Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

blog-1304

Finally, I have reached 1000 followers. No fanfare or fireworks. Even Word.Press waited till I had 1001 before sending me the above notification. I know, because I was keeping an eye on my followers and noted the 999th (Yay!) and then the 1000th. I had to wait another day for WP to realise I had tipped their magic number and send the notification.

Also, there was nothing from WP at the end of the 2016 year (that I saw anyway) with our annual stats round up and fun personal facts; such as most viewed post, top commenter, how many cable cars or trains your viewers might fill etc – Surprisingly, I missed that.

So how do I feel about this new achievement?

Meh.

It seemed such a big thing when I first started blogging. I’d visit other blogs and notice their large following and huge viewership. I wondered if I would ever achieve those kinds of numbers.

I don’t think like that any more.

Most of my followers do not actually follow me. I calculate only about 5% of them do. Most have never even visited my blog, so technically they haven’t really followed me!

This is why I don’t put my follower stats on my blog any more. It means nothing; especially as I still have people counted as following me, who have deleted their blog.

But, the genuine followers that I do have are awesome! You are very supportive and always there for me when I need it and it’s great to have you as my friends.

I am a small blog and always will be. That is absolutely fine by me. If I am following you, I will read your posts and comment fairly often. If I had more genuine followers I wouldn’t be able to do that.

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However, I noticed something funny last year, when I was absent from the blogging world for a while.

Normally, I get very few new followers any given month. What is weird is that I find I have been getting more followers than usual, ever since I stopped posting for a while and then returned posting less often.

In one day once I got 7 new followers, but I have to say that only one was a bona fide follower; the rest are just those who go round clicking ‘follow’ to all and sundry, hoping for follows back to boost their stats. They do not even visit your actual blog or even bother to ‘like’ a post in pretence of having stopped by.

I just find it baffling, that my absence promoted more interest in my blog than my actual blogging did!

 

It seems the old saying is true after all; Absence makes the heart grow fonder!

 

67 thoughts on “Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder”

  1. Midwestern Plant Girl

    Late to the party again 😋
    I hear ya on the follower dealio. I feel that unless you talk about your seriously deep self, famous folks or opinion posts on news events, your followers will stay low.
    I follow many informational blogs and am shocked at the low amount of followers, compared to the wealth of info being shared.
    I’ve recently noticed a person who only recently started posting who has about 5M followers and gets an average of 200 likes a post. They like and follow every blog they come across. Someone with a FT job cannot have enough time to read these, just pop off the like and run. 😝
    I only follow blogs that interest me and sometimes those folks don’t even follow me! I don’t take it personally 😉

    Liked by 1 person

    1. scifihammy Post author

      Never too late to join the party! 😀
      Yep, if I was in it for the numbers, I’d have to change my game plan! 😉
      I’m just here to have fun and also follow several blogs (without reciprocation) just because I enjoy them.
      But I try to respond to those who Do follow me – and this is what takes the time. I figure, if someone has made the effort to visit and comment on a post, the least I can do is return the favour. That is what the whole WP thing means to me – community spirit! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    1. scifihammy Post author

      Thank you 🙂 As I realised, all you have to do is keep blogging – and over the years, the stats will add up. 🙂
      Good Luck with your blog too 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  4. mistermuse

    I bet your most faithful follower isn’t even counted by Word Press and has never left a like on your posts (but has probably left plenty of ‘likes’ on your face). I refer to Little Monkey! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. scifihammy Post author

      Thank you RRatty. 🙂 Yes, I’m happy to have my few good friends, such as yourself. 🙂
      What’s with it and WP? It was fun to read everyone’s end of year stats!

      Like

  7. Bun Karyudo

    Congratulations on getting to 1000 followers! As for the WordPress stats–you’re completely right. I hadn’t noticed until you mentioned it, but I didn’t get anything about it this year either. Anyway, I think I know how you feel about follower numbers. I was obsessed with my totals at one time, but now I literally never look at how many followers I have. I keep that window on my dashboard permanently closed.

    I do get quite a lot of comments on my site, for which I’m very grateful, but it’s a lot of activity from a relatively small number of people, and so my site is actually very small–much smaller than people sometimes imagine. Indeed, a good many of the commenters on my site have far more followers than I do. (In fact, I think you’re now in this group too!) It doesn’t matter, though. Just as you say, it’s genuine interaction that counts. I don’t want to have 50,000 followers if none of them ever even look at my blog. I’d rather have a thousandth of that total and have them all drop by once in a while.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. sportsattitudes

    Ironic you brought up the followers aspect. I’ve been on WP since 2007 and have never seen anything quite like the current “follower frenzy.” Since returning to my blog in an active manner at the beginning of December I’ve gotten more followers in that time than I had the first six years of blogging. The funniest part is 99% of them don’t leave a like or a comment behind and I don’t even think they read anything on my blog. Indeed it is the comments section where I get satisfaction from the interaction. Small perhaps…but also manageable…and friendly.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. scifihammy Post author

      I’ve noticed that too. These ‘new’ followers mostly just click away with no interaction. It is much nicer to share comments and likes with WP friends. – To know there is Someone out there reading your posts! 🙂
      Thank you for Your comments. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  10. taphian

    congrats for 1000 followers first. I agree with your thoughts about followers. I have too many and most of them never give a like. You are right, that only very few percent are very nice and some are even very weird (sorry)

    Liked by 1 person

  11. colinandray

    Totally agree with everything you say. So many new “Followers” are simply self-serving and, whereas WP tells you about every new Follower, it never tells you about “Unfollows’ so yes, those particular stats really are meaningless. Like you, I have a core of regular visitors and commenters all of which are a delight to associate with, and when a new Follower joins in a conversation…….. WONDERFUL! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  12. samexploreslife

    So true, I’m no way near as many followers but I think you’re about the only 1 that pretty much reads everything I put up 🙂
    Can I just ask how long have you been blogging for?
    🙂 x

    Liked by 1 person

    1. scifihammy Post author

      I’ve been blogging for 3 years in May – so it’s taken a while. I used to post every single day and my stats have fallen off a bit now I post less often.
      But I think you find a little group of people on WP that you get along with and they can be very diverse. That’s the fun of interacting and finding out new things. 🙂

      Like

  15. blosslyn

    Ha ha, well done, you can say that to me as well, I got my 1001th this morning 🙂 But as you say its only about 5% that actually follow……but thats ok, as like you, I would rather a few really nice followers…..here’s to the next 1000, ha ha, Lynne 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. scifihammy Post author

      Congratulations to you too! haha
      Yes, I’d rather have a few good friends than tons of acquaintances – which is just as well! 🙂

      Like

  18. quiall

    When a true friend is absent the heart hurts a little and it is full when she’s back. I like being a little blog that could. Too much pressure otherwise.

    Liked by 2 people

  19. Edmark M. Law

    I’m not that surprised since evwn with 230 plus followers, I can see that most of those “followers” are not really following me for the sake of following but perhaps only want a follow back. Someone even told me ro follow him back since he “followed” me…

    They don’t seem to understand that this isn’t Twitter. If they want to play the f4f game, then this is not the place for them.

    Incidentally, I also just recwived 10 followers today and it’s pretty obvious that all of them didn’t even read one of my posts…

    Liked by 1 person

      3. scifihammy Post author

        I am training my phone to learn my ‘style’! Already when I type the first letter of my dog, it suggests the whole name. Saves me time and effort with those tiny letters! 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Edmark M. Law

        Yes it can. There are many methods to artificially inflate one’s followers. At least, Facebook is doing something to stop this nonsense but they can’t stop it completely. Twitter on the other hand…

        There are also many blackhat SEO techniques to significantly increase a site’s views. Fortunately, Google is doing its best to penalize those sites. Being removed in Google’s search index these days means your site is as good as dead and they had it coming.

        Liked by 1 person

  20. samanthamurdochblog

    I know what you mean about WP massaging stats…but it is nice when you have friends who stop and chat too 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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