This post did not transfer during my 2018 blog migration. Original post and comments are here.
This is not going to be a popular (heh) opinion, but when all those “vote for me”s for the Run to Napa ZOOMA women’s race trip starting showing up in my Facebook feed this week, I got a sick feeling to my stomach. Not that people were entering. It sounds like a super fun trip if you like wine and running, and heck, I wish all of my friends who wanted to go, could, and for free.
It was the fact that the page asks you to vote for your favorite blogger, and shows your vote number right by your photo, allowing you to compare yourself to everyone else in the contest. It’s a simple popularity contest. And that is what gave me that icky feeling – the contest reminded me of a part of blogging I try to avoid – the quest for popularity.
And I by NO MEANS have anything against ZOOMA doing this or anyone who has entered – just seeing it made me think about it.
There are lots of these contests online, and they have never bugged me like this. I have voted for people before (I don’t think I have ever entered) and sincerely hoped my vote would help! Maybe it’s just that I know so many people who have entered in this one – and really, that they know each other. These bloggers are friendly, and will congratulate and feel happy for whoever wins. But I bet there will be some disappointment, and comparison.
And that is probably it. Bloggers quite often talk about avoiding comparison. And that number count sure does encourage it, even if it’s friendly, and all in good fun.
It’s made me think – what can we do to make sure blogging doesn’t turn in to a popularity contest? Or does that even matter?
Most of us say we don’t feel upset if a post doesn’t get many comments, a Facebook entry doesn’t get many likes, or a tweet doesn’t get many responses (just guessing on that one since I’m not on Twitter). We say we do it for ourselves. And mostly, we do! Truly.
But come on.
We notice when a fellow blogger, especially one we are close with, seems to have oodles and oodles of followers/commenters/whatever-ers. Guys, I’ll be real! I see myself doing it from time to time! I read other blog comments thinking “Wow, they have a lot of commenters!” and “Whoa, who are all these people?” and feel bad for a few seconds (then remember to feel grateful people read this, and even comment, at all! ha!). I think it’s in human nature. And… all those followers/commenters help in a contest like this. And might make some people feel really bad if they don’t get many votes.
But there are so many blogs out there, and the cool thing is, each one is of different value to a different person. Sometimes you find a person you totally connect with and wonder why many others don’t read them. Sometimes you question why big bloggers get the amount of comments they do, with the crap they write. Sometimes, you will meet cool people and get to know them in real life, then love reading their blog even more!
So, my hope, when seeing this contest, is that people don’t let those votes influence the value of their blog or content, to them. That they don’t get caught up in a popularity contest, and feel bad. That they be themselves. BE GENUINE. That they enjoy the writing. The readers who are meant to find them, will.
This post did not transfer during my 2018 blog migration. Original post and comments are here.
