CIRCLEVILLE – “We need to make a major impact something that people will notice,” thats what was said in a private chat a three years ago today. As Sciotopost owners we wanted to launch loud and shock the community into realizing we meant business. We had recently bought Pickaway News Journal that had only 4,000 likesand were preparing to launch Sciotopost from the ground up, when Brandon Schlichter came up with the idea of the yellow signs with the basic hashtag of #OURCIRCLEVILLE AND #OURPICKAWAY. The signs represented the voice of the community, we wanted to launch something that united a community and gave everyone a voice. Other ideas included a large box truck with the #OURCIRCLEVILLE hash tag painted on it parked in downtown Circleville, and flyers mailed to the community.
This sign I saved and it sits in my office and reminds me all the time.
We also argued over how we would launch the group, finally coming up with the “countdown ticker” that set Circleville into a little bit of a panic. I left for a vacation in Maine shortly after the signs were hung and the countdown was started. Ill never forget the phone call I received.
“This Jeremy Newman?”
“Yes who is this?”
“This is the Circleville Police Department, we want to know about your #OurCircleville signs, I also see your in Maine.”
My jaw dropped, I had to explain the signs and embarrassed I had to ask if I was going to be charged with anything. See the countdown clock had set off quite a stir in Circleville. Some people thought it was cryptic and meant some sort of attack was imminant. Some felt it was a political stance and Mike Pence was coming to town. There were tons of stories afloat, we stirred the pot a little too much! On July 19 we came clean and put out this message.
We have grown so far since then, Sciotopost went from 0 follows and likes to close to 125,000 followers now with the various pages. We now do news in multiple counties and have multiple Sciotopost pages in each one. We see millions of views on our website monthly and we have followers in almost every state in the US. We have a few new surprises coming up soon so keep watching!
