Recently I was
reading a blog and the person says Hi to their 4 followers and I know
that I read the blog all the time but have not identified myself as a
follower. So yes I am following the blog through an RSS reader but
haven't click the follower icon on the system to let the individual
know that I read their blog. I use "Newsblur" as
my RSS reader and my husband users “old reader” for his.
What I decided to do
is look at my other blog, Craftkitten,
to see how many followers I have versus people that are following me.
I have 10 individuals that have clicked on the follower icon on
blogspot but I know that most of these individuals rarely, if ever,
visit my blog. Now I looked at a stats counter that I have and
noticed that I have a lot of individuals that regularly visit my blog
to see what I am up to.
Yes, the individuals
that regularly visit my blog are more the true followers than most of
the individuals that are showing on the page. I have some people
that come to my site on almost a daily basis to see if there are new
posts, some check in about once a week and others follow me through
an RSS reader and I can see that as well.
The other advantage
of using a stats counter is that you can see how the person found
your blog. I know that one of my blogs I wrote about four years ago
still gets found and read. Through my stats counter I can also see
if I was found through someone else linking to my blog.
So it is best not to
think that only individuals that have clicked on an icon are your
followers, you may have a lot of other individuals reading you. I
am happy to see even one person read my blog and I thank everyone who
does. Maybe you are a follower or you are following me, but I do
appreciate it and I also appreciate the individuals that maybe only
come to my blog once.
In addition to be a publicly designated 'follower' that has my picture over on the right, I am also actively following using the RSS reader https://theoldreader.com
ReplyDeleteMany of those who I am actively following, I haven't listed myself as a follower. On the flip side we've seen people who list them selves as a follower but who rarely if every read the content.
Oh the 'fun' of 'social'