Logging in tonight to get caught up on Bloggerville, I noticed I had a huge jump in the graph that pops up on my overview page, indicated number of pages viewed. Apparently this blog had 404 views today. Hmm, my weekly menu planning is about to go viral? A huge number of people turned minimalist and thought they might learn something from me, the girl with 16 bankers boxes of old paperwork? Or, did some computer program in a cyber version of robo calling trip onto my blog, "viewing" 3X the number of pages that have ever been looked at in a single day? Ding ding ding-a winner. Granted , many of you have that many readers, and I am one of those masses. I just do not. However, there was the slight moment when that jump in number was like a vanity mirror in front of my face.
We all blog for different reasons, and some of you might actually make a bit of money. I blog for my enjoyment, and if it strikes the fancy, I'm happy to have the company. Still, it does feel good when someone leaves a comment to my post. I get really excited when the commenter is one of my celebrity bloggers, my term for those that have the masses following them. I think it comes down to a simple fact that I like to feel validated. It feels like my views on life matter, and matter beyond my nook of the world. So to anyone who has ever posted a comment, thank you very much!
Through the daily writing exercises on my other blog, Sam and Writing, those of us participating are responding to each others writings, often expressing how uniquely different people can see an object, and develop a story around it. That was a shameless plug to get you to jump over and take a look. We've explored really benign objects and subjects such as door knobs (really!), dental visits, and waking up in the morning, and crafted these into vignettes or a fictitious tale, or even poetry. To me, this has been validation that I have stories to tell, and others just might want to hear them.Every person has stories to tell.
The ordinary can be unique, and interesting, and remarkable, and just silly. Take for instance, if I blogged about my new glasses, my first pair of bifocals, with no lines. However, the bifocal part doesn't seem to quite line up the way I like to hold my head when I look at the computer screen. I have to put the glasses on at an angle, no longer able to put the frame arms around my ears. This means they are sort of balancing on my head precariously. No less than four times in a day do I turned away too quickly and the glasses come flying off my face. I am sure I could get the frames adjusted to work better, but haven't yet. I'm a little amused at this turn of events. A very ordinary experience, but I bet if I wrote that up in a whole blog post, others would relate to their first experience with glasses, or bifocals, learning to wear contacts, or be able to share a much more interesting story related to eyewear. I think of my last eyewear upgrade, required because my husband shut the garage door on my head, and almost, and I am not exaggerating, killed me. Now there is a story.
When I blog, I like to feel like I am talking with friends, telling stories, comparing stories, and relating to stories. This is why I enjoy a cup of coffee or tea, or a glass of wine when I write and when I read. The conversation just seems to flow over a beverage or two. Gremlins, feel free to keep scrolling through the pages. I know you are there. I know your spam comment, "This is the most valuable blog site I have read. Keep it up." as a response to my post on $3.00 Office Space is preprogrammed, and my filter will send it right where it belongs. For the rest of you, consider yourselves welcome in my living room, any time. Hang out and listen to the conversation or play a part and add your story. I'm pouring.
I often wonder just who is reading my blog! I am much more likely to comment on blogs which don't get many comments. Before I had my own blog I used to comment on a craft blog on which most days I was the only commenter and the blogger told me that if it were not for my comments she would have given up because she wasn't sure if there really was anyone out there! Now I have my own blog(s) I too appreciate the support.
ReplyDeleteI too try and make sure to comment on the blogs that resonate with me and have few if any comments. How else to give feedback that there is a kindred soul out there. I so appreciate your virtual friendship, and learning and reading about your life as well.
DeleteI think that blogging is like having a set of world-wide 'penpals' (do you remember those from the 80/90s?). I love catching up with everyone's news - even routines seem exotic when they're viewed from the other side of the world. Jx
ReplyDeleteGreat comparison, Jan. Of course as an Anglophile, I am always oohing over all your UK posts, but am trying to seek out others as well. There was one blogger form Italy, but she has gone quiet, and I really enjoyed her posts. Life gets busy throughout the world doesn't it, but how true that the ordinary becomes unique when done in an accent. What we all have in common is the desire to learn and grow in experiences. We all can't travel, some may not even want to, but we can look up places people post about,like all the great villages and castles, and you all can learn about wild rice and Spam.
DeleteI use a site called statcounter.com just for my own curiosities sake. It's free. It takes a much more accurate count of views and tells you where clicks actually came from (for example when I visit your site it will tell you that you got a click from Grand Haven, MI) including what link they followed to get there, if they followed a link.
ReplyDeleteIt is fascinating! It also helped me to find blogs I had not realized had listed mine in their blogroll as blogs they read. Plus it lets you follow traffic off off your blog, say people are clicking links on your blog to leave. Like when I was doing the first giveaway for my 1000th post I could see exactly which of my sponsors was getting hits on their websites (Grow Up Awesome got the most hits followed by Rock Creek Soaps).
It's fun little tool to play around with. You can label IP addresses too, so you'd more easily notice each time regular followers are at your page (many people visit from several IP addresses though so that can get complicated). I don't go there often any more, to see my stats, but I do stop by every once in awhile and it is pretty informative. I had a lot of fun looking at it when I first started out.
It might scare you though how much info can be tracked online, I mean this tool can get you a picture of the map almost down to someone's street where they're computing from. Oh, and it's really cool to look at the map of the world and see all these dots all over it from where people visited (even if some of them are trolls, oh yes, I get A LOT of those). Since you moderate, do you ever check the spam folder. I forget about it and then when I stop by I've got hundreds of comments in there. Trolls!!!
I am going to have to check that out. I should be more cyber leery, I guess, but I jsut don't get too uptight with the "big brother" paranoia about people being able to learn so much about me, but maybe I am naive.
DeleteHi Sam, when I write my posts, I too feel like I am telling a story or chatting with friends. And like you, I like to have a cuppa or a glass of something as it kind of does feel like you are sitting down with friends. Its been such an interesting process meeting others out there in blogland that live in other parts of the globe & whose lives are quite different but we may share a common interest. I like the way you write - its easy to read. Hope you have a happy weekend Sam.
ReplyDelete"Cuppa", I love getting in on the slang of other parts of the world. I have my daughter looking for your cute upcycled things for ideas. Your country is just beautiful, and I feel like I know so much more about the real world and not just what is spoon fed us in the US. thank you too for the kind words.
DeleteI originally started blogging as a record of the renovations on the house as I started the blog a couple of months after we moved here. It's lovely to be able to look back at how far we have come, and at the comments from the people who cheered me on along the way. Quite a few of them, who started around the same time as me, have also stopped blogging now; fortunately I'm in touch with some of them by email. I'm reading fewer and fewer blogs these days as I just can't identify with a large number of them - I think for me there needs to be some common ground, or something to spark my interest/ get me thinking. The good thing about stepping away from the internet is that it gives me much more time to spend on other things, including some tentative business ideas. I also admit to having been quite spooked by the reader who thought that she knew me better than my own family members and who thought it appropriate to suggest that I had destructive mental health issues for which I needed therapy. She is still hanging around and checking my blog on a fairly regular basis :(
ReplyDeleteThere is a blog Two Men and a Farm that is like your record keeping, sharing their journey renovating and doing farm stuff. I have no intent to buy a farm, nor have I talent tofr renovating my house, but I love it, as I loved your blog. It is unfortunate that people feel they can hide behind the internet and say anything, and forget that it is a real person on the other end. I admit, I am a bit of a blog junky, but soe I scroll ver. Others though, I do feel like they have become cyber friends, and I long to open their next post and hear what they have been up to. There are no rules, and I think that tiws what is freeing.
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