Scan of a Valentine greeting card dated 1909. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
So since Christmas, I’ve noticed that page views for my blogs have been way down. I’ve heard the same complaint from other bloggers as well, so it’s not just me. (Phew. Although I wouldn’t blame you. I wouldn’t read this crap either.)
I was willing to put it down to the fact that I’ve been a little slack about posting regularly, or that it’s that time of year, or that WordPress borked something up when they changed how they display stats, but when I watched closely I began to notice something interesting: more people were liking my posts than were apparently reading them. (You know who you are. Or I guess you don’t since you are not actually reading this.)
This, of course, makes me wonder – why are you here? Sure, it’s easy to follow someone. You read a funny post or a good article, you click the button, and you’re done. But if you’re not reading the posts, even occasionally, why bother. It’s like giving out a phoney number at a bar and getting a guy’s hopes up. (Or so I’ve heard. Never happened to me.)
Maybe you follow someone because they followed you, and it seems kind of weird if you don’t reciprocate. Like when someone buys a Christmas present and you didn’t get them anything, so you’re all like, “Yeah, I got you a present. I just left it in the car. Let me go get it.” *vroom
Perhaps you had good intentions, but you couldn’t find the time. Hey, we all get busy. But unless you’re an astronaut / lawyer / cardiac surgeon who feeds the homeless in her spare time, you’d think you could spare a moment to say hello once in a while.
Not that I haven’t been guilty of skimming through other people’s posts, I have. But I always find the time for someone who bothers to comment, even if it is just to read it and spend ten minutes trying to figure out what the hell you meant by that.
Blogging isn’t about numbers or awards or unlocking achievements. It’s about creating and sharing, building bridges and sharing wisdom. A community, like a family, is only healthy when the people in it talk to each other.
This Valentine’s Day take a moment and show a blogger some love. Find your favourite bloggers and leave them a comment about how much you appreciate the effort that they’ve put in. And then go and find a new blogging friend, maybe one that doesn’t get a lot of attention (but should), and leave them a comment as well. Even if it’s just to say hello.
Also, I am not just fishing for compliments (although I didn’t say stop).
Crazed recluse and sociophobe who has taken up writing after failing at everything else. Send pizza.
Verbatim Gibberish 
The “likes” sometimes bother me when I see that someone liked it without visiting my page. That, to me, means you’re fishing for me to come view your page, which for likes I typically don’t. Not that I don’t appreciate all feedback but I mean, come on people.
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My favorite is when I post a thousand word piece and someone likes it ten seconds later. Wow, there are some fast readers out there. The problem is that it can drive traffic to your site, so (like spam) people will continue to do it.
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Good to know I’m not the only one with numbers that are way down. I was starting to think it was something I said.
Oh, and… Hi!
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I think I used to follow you…….:)
I think it was that scary gravatar……:(
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Yo!
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