The more popular you become as a blogger, the more emails and tweets you get from people askin’ for all sorts of favors and feedback. It comes with the territory. So as you can imagine (and though I’m not a star), the number of messages I’ve been gettin’ lately has been on the rise. Folks ask for career advice, writing advice, meet ups, guest posts, d*ck, and ice cream sandwiches. I try to respond to as much as I can (I respond to everything) and appreciate that people value my opinion, but sometimes it gets overwhelming.
The other day I got a message from someone asking why I don’t comment on other blogs. It’s a popular question that irritates me 9 out of 10 times when asked. You probably think I’m about to rant. If you do, you might be a tad disappointed.
I read a lot more sites than people think. Looking in my Droiiid’s Pulse app, I have 25 sites listed. A good chunk of which are personal blogs. The majority of my reading is done on the train while commuting to work. Once I get to work, I comment where I have time and something worthwhile to say. That’s how I live my life. I don’t chime in for the sake of being seen or being heard. It adds no value. The thing is, many of the sites I do comment on aren’t in the same network as those that are asking. Most of us read all the popular and growing niche blogs. There’s no point in me naming them. A lot of times when I get to the sites during the day, someone’s already shared the perspective I would’ve added so I just keep it moving or hit the like button. It’s efficient. Spending 10 minutes thinking of a comment just so people see my name isn’t. I like efficiency.
Slim, you keep talking about not having a lot of time but we see you on Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook. We also see other writers making time for other sites. Why can’t you do the same?
Just because I’m on social media doesn’t mean I’m not busy. I enjoy it and consider it “me” time — for the most part. I’m much better at interacting when I want to do it than interacting because someone told me to. And though I don’t always think of it this way, social media is part of the job that comes with blogging. You’re also making the assumption that you know how I should spend my time because you know how you spend yours and you see what others are doing. Life isn’t fair and neither is that assumption.
Aight, that’s cool and all. If that’s the case, you shouldn’t ask people to comment. I saw you do that on SBM once and thought it was kinda lame.
I’m very observant. I notice patterns. And as a writer, I’m pretty sensitive about my sh*t. I wasn’t bothered because people weren’t commenting in high numbers on the site. I was tickled because some folks were opting out of my post day then showing up on the site the rest of the week. It seemed personal. Doesn’t this show that I care? I thought my little add-on at the end of that post was light in tone. Come to think of it, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve publicly urged people to comment. One of which was when I was asking for reader feedback on how to make improvements. Yeah, I care.
Why didn’t you follow me back on Twitter?!?!?!
When I was in DC for the VSB event in April, someone walked up to me and asked this. I looked at ‘em sideways and don’t know that I ever really responded. Here’s my thing. I like being able to see and hear what the people I know have to say. I can’t tell you how many times someone has asked me if I saw their tweet and I had to be like uhh, there are 350+ people streaming their thoughts every second in my timeline. You can’t expect me to see everything. I want to be able to see as much as possible from the people I know and the people that interact with me. That’s the other thing. If you want someone to follow you back, you need to interact with them regularly. I mean…that’s if the follow back is that important to you.
Even though I don’t comment aggressively or reply to every tweet, I do care about all this stuff. The fact that I wrote this post makes me feel like I may care a little too much at times. I’m working on it. Just keep in mind that because you don’t see me doesn’t mean I’m not there. It just means I can’t be everywhere when you want me to be.
I’m still a G,
”Folks ask for career advice, writing advice, meet ups, guest posts, d*ck, and ice cream sandwiches” THIS RIGHT HERE had me chuckling all through your post. Love you Slim! Yes you care too much sometimes but it’s in your nature. Keep doing what you do.
I need to save the world or some sh*t.lol.
I don't know how you bloggers do it. It must be extremely time consuming to keep up with everything from writing, then commenting, then you have to acknowledge everyone so they don't feel bad. I wouldn't be able to do this. I'm someone who hates to be ignored and I side eye my Gchat buddies who take long to chat, etc. O_O lol but I understand everyone is busy as am I. I think people just need to be more understanding and realize that we all have lives outside of the internet.
Yeah, you've side-eyed me a few times. I understand.lol
Hmm.
I am not a blogger, so would never presume the time involved in being one. I know the process is more than meets the eye. No one should be telling you how to manage your time. That’s just high time brightness.That being said, when I asked you that question, it wasn’t to be confrontational, but just to get an understanding. When trying to build a brand, fan interactions is key. And if I’m being asked to follow you – you have to give a reason to do so. These days being a fan is not one-sided. Fans are now your ambassadors. It’s more than just buying an album or attending a game and rocking a jersey. The key premise of twitter is follow/be followed. My questions is why. Why does someone follow me? What am I offering? What does it say about me if I do or don’t follow back?
Maybe it’s taking it too seriously, but everyone has to be conscious of what image they put out there. It’s sometimes all someone has anything to base their judgements of you on.I ask questions to gain knowledge. There is no judgement. Make the decisions you feel you need to make – live your life!
Congrats to SBM on their BWA nominations. Best wishes for continued success.
good post. I am glad you have your personal blog as a venue to address the various issues you encounter in one place. you already know my stance on these so no need to regurgitate, but I don’t think you care too much, its important to let your stance be known and hopefully folks can be done with it.
That's wack son, how come you never comment on my blogs when I be RT'n you all the time. Matter fact last week I put you in one of my posts by name and you didn't even "like" the joint. #Lame amn, I'm out of here.
LMSO (Laughing my socks off)
**Note: I'm kidding, for those that missed the memo. Good post, homie.
This post should have been titled, "Hi my name is Slim and I care" jk
you do sound like you need a 12 step group or at least a meeting….
signed a long time lurker that hardly posts
Hmm I see both signs of the coin. *check my followers* *taps Slim's shoulder* You dont follow me? For why? *sad panda face* (this is all jokes though)
If you want to build a brand, then you do not want to make your stans feel alienated. They care about what you do and say and want to feel that in return. On the other hand, you are human and you are who are and really you dont owe anybody anything.
I think the people who are going to support you will support you. It doesnt matter if you follow them on twitter, post on there blog or whatnot.
Good luck with errthang!
*their
As long as you don't cuss out you stans a la rihanna, it's all gravy.
Let me let you in on a little secret. On SBM, I once mentioned being on a blog and asking the author a direct question, to which he did not respond. I gave him the benefit of the doubt, and told myself that he was likely busy and would perhaps respond eventually, if only to say that he'd rather not answer the question. Mind you, it wasn't a post that was overflowing with responses, and my question wasn't of a particularly sensitive or personal nature. The next day or two later, I get an email about the author's latest post. I checked back…still nothing. I proceeded to unsubscribe from the site and mentally removed it from my rotation. That was Three Ways to Take It, and the author was none other than you. I didn't "@ you" because I didn't see the point, and it's obvious from my participation in your posts on SBM & here that I didn't harbour any resentment. Nonetheless, I had noticed that you generally tended not to respond to a lot of things, so to spare myself any "somehow" feelings, I simply addressed the topics at hand and engaged other commenters in active discussion instead. That was then, and yeah, sometimes I'm abrupt like that.
I remember when the public call for suggestions went out, and a lot of us cried out (dramatic much?) for increased author participation. Out of curiosity, I followed a link to your twitter & saw comments about how people needed to try understand that you guys were busy, that you had 9-5's to attend to, and such and such. But look atchya now! Holding conversations with us and shiiiz. I brought this up because I remember having that "unfair" thought that it was interesting that some bloggers had time to be all up on twitter at al, while viewing their own blogs from the sidelines. I've given you props a few times now for stepping it up in that department, and I just wanted to say that all that matters is that you're taking care of "home". I personally am interested in some of the bigger blogs, but I get a headache everytime I look at the comments sections, and that has prevented me from commenting and even reading subsequent material. That said, I feel you X a million. When it's already all been said, there's nothing to do but nod & keep it moving.
I also feel you on the Twitter thing. I currently only follow SBM, but if there were others, I'd want it to be people with whom I have a 2-way interaction going.
I comment where I have time and something worthwhile to say.
^^^ this right here!!! I read a fair amount of blogs but I don’t always comment esp. if there are already 300+ comments. another thing is, when I DO comment, I tend to forget to go back to see if someone responded
I have my own personal blog and I tweet the link and title of each new piece I post. The site says “feel free to comment” and I figure if someone REALLY wanted to comment or felt that they had something meaningful to say, they would. Besides, my friends who read my blog comment via twitter, text, or phone calls
Tell people to kick rocks. 2 much.