Thursday, June 7, 2012

To Follow... or not

Lately it seems many of my blogging friends have been asking themselves, "Why do I blog?"  And indeed, over the years many have dropped by the wayside because their answer to that question obviously wasn't strong enough to keep them going.  And, I imagine, many probably moved their participation to Facebook where they can more readily communicate with their "Followers" in real time.

Some time ago I too questioned why I was doing this, and came to the conclusion that I was doing it because I enjoy it.  And that has become paramount with me.

I was instructed, when first introduced to blogging, that the way to play this game was to visit a lot of other sites and become a Follower and that, in turn, would be an almost social obligation for the party so blessed to then visit my site and become a reciprocate Follower.  Soon my sidebar would be overflowing with colorful photos of my many devoted Followers and a happy and fruitful blogging experience would result.

I tried it and found myself visiting and Following a lot of blogs that I never revisited because they simply didn't grab me.  It made my Followers widget look good but did little for my blogging experience.  It became a distraction, so I made it go away.  The same with stats.  Both of these things drives your thinking towards a philosophy of "The guy with the most Followers wins."  However, I suppose in this materialistic, consumer society in which we live, the most popular actually do win.  (Which probably accounts for why I'm sitting here typing this fool thing in the first place.)

Also, being a design hobbyist, I'm into the visual look of the webpage.   I like to change my "look" from time to time and, at the moment, my taste is running to... well, what you see, whatever that is.

Anyway, the long and short of this is...  I have somehow managed to simply do my thing with the result being that I am having fun with the blog and the great benefit of falling into a nice little circle of blogging buddies, for which I am most grateful.  But please don't be offended if I don't mess with Followers and sidebar widgets and gadgets and awards.  It just ain't my thing.  (At least, not at the moment.

21 comments:

  1. I've never taken part in this "following" other blogs thingie either. I have a lot of links to other blogs, and that'll have to suffice.

    When I started blogging in October '04, I had no idea whether I'd stick to it or not. But I'm enjoying it, for whatever reason, so I'm still keeping at it.

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  2. Like you, I'm not overly concerned with followers and think I have looked at stats once. I really don't care what they are but I do like comments. The thing is if someone wants to see your posts in their Blogger Reader, I think they can only do so by following you and if you don't have the follower thing on your sidebar there's no way for them to know when you post. I say this because someone was asking me the other day how to follow you and all I could see is that your follower thing was gone.

    Anyway, I suppose I'm a bit burnt out on writing posts but I still enjoy reading certain blogs. I think posting has much to offer in that it's a good way to share one's self with others and to keep a journal that receives regular feedback and facilitates some discussion. I've learned a lot from blogging. But then I hate Facebook and Twitter. Hopefully, I'll be able to post again some day. Ha. It is nice not really having to care much what people think.

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    1. I don't think you have to follow to keep track of posts. I add new people to my blog roll and it updates with the latest post and a snippet. I'm like you Rubye, I enjoy the comments too.

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  3. When I first came here, I followed people so I could find their blogs again. Now, I've got what I want as far as interesting folks to read so I no longer bother. I think I have around 50, don't pay enough attention to them, why should I be hunting more?

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    1. I know what you mean Sherry. I can't keep up with all of the posts either and I want to because the conversation between us is a lot of what makes it work.

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  4. nothing has changed on my blog except I don't bitch so much about Bush now..when I started I was doing 3-5 posts a day on that s.o.b. and I didn't use to do the little cartoons 3 times a week..which seems to have taken over and I do less of what I was known for..bitching...I may leave ydg as a m-w-f cartoon blog and start another one that will be commentary and stuff about west..or I may go say fuck it and go take a nap

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    1. I don't see how you do as much as you do already. Taking a nap sounds like a good idea to me.

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  5. I started during the middle of 2005 with a blog that I kept until May of 2007 when I created Carolina Parrothead. The answer to question why I blog is fairly simple, I enjoy the exchange of information with other people

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    1. Me too BB. And I like the comments and friendships.

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  6. that's a cool philosophy dude because I never followed your blog anyway...blogger stacks the deck anyway. they have a blog of the day thing or some such and automatically 5000000000000000000000000(insert coma's in appropriate places)and then directs a couple thousand people to your BoD and before ya know it you have 6,387 followers.It's best to be liking what yer doing anyway Mr. C. Slower pace, higher quality of people and no FB drama to deal with when you hold the delete button.

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    1. Wait ... what the hell the first four or five people to post here don't follow my blog what up with that!

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    2. well, they just don't know what they're missing do they?

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  7. I have to admit that I've become obsessed with my stats in the past. Have never changed the look of my page, though, or gotten "fancy" with it in any way. For me, it's all about the writing. And wondering if people are reading...

    I'll have my fourth anniversary of posting daily in two weeks -- and the pay remains the same. :-)

    Pearl

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    1. Happy anniversary Pearl. I believe I began blogging in 2009 but can't remember which month. To me it's about the story as well. That's one reason I keep the distractions to a minimum.

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  8. I'm on my third year and I started and continue for the same reason. It's a journal of sorts for my descendants, assuming of course that I'm going to have descendants past my kids and grandkids, the ones who on't know me personally. My sister has done a lot of genealogy on our family and I read the the names and dates of people who were necessary to my very existence and that's all I know about them, names and dates.

    I'm over the whole follower thing myself but I want to make it easy for the hoards (there's hoards reading me, right?) to find they're way back. And it also makes it easy for me to find my way back to ones I like. But you, I'm having to manually put you on my blog roll to keep up.

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    1. I'm honored you added me to your blog roll Ellen. But that's what I do with sites I like. To me, it's easier than deleting from the blog roll sites I may not want.

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  9. How very sensible of you. As you know (having commented on it), I also had some searching questions re the 'why, how, and wherefore' of blogging. I wish I could give up the following lark too. Commenting on blogs I don't rate all that much is becoming a chore I could do without. Keeping an eye on followers and their tastes also stops me from writing certain posts which wouldn't get many commenters. That way I spoil the fun for myself.

    What is wrong with me? You are so much more strong-willed than me.

    You won't mind if I keep calling here to find out how you're getting on, will you?

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