Why Do You Read?
Why do you read? That seems like an unintentionally philosophical question – like the time I, still half-asleep, asked someone “Why are you?” when I meant to ask “How are you?” (Its a very different experience.) I guess what I am really asking is: Why do you read this blog? There is an assumption there, sure, that you deliberately read this blog on a semi-regular basis. Perhaps you don’t. Perhaps you just googled something and arrived here randomly. Perhaps someone said, “Oh My God, you should see what this idiot just wrote.”
What other blogs do you read? Why do you read those? What do you find so appealing about them?
Chuck Westbrook is a man, a man with a plan. He wants to end, what he calls, ‘the Tragedy of Under-Appreciated Blogs.’ He maintains there are great blogs out there without readers and audiences without reading material. He wants to unite the two. And kudos to him.
It is easy to feel unappreciated. Hell, I’ve made a career out of it. (Regular readers will remember this previous blog entry, for example.) Chuck’s plan seems lovely, benevolent even. But will it work? At the time of writing there were 366 comments on his blog entry. (In fairness some comments are duplicates from the same author, but I do not have the time to ascertain how many.) As far as I can ascertain Chuck intends to feature a different blog every two weeks. I don’t know how often Chuck intends to do this. I don’t think even he knows that yet. I doubt it will be over 732 weeks.
A lot of people who feel ‘unappreciated’ are hoping they are holding on to a Golden Ticket. A 1/366th chance doesn’t strike me as good odds. And say you are selected as number 50, assuming the initiative is still going ahead (and readers are still reading) will people who are already disillusioned wait for 100 weeks for the promise of two weeks of readership?
And what kind of comments are you going to get? Lots of “Chuck sent me” comments? As a content creator, few things frustrate me as much as getting a “you have a nice smile” comment when I’ve just made a video talking about religion. Sure it is a nice compliment (to my face) but it doesn’t say much about my presentation. I have to accept in the moment that I have failed to capture the interest of the audience. I haven’t been able to get them to connect with the subject matter and themes. So I shall put to you yet another question: Is it better to have a large following or an engaged following?
I confess this is a distinction I’ve only made recently. I’ve been very envious of other content creators. I’ve come to embrace the realisation that the true merit is in the work itself and that the most meaningful communication is that which relates to the work. You have to be in it for the process of doing it.
If Chuck’s plan is successful it will be an exercise in serendipity; that somehow the chosen blog resonated with readers so much in the two week period that they become loyal readers. It is the same serendipity that connects any work with any audience. Perhaps I am naive, but I tend to believe in this force more than I do “Search Engine Optimization.” Perhaps a greater volume of visitors will lead to a speeding up in the process of joining author and reader, but I still maintain they will need to be compatible with each other. On some level there has to be some common ground of interests and values – that is where the magic happens, that is the very foundation of this idea of ‘community’ we speak of.
I’d like to vote in favor of an engaged audience being better than a large one. If 1 million people show up but have no idea what you’re saying, don’t care, and aren’t even interested in trying to figure it out, what’s the point? An engaged audience, however large or small, will at least take away something of value and perhaps even contribute to a discussion.
In this particular situation, size is not the most important factor.
Ps. I’ve always liked your smile.
:-)
Aside from this blog I also read Cadwaladr’s blog at http://cadwaladr.livejournal.com/ because I know him in person, and the only other one is Thomas Moen’s blog at http://thomasmoen.com/ because of the geographic, demographic, and linguistic ties between Minnesota and the Norwegian heritage. His blog entries are usually short which keeps my brain from exploding while reading in Norwegian, (which I can read a little). I call it my “Norsk Language Lesson.” So, just three blogs. Well, sometimes I also read my own too XD
This will sound odd – but this post doesn’t sound like you.
I started reading blogs back in 2004 when I was living in Japan and was bored. And this continues at places like work.
Gregs last blog post..Monkeys
The only blogs I read are of people I know. I used to also occasionally read Andrew Bartlett’s blog. So I guess it goes without saying that I read your blog because I know you, which is probably not the answer you were hoping to hear, but still not a bad one because there are plenty of people I know whose blogs I don’t read.
Hi John,
I appreciate the thought you’ve put into what I’m trying to do. As you may have seen in subsequent updates on the site, we are not progressing through the list of participants. Any blog could be featured for any given two-week period whether that author is participating or not.
I too am interested to see whether or not the two-week influx actually leaves a lasting positive effect on the visited site. I suspect it will but perhaps not in the way many are expecting.
The blogger may make a few new friends, may gain insight into improving his or her writing, or may realize (as you have) that a ton of readers isn’t quite the end-game that they were expecting it to be.
On the assumption that there are some true “hidden gems” though, there will some sites that simply need the exposure to flourish.
To your point about compatability, I think you’re spot on. For most people, they must see something of themselves in the author for it to be so attractive that they commit to long-term readership. I’d like to eventually offer more than just a one-blog-fits-all model, to be able to have something for intellectuals, something for photographers and designers, something for narratives, something for businesses–whatever the division may be. This would improve the odds.
In the meantime, my hope is that the readers identify with the under-appreciated blogger on the grounds that they have at least that in common. Also, some of the readers are bound to find the blog naturally interesting to them and will stick around and send some of their readers that way from time to time. And a few will discover that the blog or the blogger grows on them, that what started as reading to fulfill the two-week commitment turned into reading for interest or pleasure.
One nice thing about a wide audience is that it often contains a number of engaged readers inside of it as well. I think we are intrigued by the large audience because, like panning for gold, a larger sample of people is more likely to contain one that is really resonant with us. If I gain 100 readers, my excitement comes from imagining what interesting people might be hidden therein.
Again, thanks for the thoughts–drop me a line sometime if you’d like. I’d enjoy talking to you further. Otherwise, I hope to see you in the course of the project or over here from time to time.