I learnt quite awhile ago not to depend on how many beautiful faces were lined up beneath each of my posts to judge that post’s “draw,” impact, or audience reaction.
Secretly, of course, I love seeing everyone’s happy faces lined up below my posts they do help me feel appreciated.
Twitter followers mostly dominate my total following. They are and probably always will be my silent majority. By silent I mean, they slip in, read, rummage around and slip out again, here on the blog. I need to be patient and polite and wait. Then in due time, I start hearing about and seeing the influence of my posts. Strangely enough, I have found that visitors from anywhere other than WP very rarely “like” or leave comments on my blog. Many bloggers may find this to be the case.
Of course, I can always get an immediate idea of how things are going by checking my stats. I find my stats fascinating and fun for a quick daily reference. “Oh look Russia is here today!” or “Wow, why is everyone suddenly so fascinated with that post from June 2014!” Then you find out that your old June 2014 post has the same title as the hot new movie release that weekend!
Oops, I did it again. I started blabbing on about all kinds of nonsense. What I wanted to do was also share a post from “the man” of wisdom himself about this subject. He says what I have been saying, but, of course, in a much more eloquent and articulate way.
So next time you (or I) start second-guessing ourselves about the impact we are having in the blog-o-sphere (credit to Floridaborne for that word) remember the following from Seth Godin:
No one clicked on it, no one liked it…”
These two ideas are often uttered in the same sentence, but they’re actually not related.
People don’t click on things because they like them, or because they resonate with them, or because they change them.
They click on things because they think it will look good to their friends if they share them.
Or they click on things because it feels safe.
Or because they’re bored.
Or mystified.
Or because other people are telling them to.
Think about the things you chat about over the water cooler. It might be last night’s inane TV show or last weekend’s forgettable sporting event. But the things that really matter to you resonate with you, touch you deeply–often those things are far too precious and real to be turned into an easy share or like or click.
Yes, you can architect content and sites and commerce to get a click. But you might also choose to merely make a difference. Seth’s Blog
This post wouldn’t be complete without including a very relevant comment made by my friend Floridaborne recently:
“You never know in the blog-o-sphere where your thoughts are traveling and who you saved from a lifetime of pain just by writing one post.”
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