Towards whom?
February 24th, 2007 1:41:05 pm pst by Sterling Camden
Keyboards throughout the blogosphere have endured the pounding of posts generated by the Why Do You Blog meme. Vaspers the Grate asks a related question: to whom do we blog? What sort of audience do we imagine when we post? To whom you think you’re talking surely must affect what you say and how you say it.
I’m “Grate”ful that Vaspers lists me in his intended audience, even though I’ve been behind in my reading of late. I often think of specific readers when composing a post — not the same ones for every post, but there are several who come to mind quite frequently. Certain subjects apply to a greater or lesser degree to certain readers, too. Those who comment or link regularly naturally create a (should I use the word?) conversation that keeps them in my thoughts. These include (but are not limited to) assaf, apotheon, Chris, Doug, Joseph, Kiltak, Paul, Randy, Robert, Shelley, Stu, TDavid, Tracy, and Vaspers. (How come Tracy is the only female member of that group for whom I could find a picture?)
Every now and then some blogger that I admire (which includes those in the list above) will drop a comment telling me that they like my blog. That always just blows my mind. Last month Rogers Cadenhead commented on my one-year blogiversary: “You don’t blog like a newbie — I’m a fan of your site.” Holy moly, I didn’t even know you were a reader, Rogers! I immediately had to go back and reread every post in my blog from an imagined Cadenhead perspective. I know, I’m a juvenile groupie fanboy — AND I’M PROUD.
MyBlogLog helps to fill in some of the faces across the virtual coffee table. I regularly visit sites of people who show up in the widget. Reading their posts gives me an idea of what they might have found interesting in my blog, and that often carries over into my subsequent posts. For instance, right now I’m thinking about Maximillian Kaizen and doing a pretty bad job of sounding like a genius.
It probably shouldn’t, but seeing the picture of a reader changes the way I think about them, too. Who knows whether the pics are genuine or bogus, after all? But it stands for that person, in my visually-oriented brain. Better to post your picture right on your front page, or remain in mysterious invisibility like Shelley. If we talk for a long time without a pic, I gradually create a mental image of what you look like. Shattering that image with a real one can be jarring — I suddenly feel like I didn’t know you after all.
So, to whom are you blogging? Link here, and you can count me in your audience.
And this really is what I look like (on good days).
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Interesting thought, Chip. I rarely think of a specific person when I write – it’s more like a sortof “composite” person. This imaginary person is a conglomeraggregation of all the people I know of who drop by and/or comment at the Zone.
As for pictures, one of the things I LOVE about MyBlogLog is the “recent visitors” gizmo with photos/icons of who’s been by lately. I’m like you – it’s like an invitation to drop by and visit, and for me it’s irrisistable. Many good blogs and friends found this way.
I don’t mind when the picture is fictitious, since real photos, fake photos, or icons all have something to say about the person anyway. It does irk me a bit when there’s no picture or icon, though – makes me wonder if they’re “real” or not. (I acknowledge this is probable just me, though.)
NotaROM. Isn’t a blog a WOF (Write-Only-Forget) medium?
So we write for /dev/null and the NSA
No seriously, out of my daily ca. 1200 readers I pick those who actually send me mails/comments (that’s about 80-90). From this subset I choose 1 or 2 or 3 per article (different ones per article) and write for them only in that article. Often, that person is named therein unless they blog anonymously.
Rarely, people ask me to blog on specific subjects. I would like to see more of that.
Stu
I like your blog
Robert: yeah, I don’t always think of a specific reader, sometimes (I guess to some degree every time) I have a “composite” image, too. Good observation.
Stu: I really enjoy your math posts. I’d be more talkative if I could figure out how to leave comments on your site. E-mail is becoming so old school.
Randy: OMG, thanks! Seriously, I had one of those moments the first time you linked to me.
I like your blog
I posted my photo a few years back. I don’t have any recent photos. Right now, with winter white and book stress writ large on my face, I have no intention of taking a new photo–scare puppies and small children.
Maybe later in the spring
Wow, thanks, Shelley!
Not to sound stalkerish or anything, but I did a Google Image search for you and came up with zip.