The clock has struck midnight and yet another year is upon us. Rockit Reports first went online in 2011. It is now 2020. They say time flies when you’re having fun. There have been ups and downs, but I continue to write here with the same motivations I started with. I hope to entertain readers with information about the commercial sex industry around the world.
I’ve been wishing regular readers of this website a happy new year for five of those years. In addition, I usually take the opportunity to give an update on this website and its plans going forward. This year I will do a more general update on the state of sex industry journalism. While this website has not changed much over the years, the environment it operates in surely has.
The sex industry and the internet
When this website was first launched there were few like it. In some ways there still aren’t many websites that are like Rockit Reports. But there are now plenty of websites covering the various aspects of the sex industry.
Don’t get me wrong. Sex has been a topic of discussion from the first days people used the internet. We all know that sex sells. And that sex is on the minds of a lot of people. The desire to watch porn famously influenced the adoption of VCRs and the VHS format.
But original reporting on specific aspects of the sex industry in an organized way was uncommon even a few years ago. Those who did write about the industry were usually on the margins and published through their own websites. Rockit Reports was no exception.
Early on some of the reports posted here caught on with readers and were quickly spread around the internet. That showed just how many people were interested in the subject. I figured that would be the case. The urge to shine light on things like blowjob bars was part of the reason I started this website. I found the subject absolutely intriguing. I figured others would too.
How sex industry reporting went mainstream
Quite a few mainstream sources have picked up information on this website and then reported it to a wider audience. In some cases they linked back or at least gave credit for the reporting. In other instances they didn’t. I was even offered opportunities to talk about the commercial sex industry on television networks with international range. No matter the outlet, the information was almost always presented in a sensational manner. It’s almost as if there are adults in this day and age who still can’t believe women exchange sexual services for money.
That is nothing new. Sensationalist reporting has been around almost as long as mass media. The major changes have come on the internet. There has been a sort of mainstreaming of reporting on the commercial sex industry. It is now possible to find out about brothels in exotic locations on some of the biggest websites in the world.
These days you can find untold numbers of sex shops on mainstream websites. Nuru massage parlors in Bangkok are pinpointed on Apple Maps and Google Maps. In the latter case they even come complete with user reviews. Go go bars in Pattaya and Red light districts in Amsterdam are featured on Trip Advisor with user comments. Algorithms and input from the general public has created a virtual database of sex industry information online.
I don’t expect Yahoo news to start running reviews of soaplands in Tokyo anytime soon. But I’m not surprised when I find information on those kinds of places and even more risque material on other mainstream websites like Facebook and Quora. That is the way things have been going for a while now.
Rockit is still reporting
Despite everything that has happened over the years, Rockit Reports continues to publish at least one new post per week. The publishing schedule has increased at times. But not a single week has gone by since late 2011 without at least one new post appearing on this website. It hasn’t always been easy. But it has always been done.
A few years ago a number of new sites sprung up with similar subjects. Some went as far as to pull content directly from this website. One did a great imitation of the layout and format. Another simply copied text directly from Rockit Reports without any indication of the original source. Then there were the webpages written by people who obviously had little to no actual experience with the subjects at hand.
The rise of such sites along with changes in the way sex industry venues were treated by mainstream websites and search engines may have had an influence on the visibility of this website. There were times in past years when traffic dipped or declined. But with time things have always turned around. That was true again last year. The number of people visiting the site dropped off in the middle of the year. Not long after it was stable and back to the higher levels seen in earlier years. So obviously people are still interested in what is being written here.
That is one of the biggest reasons I continue to press on with my work. I plan to continue reporting on the same regular schedule in the year ahead. I will write about new venues in places that have been covered here in the past. I also have my sights on some new areas that have not yet been covered here. I hope that readers will continue to visit the site and comment on the posts. I appreciate your time and your support.
Cheers.
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