Are You Really Talking to Some-one?

Ernie: "But what about my audience?"
Eric: "He rang earlier - he's gone to bingo."
- Morecambe and Wise, Gardeners Wild

I have never experienced the difficulty I have had this morning in writing something for Allthings2all. The reason is that I have wanted to push aside what is really on my mind and come up with something else - something perhaps more entertaining or more comfortable. Which got me thinking back to when I first started doing this. I wrote whatever I wanted to. I was thrilled when 5 people read it every day. I remember, when my comments were powered by Feedback, getting a confidential message from a persecuted Christian in another country. It seemed to me that I had unknowingly written my post that day just for her.

Since then I've discovered the blogosphere, made some great contacts, read some fantastic blogs, and also had the privilege of being able to communicate with a much larger number of people than when I started. Yet at heart I am still the person who came to the computer and wrote what was on my mind hoping maybe one person would benefit. There's been a buzz going on within Christian blog circles, and for those who may be unaware of that, I think it's best explained by saying that people are finding new connections, forming new networks, and there is a sense of being in this together rather than being a solitary figure at the computer whose audience has gone off to the bingo. There seems to be, to me anyway, a greater opportunity for exposure, which is due to the willingness of many bloggers to promote each other's writing.

However I think most, if not all bloggers, have their moments or seasons of wanting more hits, or to be higher ranked. It is an endemic reality of the internet. There are billions of web pages. It is easy enough to start a blog or a webpage, but if you don't promote it somehow then no-one is going to know about it. This is where I personally so often experience an internal tension. It is so easy to go beyond simply obtaining some exposure into being driven by the desire for it.

The way I resist crossing that line is to sit and write to one person. One person is reading this - you, sitting at the computer. Although I know that many will read it, right now it's me talking to you. Sometimes I address more than one person of course, like when I'm announcing current happenings. But I'm still really just talking to one person. I've done a ton of public speaking in my time and this holds true in that context as well. One person each hears what is said - so I talk to one person.

I ran a poll here recently, and the question was: Who are you really talking to on your blog? I'd like to thank those who responded. The number of respondents was small compared to the number of people who have visited, but it was big enough to give me a picture of who comes and of who they want to communicate with on their own blog. I'll put the results at the bottom of the post. The one I want to comment on is that 41% of those polled said they were talking to "anyone - please read my blog!" There must be thousands, if not millions of people, who think that every day. Yet I wonder if we cloud our own creativity by becoming too obsessed with numbers. I'd like to hear what others think on that.

Here's some self-disclosure - I've had my times of looking at how many hits I got. I was measuring myself by how many hits other people got. I knew at the same time that I didn't feel comfortable with my behaviour. It's one thing to keep track and another to rate effectiveness or value on numbers. Let me say this - if you are a Christian blogger you are not your own. We are operating by a different set of principles. As I was thinking on all this yesterday I came across an excellent post by Through a Glass Darkly on The Spiritual Perils of Blogging. It's a short post, the first in a series, in which he lists eight spiritual pitfalls that a blogger needs to be aware of. He also says:

"In all of this, however, I think we who wish to maintain a distinctively Christian voice in the blogsphere ought always to beware of the blogsphere's many temptations."

I'm all for aggregators and blogrolls. I think listing your blog in the blog directories is a great idea. It's common sense to make use of the resources to get some exposure and connect. I enjoy linking to others and am grateful when they link to me. What I must resist is being driven by the need to climb higher. Or becoming continually distracted by blog ranking or readership size. People are far more astute than they let on. They can tell when some-one is just wanting numbers. They can tell when some-one is more interested in self-promotion than in them as a person.

Jesus said that he who is faithful in little will be faithful in much. I admit sometimes my thinking has been on the little turning into much. I think Jesus point was that we remain faithful. Quality not quantity is how the advance occurs and the world is turned upside down. I think that applies in all areas of life. Keep the quality in good conscience and God will allot the quantity.

I'd like to acknowledge a blog I only came across in the last few weeks, Razorskiss. I've seen RK not only investing himself in promoting other people's blogs, including mine, but he has had a genuine enthusiasm for drawing attention to others writing, even when that may have given them more readers and a higher blog rank than his own. I think he has a great blog and I read it nearly every day. I just want to draw attention to the heart of the man writing it. There are others I know of like that too. Sometimes that is what speaks loudest of all to a selfish world.

Here's the poll results:

Q. Who are you really talking to on your blog?

A.
1. People who already know me 10%
2. Anyone - please read my blog! 41%
3. People interested in politics 10%
4. Tech geeks 2%
5. Other Christians 25%
6. Other Muslims 0%
7. Others who are of my religion 0%
8. Stay at home parents 0%
9. People with my special interest 11%
10. My Mom - I shouldn't have written
that stuff about her vegetarian lasagne 2%

Note: One commenter pointed out there was no category for atheists or agnostics. They are two different things but I'll give 1% to Atheists/Agnostics.