Last week when I wrote the period post, it went a tiny bit viral. Not very viral, but quite big for me, in that I was getting traffic from all sorts of odd places for three days after I wrote the post. That usually only happens when I review books on autism.
I am a stats nerd. Or geek. Or just plain obsessive if we’re being honest. And I was interested to see that I got a few referrals from sites on dreamwidth.org which is a kind of livejournal clone. When I chased them up, I found that the post had been included in a couple of reading list posts, which then seem to be kind of communal.
Struck me that that is something you just don’t see all that often in blogging any more. Linking just for the sake of linking, not to boost your profile, earn brownie points, drive up your domain authority, but because you’ve read a good post, and you think other people might enjoy it.
With that in mind, I’d like to share a couple of articles I’ve been reading. I quite often link drop on my facebook page, although I’m aware that with the facebook algorithm in play, I’m lucky if 20 people see a post on there, despite it having 690 followers these days.
This post from Sandy Calico resonated. Silenced. In our drive to be the best, we’re forgetting the community that blogging can give us. Visit, comment, link, read for the sake of those activities and the people behind the words, not for the value of the return traffic.
Learning to draw, I loved Creating characters, the birth of Horace and Hattie and Clara Vulliamy – drawing anthropomorphic animals
I went to YALC with Anne-Marie. She wrote it up. I didn’t.
And I’m rooting for Sara from me and orla, as she takes the leap into self employment. While admiring her pictures massively.
I do try to share posts I’ve enjoyed when I enjoy them. As well as the various networks in the top of the sidebar, I’m on stumbleupon and pinterest which will not verify my site for love nor money. (Well, I haven’t offered them money. Perhaps that’s what they’re waiting for?)
I guess what I’m trying to say in a roundabout way here, is that the internet is a network. A web. And it grows stronger and easier to traverse the more links we make on it. So bloggers particularly, stick some more links in your posts, and build a community on your *social* networks. In the long run, it will pay off on both a personal and a professional level.
This is a great post. I frequently find myself in awe of the generosity of the blogging community and I try to share links to posts that resonate with me, but mostly on my twitter page rather than blog itself. I love the intelligence of the woman that I’ve surrounded myself with, their insight and their eloquence. I’m going to make more of an effort to celebrate that across my entire platform. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this, and making me think.
Thanks. I do think there’s room for sharing posts on social media but it’s good to build blog connections too.
Strangely enough I’ve been having a discussion elsewhere about frustrations with FB, missing reading blogs and blogging (and my nostalgia for forums/bulletin boards).
I feel like we’re being drowned out by upworthy and buzzfeed type stuff.
I think because it’s more ‘instant gratification’ (Buzzfeed, etc) and therefore an ‘easy’ option (if that makes sense – and I’m guilty of it myself).
Thank you for the link (not that I ‘need’ it, I’m not on any blog rankings after all, but it is great to know that my words have resonated with someone). I had some wonderful comments on my post that proved to me that the blogging community is very much alive and well. I think we perhaps need to make sure that we remember why we love blogging and act accordingly.
Yup, agree with you there. It’s easy to get lost in the morass of offers at times
I agree, I try to share and link when I can. Recently I’ve found it hard to keep up, but I love the community and will try to share more of what I love xx