Blogging is fun, but there is an element of mystery involved in being a blogger.\u00c2\u00a0 Who, really, is reading this blog?\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
I know there are “lurkers,” people who read blogs without ever leaving a comment, and in the case of my blog, I do know who some of the lurkers are, since they’re people I know well who have confessed to reading without commenting.\u00c2\u00a0 I might see one of these people at work, or at Thanksgiving dinner, and the person will say, “Hey, I read your post on X, and liked it.”\u00c2\u00a0 (Or maybe they didn’t like the post, but we don’t want to go there, do we?)<\/p>\n
The mystery for me, though, is whether any resident of the town in which I work has ever found and read my blog.\u00c2\u00a0 The residents of this town are well-educated, and most people who live in the town have a computer and internet access at home.\u00c2\u00a0 In addition, it’s a small town, which lends itself to residents taking an interest in the workings of the town.\u00c2\u00a0 So it feels like someone, sometime must have Googled my name and found my blog.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet I’ve never had a posted comment from a town resident, and no town resident has ever mentioned to me that they\u00c2\u00a0read my blog.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why does this matter, you wonder?\u00c2\u00a0 It matters to me because if I knew that town residents were reading my blog, then I would make a concerted effort to post entries about registration deadlines for events and storytimes, and I would also periodically\u00c2\u00a0post entries about newly arrived books at the library\u00c2\u00a0(much as I send lists of newly arrived books to the local newspaper in my weekly submission).\u00c2\u00a0 But I certainly won’t bother writing those posts if there’s no demand for them.<\/p>\n
What a mystery.\u00c2\u00a0 While I ponder it, I think I’ll enjoy the company of pacified Pippa (nice woodstove fire going today), sick Ophy (kitten stress has, predictably, given her a UTI), and tuckered out Max (all that attention and love from the Thanksgiving dinner guests!).\u00c2\u00a0 And I’ll steel myself for going to see the movie Twilight <\/em>this afternoon with Lisa and Alyson – it’ll be lots of fun to hang out with L. and A., but I’m not sure I’ll love the movie…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Blogging is fun, but there is an element of mystery involved in being a blogger.\u00c2\u00a0 Who, really, is reading this blog?\u00c2\u00a0 I know there are “lurkers,” people who read blogs without ever leaving a comment, and in the case of my blog, I do know who some of the lurkers are, since they’re people I … Continue reading The mystery of readership<\/span>