When I tell friends that I have a blog, the first question I get is “Do you have any readers? How many?”. This isn’t a wrong question to ask. I’m sure I would ask someone else the same thing if given the option, since it’s just a side-effect of natural curiosity. We all want our creative efforts to be seen and acknowledged by other people.
But the only answer I have to this question is “I don’t know”. When I created my blogs, I made the conscious decision to go with tools that allow me to make static websites, something that doesn’t have any trackers or database backend. I don’t have any analytics tools active either, other than the basic usage stats from netlify that tells me how much bandwidth I’m using. So I have no idea how many “readers” I have.
I do receive comments sometimes, and I really appreciate everyone who leaves one! If I had to guess, I think my online mutuals probably visit the blogs once-in-a-while when there’s a post that particularly interests them. I think my most consistent visitor is probably me.
I use my blogs to get my thoughts out there, log my media consumption, archive “reviews” from other places, and yap about whatever. Rarely do my posts have an intended audience other than myself. Sometimes, I write a post that’s intended as a guide or reference for other people.
And I think that’s okay! There are vanishingly few places on the web where we can be “ourselves”. We always curate our stuff for the context of the particular social media space. I just realized that I wanted a place where I didn’t have to do that. In less than a week, it will have been one year since I started this blog in earnest. I’ve been enjoying myself so far, and I hope to continue my activities.
Not knowing how many readers I have is almost freeing in a way. I can just write without comparing my posts, which I think is for the best.
Comments
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@navi Congrats on your blog's anniversary! As a blog reader, I really enjoy reading posts where the intended audience is the author. Probably something parasocial at play but I what I like about it is being allowed to peek at other people's brains. Though I guess that can be argued about writing in general. Anyways, it makes me happy to see folks share on the internet about stuff they care deeply about. It's so... human! (´ ∀ ` *)
@arimamary thank you! 😊
editing my response now that I have more bandwidth:
I also enjoy reading other people's blogs/diaries/hobby posts since it just feels more wholesome and full of context compared to short social media posts. It's definitely also more relaxing to read.
@navi I know right? About the context part. I really like context. A blog post can be the most thing away from everything I have experience with but reading the context behind the post feels like... my world is expanding? Long live longform! :meowaww:
@navi That's so wonderful!! It's a true testament to doing things for yourself. I see too folks fall prey to the wiles of internet popularity. I try to have that mindset too when posting art or even streaming. It's definitely about keeping yourself happy and if other people have fun too, awesome!!
@Hika Thanks for the comment! Yeah I think the internet makes it easy to chase after numbers when the numbers are available and in front of your face all the time.
I think this is why I really like portfolios and personal websites. You can really take in someone's work without all that external noise, in a context that they control.