Tuesday, October 28, 2008

"Followers"

Blogger started this thing to the right ------>
in September.  At first I loved the little pictures of people sitting there.  I loved the idea of "followers" who liked my blog enough to put their little picture there.  Ego feeding?  Well, maybe.  

When I first started this blog, I had a couple of my own rules about what blogs I would link to in my sidebar.  I would not link if they had advertisements.  I would not link if they were overtly political.  I would usually not link if their blogs were written from the perspective of an "expert" in recovery.  

Now I have links, including pictures, of all sorts of blogs.  I am not sure how I feel about that.  If this blog is supposed to be about being a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, shouldn't my links also reflect that?  Shouldn't they steer clear of politics?  Shameless advertising of treatment centers and books on "recovery"?

Yesterday, I lost one follower.  I can't even figure out who left, but the number is one less than it was 24 hours ago.  As one who tracks opinions for a living, who carefully gathers statistics and then tries to present them with veracity, it is weird to have such soft science on my very own blog.   

And I expect that this post will annoy one or two of you enough to remove yourselves from my "followers" list.  Don't worry, I won't know who you are... 

Have a nice day :)

16 comments:

Scott W said...

I reckon if someone deletes their blog they would disappear. Maybe that is what happened?

Trailboss said...

Even though my blog is not about recovery I do find a lot of comfort in your blog. I don't have the addiction myself but my son does and blogs like yours help me daily. But then my blog is just a country girl living life......no opinions or advertisments and such.

Pammie said...

You always think things are going annoy someone (hee hee).
It's funny you should post this today, because I was going to talk about the same thing tomorrow. My problem with it is that I start comparing myself to others "MC has more followers than me" whaa whaa
It's what I check first when I open my blog in the morning. I thought I might try to figure out a way to hide it. Good grief-I'm a 3rd grader.

J-Online said...

What Pam said. I do the same thing as far as comparing myself to others, who has more followers, etc. Then I realized my blog is for me and hopefully others will benefit from it in some way, shape or form. I love reading what you have to say and we all know, some people will like it and others will not. That's OK!

J-Online said...

What Pam said. I do the same thing as far as comparing myself to others, who has more followers, etc. Then I realized my blog is for me and hopefully others will benefit from it in some way, shape or form. I love reading what you have to say and we all know, some people will like it and others will not. That's OK!

Lou said...

I'm totally with you on this (should I worry;)
I have links,so why the followers. It does seem like a contest. Also, I've noticed some poeple put their picture on every single blog I've gone to (no matter what it's about). I'can't imagine they are reading all of them, it would be a full time job.
I'm torn about deleting it because you get the update feed that way. I'm thinking I should delete the links & just use followers.Oh, why does it have to be fraught with so many decisions??!

Shadow said...

nah, i like reading your thought-provoking posts.

dAAve said...

I like the term "soft science."
Whatever. Enjoy the day!!!!

Syd said...

I just let it be and get the updates. That way I also may find another interesting blog out there. There's room for more than one way to get information and I'm all about that.

Hope said...

Sometimes I wonder if blogging in itself is an ego feeding or deflating propostion.
It makes me think of what a friend told me she said to another friend when they were talking about what they'd say if Jesus appeared right smack in front of them; "pick me, pick me."

Banana Girl said...

I cannot imagine missing your words for the day. They are the leavening in my daily bread. You keep me coming back because I learn and want to do that some more. J.

Findon said...

What an interesting post Mary. Thinking about it, I started a blog to put my thoughts down. I don't have a particular person in mind who its aimed at. As for the blogs I follow. I follow the ones I want to. The ones that interest me or have caught my attention. Usually about recovery, but maybe other things as well. I guess none of us wears the same clothes so why should we all have the same preferences. Youve got me thinking. Thanks

Zanejabbers said...

I have been reading your blog ever since I started - both times. You, Pam, Daave, and Scott are strength in the blogdom. I have added others, but y'all are what I started with and I ain't gonna change it.

Shannon said...

I have always enjoyed your blogs MC

Scott M. Frey said...

It's gonna take a whole lot more than that to get rid of me as a follower, even though I prefer to be a leader lol.

:-)

Not God said...

I follow you, albeit, anonymously.