You may ask yourself, "How did I get here?"
Somewhere between the 100th and 120th blog I read this week, I came across one from a good mySpace friend, Noah. Even though I usually need to read them in two sessions because of the length (c'mon Noah, you knew that was coming ), I love the content because it's so spontaneous and it really reflects his own unique view of life.
Once in a while, he'll post a rant blog, but always with humor and appropriate sarcasm. This rant was a little different though, it didn't have the same kind of tone. I emailed him if there was something behind it. We had a pretty in depth email conversation where Noah summarized his thoughts about the whole matter. He posted this in a blog last night. (Read it here before continuing and come back ... I'll wait).
OK, welcome back.
It didn't strike me until I had this email conversation with him that I've always assumed that anyone who blogs really wants new readers. I remember the rush that I got when I had my first page views, my first comment, my first subscriber. If you're lucky, you'll write something interesting enough that some of the veterans like enough to pimp out - bringing more readers. Then you just follow the road map and suddenly you're a daily top blogger. I thought everyone wanted to ride the road up and only the sky was the limit.
Nope.
And thanks to Noah's perspective, I know that at some point, the budding bloggers have to make a choice.
Are you going to keep reaching up and working for those top rankings, thousands of readers and 8 - 10 pages of comments for every blog?
OR
Are you going to just write for the reasons you started with, even if you don't increase your reader list or the size of your comment section?
If you go with option 1, will you have the time to respond to ALL of your comments (if that's what you started out doing)? Will you be able to keep coming up with material 3, 5, 7 times a week that keep people coming back? Will you ever see your reader list stop at 2000, 3000, 5000 and pull your hair out thinking about how to get more?
If you go with option 2 will you feel guilty about not trying harder? Will you have a problem with readers who subscribe one day and drop you in a week because you just didn't have enough range to keep them interested? OK, I really can't see many downsides to this option unless the statistics start to matter to you.
I came to mySpace because I'm a social hummingbird. It's a social circle completely different than the other two I have - work, and Team in Training. Even the folks from work are rarely on mySpace, so this circle is pretty much isolated from the rest of my life. I like to get along with people. I like to make friends. I like the fact that at work, most people drop what they're doing to talk to me even though they're swamped. But most of all, I like to be able to have an effect on people's lives, whether in person or virtually.
If you asked me what I'm most proud of on mySpace in the 3 months or so that I've been actively blogging, it's not the the size of the reader list, or the friends list. It's not the profile or blog views.
I'm most proud that at some point or another, I've been able to leave a comment, send an email, have a chat with mySpace friend and clicked away from the page knowing that both of us were changed by that interaction. This has happened dozens of time with people whose only relationship to me is through our blogs, and I do this with total sincerity. I've shared some deep feelings and in return, I've enriched my life as well. I've made this connection with so many people now that leaving mySpace would be like losing a limb.
With the amount of time I spend on reading blogs (and writing 2 or 3 blogs a week if I get lucky) , I think it's a good time for me to really think about what I want to accomplish by being here. So where does that leave me in the choice of 'rise to the top' or 'what you get is what you get?'
I'm not sure. But since I'm not actively doing anything I wouldn't do naturally, I'm thinking I'm going to leave it to chance - at least for now.
Budding bloggers: where do you want to be?
Veterans: Is this where you want to be?
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
This used to be a progress report on me coming back from my fourth knee surgery. I want to put the focus back on marathon walking, the benefits and the journey that my wife and I have taken to get where we are.
