I have been thinking about blogging and why we do it. When I open the page to read some of the couple of hundred blogs that I receive on a daily basis, it is quite obvious that the Authors have many different reasons why they write and the subjects they choose are so varied. That is what makes blogging so unique that so many of us are writing without duplicating what the rest of us are saying. In many cases, the subjects are the same but the words, pictures and presentation are different.
As I peruse the daily offering, it is very clear to me that many bloggers are driven by forces unknown to the rest of us that compels them to blog several times a day and every day of the week. They must be independently wealthy, retired, maybe a stay at home Mom (or Dad), maybe even a Handicapped person or have nothing better to do with their lives than to give them the sort of time that writing good and newsworthy blogs of any quality can take. The question then arises, “Who are they writing for” because if most bloggers or blog readers are like me, we don’t have time to read more than one blog from one individual a day. The rest are eliminated with an active push of the delete button. Maybe the blog I read is not the best one of the available selection for that day but I will never know. I often unsubscribe from a writer because he or she has posted five (or any multiple number) or more blogs one after the other.
As many of you know if you follow my blog, I write a lot about what I consider interesting things that happen in my life as do many of the rest of you. I write about the hikes that I take or the events that happen with the Austin Pond Society and occasionally, will write a poem or two. I am an avid Amateur Photographer and take lots of pictures which I like to share with my readers. In between the post production of the pictures and writing the actual blogs not counting going on the actual hikes or events i am writing about, many of the blogs take several days to prepare. I forgot to mention that I am retired and spend a great deal of my time working on each blog before I am satisfied that it is ready to post. Even then, I do NOT post on a daily basis and try to limit my posts to twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays with the very occasional third post if something important comes up. Currently, I am scheduled out ahead through the second week of October and I try to always have a bit of a cushion.
This is just the way I do it. WordPress tells me that I have 2312 followers and my readers know what and when to expect a blog. I try not to overburden them with too much of my content as not everyone is interested in what I have to say. It took me a while to realize that and came as a bit of a shock especially if I had just completed what I thought was a particularly good piece. “What do you mean, you aren’t interested in this great piece. You got to be as I just wrote it and it is GOOD” flashes through my mind. Many of you are just being polite and acknowledging the fact that I have written the blog by giving me a “Like”. Bloggers that apologise for not having been online for a few days should save their breath as probably no one has even noticed their absence. That is the way that it is. We are all replaceable and often are.
Really, that is what it comes down to. Getting a “Like” is very important even if only for our own self esteem and the only way to get them is to reciprocate with other Bloggers. You “Like” them and in turn, they will “Like” you. So, those of you that are writing several pieces a day or even blogging on a daily basis every day of the week should not be surprised and you should realize that probably only one (any one) of your blogs received a “Like”. The rest ended up in the Trash Bin not because they are bad blogs but because most of us do not have the time and or probably the interest to peruse all of yours and others blogs that we are being bombarded with.
For myself, I think that in the future, I will find a few more bloggers to add to the selective group of Bloggers that interest me and devote the little time that I want to spend, enjoying them. I already know who most of them are as we have been following one another for a long time. New ones will have to be exceptionally good and interesting to join my little group. I realize full well that the number of “Likes” on my own blog will go down but I am prepared to accept that in order to unclutter my inbox and get back more of my day to spend on other things. Anyway, I would rather have comments than “Likes”. I seem to have hit a plateau regarding “Likes” and I am not really prepared to spend any more time on them. I can come up with several subjects that I don’t care for. Food and Religion are two and an 81 year old man is hardly interested in Fashion, Clothes and Makeup. Blogs that are full of Self Pity or being dumped by another person are to me a Bloggers way to get the rest of us involved in their particular brand of misery. Life is too short for that. I don’t care for blogs where the author uses unnecessary swear words as that is not my style either. Not that I am a prude as I break out in swear words all of the time. It’s just that there is a time and a place. Some verse I just don’t understand so that doesn’t appeal to me. I could go on and on but you get my point. Blogging has to reach a person in their mind as a reader and most of us have very limited horizons.
For those of you that choose to blog to the excess, if that is what it takes to satisfy your needs, then go for it. Just be aware that many readers are like me and will only read one blog a day from you so the bottom line is that whatever message you are trying to get out there is just not reaching the readers that you want it to.
Too much blogging or too many blogs especially on a daily basis is NOT necessarily a good thing.
You make several good points here. I try to keep up with as many blogs as I can but just don’t have the time to read every single one, especially when people submit more than one post in a day. I always enjoy reading your posts although I don’t always comment, not because I don’t want to but because I’m not always confident that what I want to say makes any sense. Anyway, you will continue to receive ‘likes’ from me. We seem to be on the same wavelength when it comes to what we want and don’t want to see in a post.
I thank you for reading my blogs and am sure that I can make “sense” of any comments you wish to make. Glad that others agree with me about bloggers in general.
I agree on many of the points you made. It’s an ever-growing trend to bombard social media with posts, tweets, videos, ‘grams, etc., and will likely only escalate. I imagine it comes most from those either in search of external approval (because they lack intrinsic self-worth) through likes, or those trying to push a product on the masses. It’s amazing that what we think is our own, unique self-reflection can resonate with others. That’s the bond of our humanity. That’s the beauty of many blogs.
Many blogs are a good thing but not from one person and all on the same day. I blog twice a week (usually) and I sometimes feel that is too many. I am seriously considering taking off the “Like” and just leaving the “Comments” on my blogs in the hope of more honesty in the responses.
I’d leave the like, personally. We may enjoy something without having anything else to add to the conversation at that point.
Really enjoyed this post! I love to blog, but time’s a factor. I aim for at least one a week and sometimes few people read them and other times they’re read far and wide. Like you say, it just depends on what people choose to read that day! The reason I blog is to help people. My posts are all about creative writing with tips on how to improve in different areas. If one person reads it and takes something away from it, that’s good enough for me!
You have a purpose to your blog which makes it worthwhile reading. Many people blog and have nothing to say but just want the attention. Thanks for your comment
I agree. It’s hard for me to keep up when one person post like 5-10 a day. I try to post once a week (if I find the time) but nowadays it’s like once a month if I’m lucky 😂 It also depends on the title and the first few paragraphs. If I’m hooked I take the time to read it instead of just scanning it.
Which is exactly how I approach all of the blogs that end up in my mailbox. I have a few that I read all the time but that it because I find them very readable and also the subjects are something I am interested in. Thanks for the comment
Yeah, I try to limit my posts as well. If I can do one a week I feel that I have done enough though I get carried away at times and post several times a week but never several times daily. Always glad to read your hiking experiences…..
Several times daily, even more than one a day makes it impossible for anyone to keep up. Those bloggers are either lonely souls or lacking attention and feel that sort of need. They are not being very realistic in their beliefs that others are that interested… Thanks for the comment.
Hi. I agree with much of what you say
I’m amazed by the amount of content that some bloggers turn out.
In all fairness to them, we don’t know their circumstances and maybe blogging is their only form of contact with the outside world. That still doesn’t change the fact that most of us just do not have the same sort of time (or interest) to read ALL of their blogs. Thanks for the comment.
Hello fallcorn. thank you for the post of a lifetime. You are a thousand per cent very true in every sense of all the words you put down in this post. I thought about that for a long time, which I would imagine many bloggers must have thought same. “why do some bloggers blog every single day?” Some of them even blog more than once, twice or three times or even more in one day. Same question as you asked, “Do these people work?” You know what, it seems to me they could be copying words from other bloggers since the truth about this is that blogging is very hard, you must think of what you want to write about, what to say to make your readers be interested in what you write. It does takes days before one can write a post. And that is what makes me sense that many bloggers could be copying ideas and most probably words that makes it easier for them to write several posts in one day. And these bloggers, their blogs do not interest me at all. And there are many of them especially younger people I have experienced who do not know the meaning of blogging. they send a FOLLOW and when you respond the same favour, they go back and they stop following you instantly since they know you are already their followers. I caught up with one blogger one day. She did it to me, as soon as she sent me follow, I sent her one, and the sooner I did, she unfollowed me, I went straight to my follow list, didn’t find her in my list, I clicked to her website and I unfollowed her immediately a job done. Well you really nailed them today, the best way you could have ever done. Thank you for posting. Wish you a Happy autumn season. Take care now.
Thank you for your comment. I guessed that there are many bloggers out there who feel like I do about it. I have an unwritten rule that anyone that posts more than 5 times in one day, are automatically deleted and removed from my list. I’m thinking of changing that number to 3 times per day. Currently, there are 150 odd posts in my inbox waiting for my attention and I don’t think I will read or like very many of them today.
me too fallcorn – I am trying to find some time to work on the people who follows me. I am going to clean my followers list a bit. there are lots of people who just send a follow, only to get the favour back to fill their followers list. They are making blogging like face book. I really think we should be strong and teach them a lesson. Filling our list of followers who never shows a LIKE is out of character, it is about the people who leaves a comment or like at least. but some of them feels content for having us as their followers then “this is it” – we don’t even get a LIKE from them. The sooner I get some time, they will be gone from my followers list. They won’t make my blog a “face book.” they can do that with the property of Mark Zuckerberg. that is why I have left face book! Thank you for your response. And have a great week!
I am going to freeze my following list from here on out and then work on cutting it back to make it more manageable. Even so, it will take some time and unless a particular new blog strikes me as newsworthy, there will be no new followers. Thanks for your comment.
I do not have near the followers you do but I am contemplating cutting back too.
It is not that I want to cut back but it is physically impossible to keep up with the blogs. To be fair, some do not interest me and they will be the first to go. I have already started to cut back…
I hope you didn’t freeze following because I just found you!
Only if you blog 5 times a day and 8 days a week…
I misunderstood and thought you meant freezing your followers.
😐I followed you because some of your posts interest me, not to get you to follow me. Peace!
You have an interesting life.
As an 82 year old fart, I try to make my remaining years as interesting as possible. Thanks for your comments.