As a disclaimer: I don't mean to whine, and I understand that my actions are why my state on Soulcast is the way it is. Nevertheless:
I'm on my fourth page of blog entries and located on the third page of the "popular users" list. Upon browsing fellow members on the list, I realized that barely any on the third page have more than TWO pages of entries. In other words, I've posted about four times more entries than the average user on the third page, yet cannot get many users to subscribe to my blog.
Is it bad writing? At times, I thought that was the problem. After all, not all of my posts are too long, and few really took much effort. Then, however, I came up with another solution.
Extroverts are social animals; they love conversation, friendships, and interaction. Introverts live inside their head; they spend time thinking about ideas and beliefs instead of conversing.
Most blogs are somewhat introverted; people online are predominantly introverted as browsing the web is more "fun" to them than conversation. However, soulcast has an interesting distinction- it is EXTREMELY extroverted.
Where's my proof for this? I don't have much, really. However, take note of what topics gain attention- love, for one thing, is somewhat of a fancy to discuss amongst extroverts, and always seems to garner views. (Check out another one of my posts on this subject- http://www.soulcast.com/post/show/15172/Soulcast-is-addicted-to-love. ) Along with this, the boards discuss social matters and events, such as the recent post discussing the possibility of a soulcast gathering.
The biggest piece of evidence, perhaps, lies in the fact that soulcast has a very active community that rewards comments and communication in between blogs- you're likely to see a large chunk of conversation in any entry with a large number of hits. From these conversations, users are discovered and subscribed to.
I'm not saying that any of this is bad. It isn't; an extroverted blog is not a bad thing in itself. However...
I am very introverted. Don't take this as me being mean: just because I'm more interested in writing in my own blog than commenting in others doesn't mean that I don't like other users here. I think Soulcast has a fantastic community and is one of the best blogging sites on the web; that's why it's my hub for blogging. However, it's hard for us introverts, or those who do not value communication as much as our extroverted friends on the board, to get noticed on the site. I have less of a tendency to communicate with others based on my personality; thus, as commenting on blogs seems to lead more to subscriptions than simply posting entries, I have many entries- but few subscribers.
I'm not asking the boards to comment less and read more. Once again, it's a great thing indeed to see such an active community. However, at times, I think users on soulcast mainly subscribe to users who are active COMMENTERS, not active posters- in other words, a user is more likely to subscribe to me if I comment in his blog, instead of posting in my own.
If anything, I'm asking the users of soulcast to, perhaps, forgive me for not being one to comment extensively. I believe that, while I may not participate as actively in discussions, my blog is still of decent quality. For that matter, if you're around, why not stop by and check out my latest posts?
That's all, really. Once again, I don't mean to whine. I'm just hoping that the users on Soulcast can overlook my introverted tendencies.
Broncostar posted on Aug 26, 2006
| views: 282
Comments
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Broncostar said on Aug 26, 2006....
Feel free to comment on this, by the way. :-)
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FaithfulDisciple said on Aug 26, 2006....
You definitely make sense Broncostar. But this is what Soulcast is all about interactive participation. You have to get involved by reading other people's post and commenting on them. This is what makes Soulcast uniquely different from other blogging sites. Try interacting and before you know it, you'll have new friends subscribing to you, good luck!
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Broncostar said on Aug 26, 2006....
Thanks, and I appreciate your support. Sometimes I wish, however, that I didn't have to comment as much to get people reading my blog.
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realmenluvporn said on Aug 26, 2006....
Bronco:
There's a saying I'm fond of quoting:
"The squeaky wheel gets the grease."
To get people to read you, you have to get their attention somehow. Some people on SoulCast do it by being very sweet and sugary and going the extrovert route. Peole like me and like you are not quite of that ilk. I too am actually rather introverted in person. But here you can be anything and anyone you want to be. So GO FOR IT! Invent a persona and live it while you're here. Have fun, go nuts, let all your guard down and be who you would if no one was keeping track.
My approach from the beginning involves one simple idea: There's no such thing as bad publicity. Even if they're reading you and cursing you for every word you write, they're still reading you! People love controversy and things that get them mad, you'd be surprised how many people will stick around and read the most offensive piece of trash rather than just walk away and ignore it! It's a damned effective strategy that I've seen put to some very effective use hereabouts lately.
If you don't want to use my approach, just say something really offensive and wait for them to come running, then you have to figure out what IS important enough to them to get and hold their attention.
Browse through the topics on the front page of SoulCast and you'll quickly begin to get a sense of what is important to the most vocal of these people. When I first signed up, the first couple of posts I saw were religious in nature, and since that's something I take great offense at, I chose to just dive in and start offending the religious people. I have a few folks reading me now as a result.
Yes, it does kinda' require that you be able to talk about things that maybe you disagree with or don't really have much interest in, but once you get their attention you have your "foot in the door" so to speak. From there you may people much more willing to invest a few minutes to see what you have to say on the next hot topic. Establish your personality and people will follow.
Remember, there's no such thing as bad publicity. Even if they're saying you suck, they're still talking about you! ;-D
Q
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Broncostar said on Aug 26, 2006....
Well, thanks for the long reply. I would subscribe to you, but don't enjoy reading posts going against my own views. ;-)
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realmenluvporn said on Aug 26, 2006....
No problem.
Another idea, you might tag your posts with some of the more widely-read tags, like Life, politics, religion, and sex.
RMLP
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GMNIMan said on Aug 26, 2006....
Broncostar, if you look at the list of 'Popular Members' you notice that the list is sorted by the number of readers subscribed to them. Meaning people on top of the list are those with the most number of subscribers.
In a large community such as SC, not everyone gets noticed, so in order to attract attention, post comments in other people's blogs as many times as possible.
Then subscribe to as many people as possible. This will attract the required attention and they in turn may just return the favour.
Just do that and see the difference.
I have just subscribed to you BTW. ;-)
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rosking said on Aug 26, 2006....
I know what you mean broncostar. I also noticed that a lot of people don't really blog about their lives, but just put questions out there so people comment. That is ofcourse their choice. That way you get more of an interaction going. I rather, and I'm sure lots of other people too, like to write about things that are bothering me, keep me occupied, etc. And that might not always be interesting for others to read or comment on.
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Jenna said on Aug 26, 2006....
I have just read some of your other blogs... interesting. I think the advice given by the gentlemen above is worth listening to. I see that you have responded to others this evening. I also don't think you should close your mind off to RMLP...You may not agree with his opinion... but isn't it good to go outside of our own views? Can't we accept everyone for who they are? just a thought....
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sigroid75 said on Aug 26, 2006....
hi bronco. don't be downhearted.
we have good days and bad days.
for me, it's okay, even if i don't really
get too popular as long as i enjoy
writing and have a steady base of
readers who enjoy my writing, im
happy already. take care!:-)
God bless you!!!:-)
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GMNIMan said on Aug 26, 2006....
Way to go Bronco, now you are taking off.
I have read some of your other posts too. I must say that you have some very interesting things to write about. Keep them coming.
GM
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JadeLondon said on Aug 26, 2006....
Bronco: There are a lot of people at SoulCast. I think your posts ARE interesting and well-written. I don't have as much time as even I like to post and comment. But if it makes you feel any better, I am a quick reader. I read much more than I comment.
Plus, you do kind of have to get the attention of your readers, at least once in a blue moon. Maybe if you comment on others that you don't know, they'll think, "Hmmm, I wonder what he is about?"
You guys start talking, boom--you have met someone else. But that's right: you don't really necessarily care for that.
Maybe you wiil need to compromise on this one.
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Broncostar said on Aug 27, 2006....
RMLP: Don't let my stubborn, opinionated self come in the way of our relationship. I think you're an awesome poster. :-D
I just think it's easier to get the whole community thing going on sites like blogfeast.net. There, instead of putting the most popular posts on the main page, they put the latest posts- from there, it's very easy to get into a conversation with someone you don't know about because anyone can see their post on the front page.
I'm honored to have this post make it on the "featured posts" page, but once again, It is of my belief that if Soulcast makes the "latest posts" page its front page, there will be many more "discovered" users who are seen because the latest posts page was up.
Comment on "Now I see why my posts aren't getting too many hits- I'm too introverted!"
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