Last week I reached 100 followers. Yeah for me! My goal was to reach 100 before the end of the month. Now that I have, I can't say my life is so much better for it, but it is fun that I reached my goal.
Given the fact that I am still relatively new in the blogging world, I still am not quite sure what it really means to 'follow'. Yeah, I know someone 'follows' you when they are interested in your blog. But that brings me to the definition of 'interested'. Are they interested in getting followers back and therefore hit the 'follow' button as soon as the page of my blog loads, without even looking at any of the content? Are they following, simply to return the favor because I started following them? Or did they actually read a few posts, then decided that they were interested and clicked the button? And if this is the scenario, do they actually come back and read posts? And if so, how often?
The people who leave comments are usually the same, so I guess those are the ones who actually read the stories, but who are the people out there who read, but don't leave a comment? I know some of my friends read my blog and 'leave comments' when they see me in person. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, I have no clue. I'd like to know.
I guess the stories do get 'out there' further than I thought as the other day I received an award from Christina at Under His Wings. Christina, thank you! I was so surprised when I read your comment in which you mentioned the award. I know that other bloggers' stuff is being read all around the world, but for this mommy with 'only' just over 100 followers it was a moment of coolness: "My blog reaches India and is read there! Cool"
According to the rules, I now have to share 7 things about me that make me 'me':
Given the fact that I am still relatively new in the blogging world, I still am not quite sure what it really means to 'follow'. Yeah, I know someone 'follows' you when they are interested in your blog. But that brings me to the definition of 'interested'. Are they interested in getting followers back and therefore hit the 'follow' button as soon as the page of my blog loads, without even looking at any of the content? Are they following, simply to return the favor because I started following them? Or did they actually read a few posts, then decided that they were interested and clicked the button? And if this is the scenario, do they actually come back and read posts? And if so, how often?
The people who leave comments are usually the same, so I guess those are the ones who actually read the stories, but who are the people out there who read, but don't leave a comment? I know some of my friends read my blog and 'leave comments' when they see me in person. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, I have no clue. I'd like to know.
I guess the stories do get 'out there' further than I thought as the other day I received an award from Christina at Under His Wings. Christina, thank you! I was so surprised when I read your comment in which you mentioned the award. I know that other bloggers' stuff is being read all around the world, but for this mommy with 'only' just over 100 followers it was a moment of coolness: "My blog reaches India and is read there! Cool"
According to the rules, I now have to share 7 things about me that make me 'me':
- I have a sweet tooth and love to bake, but...still need to shed 7 more lbs. from my pregnancy with Ryder.
- I am crazy about sushi, but...severely allergic to shell fish.
- I love washing my hair, but...wet hair that is not attached (afterwards, when cleaning out the shower) gives me the hibby-jibbies. [eeeek!]
- I love to travel, but...the thought of taking a long plane ride with a 2-year old toddler and a 6-month old baby terrifies me at the moment.
- I love a clean house, but...do not seem to be able to ever maintain it longer than 24 hours.
- I love the beach, but...I hate sand.
- I love theme parks, but...hate roller coasters.
I would like to pass this award on to the following people:
Diane at Be Still a Minute
Maryanne at Lipglossd Mom
Untypically Jia at Color Me UnTypical
Kyann at Sanity is Overrated
Lauren at That 22 yr. old Housewife
So.....
... going back to the thought with which I started out: why are people following and in reality, what does it really mean? WHY are people interested? When you read this and would like to respond, leave a comment. I'd love to hear from you.
Diane at Be Still a Minute
Maryanne at Lipglossd Mom
Untypically Jia at Color Me UnTypical
Kyann at Sanity is Overrated
Lauren at That 22 yr. old Housewife
So.....
... going back to the thought with which I started out: why are people following and in reality, what does it really mean? WHY are people interested? When you read this and would like to respond, leave a comment. I'd love to hear from you.
10 comments:
This is so sweet and i love your post! I host a friday blog hop and i would love to feature your blog tonight!!! I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I also have a button that says you were featured on my blog in the button section of my link bar you are welcome to grab it!
Ha ha... I think you are right on with all of your theories. Personally, I am done stressing with how many, (or in my case how few), followers I have. I refuse to be someone who follows 1000 people so I can have a couple of hundred followers myself. I choose to follow people when I enjoy reading their blog and want to be able to quickly look at updates. I've never been a good commenter, but have tried to improve this month. Found you from the 22yr old housewife and I genuinely like your blog! :) Have a great weekend!
Great post! I am "following" you from a blog hop, but I promise I'll be back. :-)
I, personally, would rather have fewer followers and more readers. What good does it do if someone follows you and never comes back to your blog? I think the blog hops are a GREAT way to get your blog out there and meet people, but there are just so many of them now. It is getting to the point, at least I think, where everyone just goes around and hits follow on every blog they see, hoping for some return follows.
If you really want to know how many people are reading your blog, hook Google Analytics up to it and it will tell you everything you want to know.
Have a great Friday!
Hello Following from Friday Blog Hop
Have a great friday
http://22yroldhousewife.blogspot.com/
Ps I also host a friday blog hop so feel free to link up anytime
These are good theories, and I agree with you about the 'readers' and 'followers'... they are not the same thing at all. My quiet little goal is to reach 100 unique readers each day and then I will sigh with pleasure and hope that that will be the end of it.
I usually comment on all of the blogs I stop by, but not always. Sometimes I'm in a rush or sometimes that particular post hasn't resonated with me. Sometimes the comment I might make is not a positive one, so I hold it back. You know how it goes...
I have been thinking the same thing. I have lots of new followers but I am wondering if they are actually reading.
I am a new follower and I promise to come back!!! Happy Friday!
Readers and followers are not the same thing, but hopefully you'll assemble a bunch of both. Whether or not they'll be the same people is tough to predict!
Had to comment on this one as it took me a bit to figure out as well.
There are some people that I follow because they followed me. This is mostly through things like the Under 100 group on the Mom Bloggers Club. If someone follows me through there, I follow back. That's the deal.
The same rule holds for things like Friday Follows and other blog hops. If you follow me. I follow back.
That said, when I do hops, I'm selective in who I choose to follow and comment on if "I'm making the first move (so to speak)." I look for blogs I would enjoy reading and only choose to follow or comment on those ones. I hope they'll follow me back, but I'm okay if they don't.
I've set up a system where if I really like your blog, I put you on my blog list on my blog (ie: in my side bar). These are the blogs I read and comment on regularly; while I will go through the other ones I follow less regularly (if that makes sense - I scroll quickly through my reader a few times a week, and if the post catches my eye, I read). I also decided I'd use awards to help me make sense of blogs I like/manage my time online - so when I get awards, I figure out which from the blogs I follow to add to my blog list to follow more often and give them the awards.
Anyway - your blog is there is on my blog list. Because I like your blog :) And tend to comment on it :) Because I'm reading it :)
And congrats on your award. I have to say it's one of the prettier ones I've seen to date.
Thank you so much for the award and congrats to you!
I got a little obsessed there for awhile about the follower thing and went out just seeking "followers" and followed and followed back just to get them but I quit doing that and don't worry about it anymore.
I follow someone now because I really like their blog and hope that those who follow me do so because they plan to actually come back and read and comment.
Comments are so very important in blogland because after all, if someone doesn't leave one then we have no idea if they read our post or not. I try to make a point of always commenting when I've visited someone's blog.
Thanks again for the award! :)
I'm late as usual but thank you a ton for the award! :) I will be passing it along either tonight or tomorrow depending on when I fall asleep tonight. lol Thanks, chickie!
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