Followers and comments

Today I received a bit of bad news: one of my favorite bloggers, Jo over at A Majority of Two, wrote this morning that she's going to take a break from blogging because she's afraid that her blog has become boring. She's not receiving many comments any more, and because she doesn't have a particular style (like blogging about knitting, photos, memes, etc.), she said, "I'm not sure I even have anything interesting to say. My observations on life are often not the same as everyone else's."

Well. This gives me a great opening for a problem about blogging that I've noticed for quite awhile. This wonderful blogosphere that I visit daily (unless something comes up to keep me away for a day, or even two) is so diverse and exciting that I can settle in to Google Reader and read the blogs I follow, taking an excursion or two, and the entire DAY is gone. If someone like Jo, who at present has 748 followers, doesn't hear from more than a few of us, she thinks we're not interested in what she has written.

I know all about it. I might dash off a post about something on my mind and wham! I come home from the gym and I've received a dozen comments. Conversely, I might write something I am particularly interested in, take time and care to research the information, and few readers comment -- or if they do it's a simple acknowledgment of having read it; no deep thoughts are shared. And I've got little to no idea what the difference is.

I have exactly 65 followers, unless someone has joined or bailed since I last looked, and frankly I feel it's about all I can handle. I visit all commenters when they say something meaningful and I want to know more about them. And some of the people I leave comments for never fail to write a short private email back to acknowledge me. (Many bloggers don't have contact information for various reasons, but some, like me, like to receive private emails.) I am jealous of my followers. I feel bad when someone leaves, but I don't try to find out who it was. Recently a couple of my blogging buddies cleaned up the blogs they followed and deleted some, only to receive nasty emails.

We are still trying to find our way here in the blogosphere. There are not hard-and-fast rules of the road because we are still in the early stages. But it's hard when I pour my heart out to what I have come to think of as my "audience," and nobody responds. Self-doubt begins to surface and then my imagination, my worry, takes over. It's not an easy thing to write personally, but in some ways it's more thrilling than getting ready to jump from an airplane. For some of us, anyway. :-)

I love blogging, but there is more to life than just playing around on the computer with my virtual friends. If I didn't have Smart Guy to talk with, in person, and my social contacts outside of the apartment, my life would be pretty dull. I could be that guy in the cartoon with Samantha, if I let myself. But I won't.
:-)