Yesterday when I was scrolling my Pinterest feed, I came across a pin about why companies fail. There was this tip about having followers on social media etc. It was about a business but it’s good advice for blogging too. Having copious of followers on your blog doesn’t mean they actually read your blog. I always say the quality is better than quantity. You can have thousands of followers but you can never guarantee how many of them actually read the blog. Maybe some only collect followers so they can feel good about themselves. Blogging is not only for reading but also for interacting with others. I can understand if you don’t know what to say or you’re shy about leaving a comment. I don’t always comment on other people’s blogs either. Only writing ‘Great post’ isn’t really constructive. A like is better than an unimaginative comment.

There is a lot of tips about how to gain more followers but you can forget that. A lot of those tips are about how to get customers. Not so much about blogging as a hobby. Getting followers is a marathon. It takes time. Some blogs might get more in a short time but for some, it takes longer. It’s not a competition where the person with the most follows in a week or a month gets a big prize. Promoting your blog on social media is waste of time if you ask me. If your blog is on WordPress, only people who also are on it can follow your blog. Correct me if I’m wrong. None of my friends on Facebook or even on Twitter read blogs. I don’t think anyone has found this blog on social media even if I post there regularly. Especially on Twitter. It’s like talking to a wall sometimes. It’s more likely to get readers to your blog through WordPress Reader than on social media.

Having followers and having readers is two different things. Many celebrities have millions of followers but how many of them actually read what they write. Maybe people only follow them because it’s cool. None of these celebs interacts with their fans for real. How would they have time anyway? Sometimes you can see some of them responding to their fans. Like Pink or Stephen Fry. It’s not an issue for them if people are followers or readers. For them, it’s just sharing things. For us ‘normal’ people it’s more important. Maybe not everyone but some of us rather have readers to our blogs than just followers. We want to share things but we also want interaction. You really can’t wait for people to find your blog. You have to comment on other people’s blog post too. This is something I forget about it myself. I try to reply to every comment I get. If I don’t, at least I like the comment just to prove I read it.

Having too many followers and following a lot is a bit superficial. No one has that much time so they could read every blog they follow. I would rather follow a blog if I actually read it. Some people brag about how many followers they have. It’s really off-putting. You got to have some dignity and not sell yourself short. I wonder if these people ever got enough attention at home or why do they have such urge to get noticed. If you want to become an internet prostitute, be my guest. Most of us want to keep our self-respect. Our life is not about how many followers we have. Having copious of followers doesn’t mean a thing. It’s about people who actually care.