I’ll be the first to say that when I see a surprisingly high stats; I get happy. The same stands true if I hit an unusually low number; er…less happy.
But then there’s the reader who comments; enough to leave behind their own thoughts. Took the time to share just what kind of thoughts I managed to trigger in a complete stranger by words that I put together. Suddenly, I couldn’t give two shits about the stats.
Why do we write?
We write to trigger something. Often that’s simply an encouragement to consider an argument. Sometimes it’s to distract. Or maybe it’s to get you to laugh. When it hits the mark with even a single person, there’s nothing quite comparable, certainly, doesn’t even graze something far less relevant as general stats. Quite genuinely, I don’t write for numbers, they are what I consider an add-on. I’m the more qualitative kind, as I’m sure you can imagine. Traffic is, of course, good, it increases the engagement but focus on the positive while you work for more.
Shoutout to all my regular readers; I appreciate you. You always give me the time of day and ironically I’m not too sure how I can relay just how much your continuous engagement means to me. Thank you.
I agree 😊 I love getting comments, for someone that says she’s antisocial I sure love to socialise via blogging
Haha – socialising in comfort. Thank YOU for dropping the comment!
Well written 🙂 Comments are the best!
Thank you! Totes!
I’d honestly prefer comments to likes, just to get some interaction and points of view.
Truth – likes are numbers, words are emotions.
Well said. I’ve been thinking about this recently, as one day I had more likes on a post than I did views, and it really just kind of spoiled it to think that someone just looked at the picture on the Reader, pressed liked, and just moved one without actually reading it. However, I won’t say I’m not happy that I received the likes, but I’d certainly prefer engaged viewers over a side-glance. Thanks for your consistency!
Ah I do have that too. I think it happens to many people, it bugged me at first but now I just take it in stride. Better than nothing I guess?
Of course! A comment is more personal. It’s an explicit declaration of that “something” you are referring to. 🙂
Your posts are an absolute joy to read and I look forward to them. So thank you for posting and keep going, Maddie!
Thank you so much! That’s such a sweet comment, thank you. Means the world – appreciate your continued support.
Hiya Maddie, Although I agree with having engangment with your audience vs a like, I think the focus should be on “Why exactly are you writing”?”. If ya can take the question and answer it with honesty, maybe you’ll find that stats are meaningless 😉
Yep – that’s the conclusion I came to ”Suddenly, I couldn’t give two shits about the stats” – it’s always a great thing to be acutely aware of.
I agree with all of you that comments are what I love most. Sometimes I write for me, but sometimes I spend a lot of time writing something I hope people will respond to, and they don’t.
It is easy to get down at those times but that is when I go to other people’s blogs and comment because I am often even more touched by what other people write than comments on my own stuff.
I do agree that writing ought to be for yourself, but it adds a connection if someone new finds something within your text which resonated with them too. At least know that when people DO comment, it’ll be because it truly struck a chord whereas a friend you know personally would compliment your work because they like you, not necessarily your writing.
Just keep doing you man, you’ll get people reaching out soon enough!
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Follow is fine, like is good, a commenting regular is the best 🙂
Very true man!