New Instantly Free Because You

I was looking at power words, and they said those five are all super persuasive. I thought I’d use them in a title.

I don’t feel persuaded. Perhaps I was supposed to sprinkle them into my sentences?

Instantly, you are new because you are free.

There.

I believe I missed the point. Because.

Here’s their post.

What’s the ideal level of media saturation?

Complete, of course. What a silly question!!

I read a few folks on my Reader this morning who essentially said, “too much too many” and were trying to get back to the basics of writing, instead of social media.  The problem, you see, is that social media is a distraction and detracts from creating content.

I’m sorta right with you, there. It does distract. It does use up your time, time that could be spent writing the next best novel ever. Instead, you’re here, connecting with people. Which isn’t bad; it’s great. A blog, social media should be used for conversation, for exchanging ideas, for giving information, and not just for chewing gum for the brain like cute cat pictures. (Yes. I’ve seen a cute cat picture. There is no need for me to look at another. Seen one, seen ’em all.)

Chances are, you’re never going to be known for your awesome Twitter account. Not 5 years from now. Not 10 years from now. But that book, it’s a legacy.  It may end up being the Next Big Thing.

Blogtistics and Not Commenting – My comment. On not commenting. Which is fine. And you can comment too. On not commenting.

Writer Chick on this post takes up the possibility that the popular blogs may phase out commenting.

In all honesty, it seems to me that there’s a certain point where a blog becomes something a little different. It’s like people who play in bands. When you’re playing at the Whiskey in Hollywood, that’s a small venue. The energy is different, and you’re more engaged with the audience because they’re right there.

Then you go to the Staples Center, and that’s a different performance because it’s a different energy and much bigger venue. You cannot interact with all your fans. You’ve gone from a Ricky Ricardo sized entertainment space to the entire freaking world or whomever could pony up $500 a ticket.

So, maybe up to 2000 people, you get a certain percentage who comment and interact using like buttons. Let’s just throw a number out there of 5%. 1 in 20. Maybe a quarter of that comments, so 1 in 80. If you have 40000 readers, 5000 of them will comment.

I know it’s lower than that, but the comment progression is not linear, it’s a curve. Initially, the post will pick up a lot of comments, and as it gets older and there are more comments, later people may feel like it’s necroposting if the post is over a day old, or two days old, or whatever their random subjective criteria are for deciding something like that. For a yardstick, I’m using Kristen Lamb’s Blog which lists 46,050 subscribers. Over the last 12 posts, it averages 72.25 comments per post. This comes out to be a comment rate of .0001569, or one in 639. Some of those comments are by Kristen, so it might be more like one in 687.

Let’s stick my blog up there, for comparison. I have 152 followers. It could be more if I was attractive or had something interesting to say.  Over the last 14 posts, it averages 8 comments per post. That’s 1 in 19 that comments.  Compared to Kristen, I’ve got a much more dedicated and awesome commenter base. That’s because every one of you readers was handpicked. I know, I love you guys, too.

Also, half those comments are mine, so It’s really about 1 in 40.

I’m still crushing Kristen.  ;D  Not really. Just because the audience doesn’t engage doesn’t mean they’re not engaged. There’s 46 THOUSAND PEOPLE.  That’s like all of La Crescenta, California listening to a blog.  That’s people-glued-to-the-radio-listening-to-FDR kind of stats.

It’s just interesting that there’s a non-linear curve on this whole thing. Blogtistics is an interesting world.

So a large blog kills the commenting? It’s probably not a huge loss. Anything polarizing always seems to have an overwhelming audience of cheerleaders who mutter all the same imprecations about the evil other side, and if someone by change actually begins to address the topic in a logical manner, they are shouted down by the majority. I can see where disabling comments will kill a lot of the negativity that drags along behind some of these posts. It’s res ipsa loquitar, the thing speaks for itself, and the comments are unnecessary.

*I* like comments. I like engaging. I’ll always have comments.  Blogs without comments are losing their most valuable contributor: Me. ;D

Sometimes I want to Beat WordPress With a Large Wooden Spoon

No, really. Is there a special setting somewhere for comment threading? I KNOW other sites have it, but mine does not seem to have it.  Or do I have to pony up some cash to get that feature? Someone in the know, cough up the goods. I’m stymied. And I really wanted to say stymied.

Edit: I think I found it. Settings, Discussion, Enable Threaded Comments. See? I just had to root around for a while and I’d discover the answer. Yeah.

The nature of blogs: I didn’t intend for that to happen maybe

Funny thing. I’m lookin’ at stats, like you do, and notice I’ve a new follower, the lovely Charlotte Hoather, who is an opera singer.  Her site is a visual delight and there are some samples of her singing [mumble which I’m not able to listen to at the moment but must save for later].

Then, because I’m curious about stuff like that, I wonder… how’d she find the Dog’s Breakfast? [Tasted awful, they sometimes say.]

I’ll postulate it here.

Reference to Dmitri Hvorostovsky, famous opera singer, in this post:
I WON! I WON! Wait. What have I done!? Sacre Bleu! The 10 pages challenge

Perhaps that is what brought Charlotte hither?
I guess I could ask. Charlotte, how’d you get here?

Now, the circular problem of referencing Dmitri again is going to misdirect MORE traffic. Oh monstrous authority, I have misused you. Bad blogger. No tuna fish sandwich. They should not give us the stats tool in blogging.

Which is not to say that I don’t delight in opera. I do.  Even married an opera singer for 7 years, and I could tell you some stories… but this is all water under the bridge.

Postscript: I don’t think the map they give you with the stats is accurate. That is, the map is drawn correctly, but the data of who is where seems suspect, or just a bit spotty.