We were given a real cause to celebrate at IrishCentral this week as Huffington Post Business named us in the Top 10 Sites With the Most Social Shares in March 2015, around St. Patrick's Day.
Placed in between media giants the Huffington Post and Buzzfeed, we were proud to find ourselves among some of the industry's big-hitters. The complete top ten list included SoundCloud, NBC News, Time, YouTube, ABC.net.au, NJ.com, and BroBible.
"For such a small, site compared to the giants, this is a fantastic endorsement," said Niall O'Dowd, founder of IrishCentral. "It is due to the fantastic work of the staff and the true affection for the Irish that in millions of American have in their hearts."
The Huffington Post's "Content Calendar" is an annual feature designed to aid publishers, such as ourselves plan their offerings for the year. IrishCentral can proudly say that we are well within the top ten sites providing Irish people, and fans of Ireland the world over, with interesting, shareable content in the days surrounding the Emerald Isle’s official national holiday.
Some of our success around Paddy’s Day in 2015 may have been down to the great response to the story of Kevin Westley and his battle against Walmart and their offensive t-shirts.
Before St. Patrick’s Day 2015, Westley cleared his local Walmart of all the t-shirts bearing slogans such as “Kiss me, I’m drunk or Irish or whatever,” or “I’m so Irish I sweat alcohol,” or “Irish car bombs make my clothes fall off” to prevent others from donning them or the store from making a profit off such a negative stereotype of the Irish.
Read more: Irish American buys all of Walmart’s offensive t-shirts, will return them March 18
Placing all of the items on his credit card, the Irish dancing instructor from Long Island returned all the shirts to the store as soon as the festivities were over, where they went back out on sale for $2 a pop. Possibly not the result he was hoping for, but Westley has pledged to return each year until the t-shirts are taken off the shelves for good.
Read more: Irishman returns $400 of offensive Irish t-shirts to Walmart after St. Patrick’s Day
And that wasn't our only big story from March 2015 – from our guide to the perfect places to spend the feast day to our coverage of all the drama surrounding the New York St. Patrick's Day Parade, to the reasons why you, our readers, are proud to be Irish, here are some of the stories you may have missed from last St Patrick's Day:
- Why we’re proud to be Irish this St. Patrick’s Day
- Is the term “Paddy’s Day” offensive?
- It’s "Paddy," not "Patty" - Irish group clamp down on St. Patrick’s Day error
- Top ten facts you never knew about St. Patrick’s Day
- The shamrock and the leprechaun – what symbols of Irishness really mean
- Montserrat is the other "Emerald Isle" this St. Patrick’s Day
- Why Italians should reclaim St. Patrick’s Day
- National Geographic’s top picks for St. Patrick’s Day around the world
- Was Saint Patrick really as saintly as we believe?
- St. Patrick’s Day history in NYC as gay group marches in the parade (PHOTOS)
Of course, we wouldn't have achieved this without those who share our content and keep coming back for more. Thank you IrishCentral readers, and here's to more great, shareable stories in 2016.
Go maire sibh an chéad! (That you’ll live a hundred years!)
You can read more of our St. Patrick's Day content for 2016 here.
If you have any suggestions for content you would like to see around St. Patrick’s Day 2016, leave your idea in the comments section, below, or send us an email at editors@irishcentral.com.
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