Once in a while, it’s important to stop, catch your breath, and look at your accomplishments before you move on to the next thing — to put a stake in the ground that says, “I made it this far!”
Today, we’re rolling out a couple of notifications to help you celebrate your blog activity milestones. From now on, whenever you hit a milestone for how many followers your blog has (5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and beyond), you’ll get a badge:
We also created badges to celebrate when you receive lots of likes from visitors:
In addition to celebrating your achievements, we wanted to notify you when you’ve had a particularly good day for receiving likes or new followers. From now on, we’ll let you know of your best days for such activity:
Keep in mind that we’ve only started counting your best days this March.
We all blog for different reasons. Some might chronicle their travel adventures, others might detail their culinary undertakings. If you find a post or a blog you enjoyed, like it or follow the blog — your action might send them a badge and make them smile. It’s easy to find great new blogs to follow using the Reader.
WordPress.com News 
Reblogged this on martin remy and commented:
Another fine feature from my fine team-mates.
Great new features! That will make it much easier to keep track of all these things.
how about a badge for how many site visits you have had…100, 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 5000, 10,000, etc.
Reblogged this on tekArtist and commented:
Automattic Data Team FTW! I’ve really been enjoying our new notification system, and this addition makes it even more fun.
Reblogged this on Paolo Belcastro.
I always loved receiving gold stars. Great idea! Thanks for your amazing on-going improvements!
Does anyone else see these badges? If they are right up on the page I think that will be tacky! And if so, do I have the option of turning them off?
Thanks, Lynda
These badges are shown only to you, the author.
badge like foursquare. I like it.
Reblogged this on Jeremy Herve and commented:
Badges! Blogging is getting more and more fun every day! 🙂
Very useful tips.. Keep rocking wordpress..:-)
nice 🙂
hey! it’s the little things that make me smile… this is one of them, thanks!
Neat bonus thank you for adding it.
Awesome! Any reminder of any accomplishment is heart lightening. 🙂
You know, it IS a shame that we’re not given gold stars for grown-up accomplishments like we did when we were children…unless you’re a blogger, that is. I LOVE IT! What a spectacular way to celebrate blogging milestones. Thank you! 🙂
Reblogged this on Russell's Rants and Raves and commented:
A fantastic new feature!
Reblogged this on how2beabetterwife.
This is abso-freakin-lutely awesome!! ♥
This is great if your followers are able to leave comments
such positive actions!
I don’t like this at all. Do you have to have this option? I like the stats tab. That is enough.
Also, I didn’t get a reply to my WordPress question. should I ask it again. It has been 3 days?
Dawn
For the time being, milestone badges can’t be turned off. But only you see them, and only in the little notifications menu in your toolbar.
Re: your question, if you asked your question to support (https://wordpress.com/support/), you should have received a response already. You can try contacting support again.
Great concept! A novel way to encourage new bloggers!
This is a feature I can get behind! Love it~
Wow. I so don’t care. I’d actually blog less to not get the badges. Can I opt out of getting them? I don’t need the pats on the head.
I’m sorry to hear that. There may be an option to turn off badges in the future, but at this time all you can do is ignore them. Fret not, only you can see them.
You could also remove “Like” buttons from your blog, that would prevent the Like badge: https://wordpress.com/support/likes/
Have not seen any badges, only a message about reaching a milestone of 120 blogs and establishing the next goal at 125
If you reach a milestone, the little notifications menu in the right of the topmost toolbar will glow orange and you’ll receive a badge. The goals milestone is from the screen you get from after you post.
great catalyst. Now what happened to the world map of where your readers are from? Out of circulation so quickly? Why?
If you’re referring to the “Views by Country” stats panel it’s still there, right on your stats page: http://wordpress.com/my-stats
View by country is no longer showing on my Stats panel. It was there the first week the facility was offered…
This is brilliant! I’ve only just started taking this seriously – anything that encourages me to keep going is a massive help. Thanks.
Reblogged this on venescu.
I like this…..received my milestone today….
One of the things I love about WordPress the most….the continued updates to make the site better. Thanks WordPress! I am loving all of the new upgrades 🙂
D I S L I K E! It’s bad enough that we only get 9 notifications max. This will only crowd it.
Sorry to hear that.
There aren’t infinite badges, though! After you receive your badge for 500 likes, there’s a 1000 badge, and maybe one more, but that’s it.
The few negative responses about this new feature should be ignored and I sometimes wonder why people are so negative and also explains the state of the world today. They do not deserve a reply Joen as that is what they want-attention.
Got a 100 likes one today.. I know its not much.. but it made me happy. make that, very happy.. thanks!
I love this! What a wonderful way to enhance community and interaction here. Thanks for this!
Thanks, this is a nice added fx…. SIGH… now if only I could get Support to figure out why I am blocked from accessing a number of WordPress blog sites, including both a number of my favorites, and MY OWN. Not only do I have to log out to see my own front page, but am blocked from reading some of the best stuff being posted, if I’m logged in. I turned in a Support request last week, and still have not heard from anyone there since they suggested I clean my cache and cookies (been there, did that, no help…all three times…) Still no word, and no help…. I don’t get it….???? Did I do something to offend someone? I did get a bit angry, on the fifth, sixth, and seventh attempts to get help in one day, but I didn’t think it was worth this kind of punishment, especially since I pay for my domain listing… so, maybe y’all can tell me what’s up with this?…. Thanks…. I’m tired of figuring out workarounds…. just to see my own site….
P.S…. I really do like the new functions on the toolbar…. and I would post this help plea in the support section, but have had absolutely no response from anyone there for any of my last five reports of the same issue, so it seems pretty fruitless….. so please pass this along with my kudos for the rest of this post….
Wonderful! One more stupid piece of crap and no way to turn it off.
I think it’s a great idea! Thanks!
This is definitely a great feature, looking forward to more blogging and more milestones!
Thanks WordPressers 🙂 This is a very fun feature, that makes checking out my blog status alot of fun and exciting! You guys spoil us!
very good feature
love it!!!
This is great.
Keep the milestone yourself…
Reblogged this on spinningonthewebb and commented:
Very cool new features!
This seems like so much fun! Sad thing is that there isn’t a like or follower to be found on my blog…
Meaning, keep it up…LOL
wow!!! bello! grazie!!!
Nice feature. I’m still at the stage where I can count all this stuff on one hand, but hopefully one day it’ll come in handy!
Bug @ Bugwear
This is great! Sounds fun… Am waiting for my badges! 🙂
Love the idea! It is always a good thing to get a positive mention when you have done something well. It’s nice to be encouraged.
Sandy O
Great idea! I have written celebratory posts to mark a milestone. I just started to blog this year and milestones help motivate me to continue blogging. I have a modest number of likes and vistors to my blog. It might be a small step in the blogosphere but its a huge step for me and milestones remind me of what I have achieved to date. After all, I am still a new kid on the block. 🙂
Awesomeness! I can’t believe how much you guys continually improve wordpress. Like I’ve said past, it’s the only blogging experience I’ve ever had (I did join one once, can’t remember the name of it, but all of it seemed to be bitchin’ so I tried to close my account, couldn’t figure out how…. it was SO hard!).
Seriously, the brain storming sessions you must have must be wild. A beaut idea. I don’t mind a wee badge. Last one I had was when I was a kid, Irish dancing 🙂
Great, now the only thing I need is more followers and likes
sometimes the smallest things that seem so insignificant can remind us of the most important things, I think this is an assume idea
Yess! Yet another way I will be congratulated on wasting time that could be spent solving world hunger.
Greatness. As usual. Thank you.
Oh something to make blogging even better! Love this idea and it’s fun too!
That’s pretty cool. Everyone loves recognition…even if they’re the only one to see it
Thanks WordPress! 😀
I so love this idea. I actually received a badge notification today and it made me feel accomplished. It’s the little things that really keep you going and motivate you to continue. Thank you for creating such an inspiring feature! Now I have something to look forward to 🙂
I am confused. I closed wordpress.com and moved over to wordpress.org. I thought they were separate. No? Yes?
There are differences, yes. These milestone notifications are for WordPress.com only for now.
Ahh, intrinsic motivation has now received some help from extrinsic motivation. 🙂 Nice idea. Now, I’m going to go check it out and shoot for the stars, I mean badges!
Thank you WordPress!
WordPress is important because it helps Georgia activists in Deep South to “Fight the Good Fight” and hopefully making a positive impact on the lives of those in need during these horrible economic times.
Many Georgia daily newspapers are run by an extreme right-wing publisher – a member of the elite 1 percent known for his disdain of the poor.
Thankfully WordPress allows us to get our message out (without charge) – when the mainstream media will not (or sometimes are forced to like the significance of Trayvon Martin Case that was driven into national headlines by social media like WordPress).
More posts coming soon on WordPress – and it appears that means more “badges” – smile.
Sincerely,
Rev. Terence A.Dicks
Augusta, Georgia
Reblogged this on Living4real.
yay for badges!
Thank you for the recognition! It is a pleasure to get these badges as feedback! 😉
things just keep on getting better and better – watch out competition, here comes wordpress!
You make blogging enjoyable and rewarding. Love WordPress.
Blog On.
Ed
Reblogged this on Egill and commented:
Team Data, at it again!
Thank you so much for this encouragement and inspiration. I’m glad I made the decision to go with WordPress.com for my blog.
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
I’ve already reached a lot of these. It will be great to see these accomplishments! Thank you WordPress!
Also, thanks to all those who are following my blog, reblogging my posts, and participating in the comments! It wouldn’t be fun without you!
COOL but it makes me feel really, really green compared to everyone else. Oh well, I will take my little handful of followers and be happy… sigh! TOO FUNNY!!!! Have a great day everyone from the new kid on the block!
I like it! Everyone can use the encouragment!
WordPress is just getting better and better. Thank you!
Reading all these diverse comments has been a revelation to me. Perhaps, as writers we do not see the need to compete, just to do our best?
I’m still quite new to wordpress but I really like how you keep making updates and such improving the place. This is a really good idea!!
I feel like winning an olympic gold medial when I got my first badge! lol. tnx WP!!!
Sorry, but it’s a bit of a pointless gimmick. Please make it so we can turn it off!
Reblogged this on Tracey in Maine.
This is a really nice addition. I am also glad I chose WordPress for my blog. And thanks to all my beautiful readers. Namaste
Seems like a good idea, but the usual thing is ‘the proof is in the pudding’ hopefully it will be a worthwhile addition..Thank you WP
I don’t care much about the idea one way or another; so, fine. Clearly many people do like it.
One thing not made clear: are we the only ones to see our “badges”? I don’t want outsiders to know my stats.
The badges are only visible to you.
So happy we joined WordPress! Thanks for making blogging easy and keeping us informed.
One more way WordPress helps authors shine! Thanks for encouragement and ease of use. I am thrilled with WordPress!
I hope to improve as I go along, I am new at this. So be patient with me.
Sounds Good!
Recently, wordpress.com team making a lot of improvement to the site, and a lot FASTER!
Curious to know how the wordpress.com team run. Example like any agile process like scrum, or etc that help to make this happen. Or the team just make it happen the usual method.. ?
Thank you! You can read a little about how we work in this blogpost.
Thank for the link. Look like p2 is the medium of communication for different geo employees.
a little validation keeps us going and benchmarks are good cause for reflection. thanks.
this is a good idea. thanks!
Nothing better than a pat on the back. I was welcomed this morning to an award on my Dashboard – made my day. My award number was modest, but I’m curious as to how high the numbers go up to?
Marti
There’s a little secret if you get over a thousand, but they stop shortly after 1000!
I love the idea! I don’t think I will earn many yet, but it will feel great when I do!
Boy, you guys work very hard, I’m glad to be one of your family. wow….. and thanx
Please, no badges!!!!!! I love using Word Press. I think it is great. It is fantastic to have all of these facilities, and the liberty to start little websites for all sorts of different things and projects. Word Press is a wonderfult tool and long may Word Press live. The badge thing is so much not getting it. It it is so much missing the point. I don’t blog for badges. I blog for getting out information about all kinds of things that matter to me. I blog for my projects and my audiences. Those are what matter to me I don’t bog for a row of gold stars!!!!!! Now, on top of stupid comments every time I do another post you are constantly going to leave me irritated and patronised with gold badges. I am a ratty Brit. We are a cold blooded lot, perhaps, but we don’t go in for all this head patting and sweetie awarding – not after we get out of first year Infant School anyway!!! Yes, please can I , also, turn the bloody badges off, or you will hear me muttering ‘Grrrr go AWAY! from the other side of the Atlantic. How do I do that?
I’m from the cool side of the Atlantic myself, so I can certainly relate, but I like these badges. They’re shiny and you don’t get them very often. Perhaps I still haven’t processed that Chewie didn’t get a medal at the end of Star Wars when he so rightfully deserved one. And I think that if you’ve received 100 likes on your posts, so do you!
We are listening, though. For now, you can’t disable badges. But you can disable the Like button, that’ll prevent you from getting a Like badge. Keep in mind though, these badges are only visible to you, and they are few and far between.
wow, this is cool…but for newcomers like myself, it may take a few more weeks or months to get to the first milestone.
Keep blogging and telling your friends about your blog! The milestones may come sooner than you think.
Ahaha just saw it appear and I was completely happy and motivated . Thanks again , love it !
If only the Reader didn’t go wonky at times, skipping blogs I’m subscribed to, sometimes making me and my fellow bloggers re-subscribe …
A good motivator to keep us going!
I’ll look forward to all those fun badges, thank you! Also, what are the parameters to being feautured on your site? Thank you!
Five ways to get featured on Freshly Pressed
Thank you Martin!
WordPress gets better everyday. I love this new feature.
fantastic idea and its a useful feature to have.