BLOGGER TEMPLATES - TWITTER BACKGROUNDS

Monday, October 11, 2010

Some Astute Observations about the Blogging World

Escapism is a common coping mechanism in the dark and confusing world we live in today. Some seek refuge in mythical worlds of role-playing and magic. Others write murder mystery novels about Mexican-American housewives who are summoned to solve a double homicide case in San Antonio. Some find sanctuary in sanctuaries, while others watch re-runs of Leave it to Beaver while sobbing over bowls of chocolate ice cream to deal with their issues. There are a few of us, however, who deal with the world by BLOGGING ABOUT IT.

I am happy to be included in that select few. (Select few, of course, referring to the tens of millions of bloggers who infest the internet.)

I've been blogging for a few years now. My first blog, Reviews, Raves, and Some Other R Word, last a year before it crashed to the ground. No Right Opinions gathered controversy, showed some promise for success, then...crashed to the ground. The Chin Scratcher and The Nerd Archives are still technically alive. After all of these blogs I've managed, I've noticed a thing or sixteen about us bloggers.

1) The best blogs come from the socially handicapped. If you ever bother to read the blogs you follow, you'll notice that we really do have quite a few socially awkward bloggers on the World Wide Web. The bloggers that seem to actually have an exciting laugh are seemingly boring, undedicated, and uninteresting.

2) A lot of us quickly lose interest in the blogs we supposedly "follow." Look at my list of followers. My most dedicated commenters are all found in the most recent three rows. The top row, or the most recent followers of all, are all included that list of most dedicated commenters.

3) Sometimes we tend to behave like parasites. We visit other blogs in the very practical hope that the bloggers we contact will come back and visit our blog. After we make the decision to follow that blog we visit, we don't stop there. We visit the blogs that they follow and the blogs that their followers follow. We're like computer viruses. And no, I don't mind that we do that. I think it's kind of cool how thorough we are. It just ticks me off when I visit someone's blog, and they "follow" all of my followers' blogs and all of their followers' blogs, but still don't follow MY blog.

4) We're very, very friendly. Except when it involves political blogs, we're welcoming, gentle, and over-considerate of each others' feelings. Sometimes it seems like the blogging world is Utopia. Arguments are constructive, and there are no wars. Maybe that's because 9/10 of us are liberals, but I'm cool with that, you know?

5) Some of us are very skillful in the practice of gaining followers. Others are laughable. For example:

"Hey, cool blog you have here. Follow mine?"

Sometimes they don't even bother to use capital letters. Sometimes they misspell the word "cool." Yet another heads up: the tactic of following as many blogs as possible in hope that you get as many readers as possible isn't foolproof. For instance. Look at the seventh follower on my list of followers. Guy named "Teuvo." Finnish, middle-aged fellow, this Teuvo. I clicked on his profile picture, which led me to his profile. Turns out, Teuvo is following more than a dozen blogs just that begin with an exclamation mark. Not very considerate of my feelings, is he?

6) We have horrid habit of venting. That's all I'm going to say about that...

7) Often the most creative and intriging blogs have horrid, boring titles. Often blogs with the most spectacular and witty titles are the worst ones out there.

That's enough for today, methinks.

Thank you guys so much for commenting on all of my last posts! I finally seemed to have developed a successful process of motivating my readers to comment. It goes as follows:

Step 1: Whine.

Step 2: Whimper.

Step 3: Lather myself in self-pity.

Step 4: Rinse and repeat.

Cheers,

That Blond Guy

4 people secretly have a crush on me:

Boyd said...

Hmmm...I'll have to try and apply the comment formula to my blog, too...

I'd say that list is pretty accurate!

Sarcasmic Ross said...

Haha!
I loved this list :)

1. I am 1.

2. Tell me about it, where are all my old followers now I'm writing more?

3. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. But still can't get more followers.

4. I'm a vile, hate-filled, cynical excuse for a human, but I'll welcome you to my world open armed.

5. Some of us fail miserably. I love those comments though, they always make me laugh.

6. Damn right.

7. Some of us lack the ability to write titles. We need a hand (hint)

Oh, you just earned this a recommendation. Classic, classic blogging.

Jillian said...

I have been in the blogging world for ages (errr... 2 years) and I really appreciate this. It's actually hilarious really. I started my blog because my best friend had one and without really trying I got 10 followers within the first week... and it was like "Hey, I didn't ask for this, but it's nice".

I hope your current blogs don't die.

Kay said...

I'm in the one of the first three rows... OH YES

And that list couldn't be more accurate. There's a whole science to blogging.

I could write a whole synthesis paper on its relevance to human nature, but I don't think that I will.

...Tuevo