutter.  To the diehards... I hope you understand.

Twitter works! Twitter is a nasty place yes, but people are engaged on Twitter. There's dialog. We are seeing that people read on Twitter. It's refreshing.  And so, our posts will continue to be found there.

Instagram? I've been asked about it. I don't really know much about it. But if I can get a photo and article posted on there, I will consider it. I'd need to talk to Suzie and Jeana about it because I don't know how it works, but if I can do this, I will do it in exchange for that Facebook garbage.

Podcasts. Yes... it's coming.  Bleeding Yankee Blue is making a move to change the way we deliver our news and information and opinion. It's time.  We are in the final stages of what will be a BYB Podcast, a way for you to listen to Myself, Suzie, Jeana and even Mike O'Hara and I'm even considering bringing back former writers as guests, Yankee players, top guests in the baseball or non-baseball world on the platform as well.  We have a ton of ideas, but remember... we are dads, moms, regular folks trying to live our own lives and so... this stuff is secondary in our lives... but we're working on it.

But look, the bottom line is my unplug this week was needed.  I reset myself and am ready to tackle the world again.  I never realized just how important a vacation was until this past week. I never realized how good it was for me to "let go" and not think. Its refreshing.  But now I'm back, and I vow to make this product better for all you diehards!

A special thanks to Suzie and Jeana. I appreciate you very much.

To all our BYB freaks... we love you. Thanks for your support... always.

--Robert Casey
Head Writer and Chief at Bleeding Yankee Blue
Twitter: @BleednYankeeBlu