2018: A RebelMouse Year in Review

From product to personal, we flourished on every level.

It's always overwhelming to think about how far we've come as a company every time December rolls around. From all the peaks and valleys our ever-changing industry likes to throw at us, to the personal triumphs and challenges we experience as a team, each year is always one to remember. But this time, 2018 took the cake. It was 365 days of twists, turns, and far more shining moments than ever before.

For the digital publishing ecosystem, it was a turbulent year overall. But we're proud to have navigated it successfully alongside our clients, audiences, and colleagues to come out on top. We had a year of fun, explosive growth both company-wise and personally as a tight-knit team that just happens to live all around the world. Here's a look back at this momentous year in RebelMouse history.

January: Rising Above Facebook's Doomsday Algorithm Change

Facebook's so-called "friends and family" algorithm update at the start of 2018 charted the course for the rest of the year. While the deprioritization of news in Facebook's News Feed resulted in devastating shutdowns for some publishers who relied heavily on the platform, we knew early on that the sweeping change would be an opportunityfor publishers — and it was.

Making sense of the new way to publish was an exciting time for an enterprise-grade publishing platform like RebelMouse. While we've always embraced social and the audiences they bring, the algorithm change allowed us to fall in love again with areas that also fuel growth, such as search and site performance. In 2019, it's going to be gratifying to continue watching the decline of platform dependency, because we think publishers should take back control of their content and revenue.

February: Understanding the New Content Lifecycle

As the hangover from Facebook's algorithm shift began to wear off, we took stock of what the social ecosystem looked like in its aftermath. It was actually quite positive. At RebelMouse, our developers have been preparing for massive shifts like Facebook's update since we launched back in early 2012. Born in the age of social, our product has adapted nicely to the countless pendulum swings the tech giants have thrown at us.