Does the new Blogger Follower gadget remind anyone else of the dreaded Homecoming Queen voting in high school? You know, you want to know how popular you really are, but you don't want to have to face the reality that you might not be as popular as you think in your own little world that you really might be, but only if nobody tells you otherwise... but you kind of want to know.
Maybe it's just me.
So anyway, since it became available I've been waiting to see my many followers roll in. Thanks to all - ahem - 9 of you very brave and a little bit crazy souls!!
I don't really understand the protocol of it. Is it like the blogroll, where I feel bad if I don't include everyone who has ever been to my blog and left a comment?
Is it supposed to replace the blogroll? Because if you have both, isn't that a bit redundant? Aren't you saying that these up here are the blogs I FOLLOW, but these down here are the blogs I LIKE. You see how that could get kinda messy really quickly.
SO this morning, I did the only thing I could do. I added everyone I know to the "blogs I follow" list. Seriously. If somehow I missed you, ( and I know you) and you would like to be added to my following list, just lmk.
( fyi, it won't add private blogs. I tried.)
And if you have any ideas on how the thing is supposed to work, feel free to lmk that, too.
And PS, I'm voting for ALL of you for Homecoming Queen, too. All of you.
52 comments:
I don't know exactly what I think of the Follower Widget, but I love me some widgets, so I have it on my blog. Added myself as a RandiFollower here, since you're in my BlogLines and I do follow you :)
Yeah- I don't quite get it either. I only have 3 or 4 followers, but I don't have it in my sidebar, so...
I think you'll be a beautiful Homecoming Queen....I'll be the pregnant one, k?
Ha! I was just thinking about this today and wondering... what's the point?
Oh, well. I've got a cartload of blogs I'm following, too. I'm a big time people pleaser and, you know, can't let anyone feel left out. Though most of them have never actually met me, so why the fuss?
Gosh, this blogging thing is more complicated than I thought! :)
haha well I appreciated that you were one of my 3 followers, if that helps.
I think that a blogroll is the blogs you love most of all. I follow a lot of blogs that I don't link mostly because if I blogrolled all the blogs I follow my whole page blog would just be links to other people's stuff.
Wonder if I how many times I can say blog or a variation thereof? I made my own head spin.
:)
Well, I don't follow anyone because I think it's redundant and like I need more crap taking up space on my blog. BUT I read you. I love you. The end.
Thank you for the vote! I was never popular enough in high school to end up on the court.
What I did, b/c I wondered the same thing about rolls and followers, is created my blog roll from my followers list. It gave that option, that way I don't feel AS redundant and others can see your blog and heading. I am still using the follower b/c I can pull it up in the google reader and scroll through as opposed to going to every single sight (ok, I am a blog junkie and follow bunches of them :))
You had 9 followers when I went to post a comment - when I went back . . .You now have 14!!
You're gaining in the votes! You go girl!!
Yeah, I don't get it either. But I don't want to be left out, so I also have the follower thing going (thanks for adding me to your list by the way, I'm up to FIVE!) Except, even with my tremedous amount of followers, I could never be Homecoming Queen. I'm more like the dorky girl in the very back of the crepe paper covered gym in the orange tafeta dress with puffy sleeves that no one really even asked to Homecoming but showed up anyway.
It is like homecoming, youll see people that follow you NEVER knew did! then youll get double posts sometimes in the google reader
I love seeing peoples tiny little faces, I don't know why, I just do.
Yeah, I don't understand the follower thing either. It's like "Hi, I have disciples....." And really, isn't that want a blog roll is for?
If I figure it out, I will follow you randi. After all, you are one of the coolest girls in blogland, and you get my vote for Homecoming Queen.
Hey, it's like you have stalkers....
So, I just added myself and now YOU are on my profile as a blog I follow. Pretty crazy.
even though i'm not quite sure it's needed, i do see a slight difference between the followers and one's blog roll.
your blog roll are those blogs that you love/like and therefore, read on a regular basis. the followers that show on your side bar widget are those who love/like you (but not necessarily recipricated) and have made that proclamation that they follow your blog. kinda like a reverse blogroll. you may have followers that you wouldn't put on your blogroll.
i also see it as free advertising. if i find a blog i like, i've looked at the followers because i know they like the same blog so there's a good chance i might like them, too.
I haven't become a follower... I've always tried to be a leader, but maybe it's time to change :) Still don't understand the whole concept behind "following" but whatever ;)
don't ask questions just go with the crowd....
I keep two lists on my blog. The first, blogs that are updated frequently that I read and think other people might enjoy. (Yours, currently, is the only non-group blog on that very short list.)
The second list is the people who frequently comment on my blog who have blogs of their own.
I tweak the "reading" list about once a month. The commenting list is updated probably only every 6 months.
In Windows Vista I have a desktop tool that keeps track of whenever a blog I follow is updated. I don't bother with the Blogger tool because than I'd have to update two lists! (Though I will admit there's a "waiting queue" to get on that list. I only follow a blog permanently once I'm invested interest in a person's writing.)
Congrats you're on all the permanent lists and you can be my imaginary friend too. :)
Yeah, Heather, that's always been my motto, too.
I am glad to be too computer stupid to figure out how to make it work. I keep telling myself wordpress doesn't have this option. I do not need anything else to obsess about.
I weaned the baby this weekend. Anything to avoid future wean her conversations.
You are so cute! I don't use the blogger system anymore so I haven't signed up for many yet. When I notice the box I click the follow this blog link - thanks for pointing it out!
Nothing wrong with a little extra validation, right?
Oh, it's tricky! For me the hardest thing is deciding if I want to "follow" blogs that I don't have on my reader, or only come to once a week or so. I'm torn about this.
I also have a person or two on my followers who I haven't seen before or since, and I'm fairly sure they don't read my blog. Not sure what to think/do about that.
The main thing I hate about it is the darn number there. It's nearly impossible not to take note of how many followers everyone has and how their number compares to yours. I do NOT want to be that person!!!
This is the first time I've heard of the follower gadget or widget or whatever. I'm just in awe that you can keep up with 50 blogs. Gasp!
I don't get it. But then again I know nothing about being Homecoming Queen either--was NEVER a candidate ; (((((((
Obviously, I just wait for someone to follow me and then I go follow them. So I had to wait for you to follow me. Now I just found out that you did it as an experiment along with 49 other blogs. Sigh.
No really, I have the exact same feelings and questions about it.
When it was first available, I thought "oh that's kinda cool." But I didn't even know why I thought that.
Then it hit me. This is kind of sick. But I suppose it's like Kimberly said, a little extra validation isn't bad. Is it? I'm not sure yet.
I do feel like I have to follow everyone in the whole world, but half the time they're already in my reader. It's so confusing.
Like having friends on facebook, if we're friends, we already know that in real life, why do we have to put each other on facebook.
I'm rambling...
I haven't decided yet whether or not I'll end up using the Follower tool. On the one hand, I have a few blogs I read regularly where the tool has been pointed out, and people are invited (nicely!) to follow if they'd like, and I'd like to support those blogs because, hey, I really do read them and follow them daily!
On the other hand, the whole Follower thing does seem redundant. It's nice having a blogroll, so you can see who the blog author enjoys reading, but it's also nice for the blog author to see who enjoys reading her own blog.
Anyway... if I ever end up following any blogs, you can bet that I'll make sure and follow yours (officially?) as well.
I had the same qualms about it you had. What if you only had one follower for example? Is that really validation? I'm not using it myself. I put the blogs I follow regularly on my blogroll and for me, that's enough. I don't take it personally if no one puts my blog on their blogroll, except for my siblings blogs in which case, they had better!
I added this feature to my own side bar with much trepidation yesterday. I figure if it's too embarrassing and I only get a few followers I can always delete it. Worth a try to see if anyone actually reads my blog. I lurk a lot, so I understand how that is!
I wasn't popular in HS, and not much has changed...but I'll give this a whirl...right now it's just you, my pretend friend. :)
by the way -- I left your "Magic WOmen" post up and my husband LAUGHED OUTLOUD at it! If you knew him (you know, in real life), you would be flattered. :)
I've avoided ever having a roll of bloggers because I don't want to leave anyone out and hurt feelings, but on the other hand, I don't necessarily want to include EVERYONE either. So I've just avoided it all by not having one. I have joined a couple of follower lists though - all people I don't actually know in real life, lol. And now I'll give you one more popularity vote :)
Okay, I'll have to try to join your followers later. For some reason it's not letting me in at the moment.
I knew you always wanted to be Homecoming Queen!
The Follower thingy shows who follows you. The blog roll thingy shows who you follow. At least, that's what I've been able to gather. Now, here's my blog address so you can add it to your roll. I also have a follower thingy on my blog, so you can follow mine if you want. Right now I only have 2 votes for homecoming queen. ;(
www.accentmusictherapy.blogspot.com
I don't really undersatnd it at all. I guess I need to spend some more quality time with my computer. :)
I was voted biggest flirt in high school...I wonder what that would translate to in Blog World? Would I have pictures on my blog of all the weird hairy men "following" me? ;)
It's just one more thing to obsess over. Thanks Blogger for making us all junkies.
I follow you.
I'm quite new to this whole blogging thing, however, the following thing does seem a little bit like a popularity contest.
I only have two followers. In real life I'm constantly being followed around by my children. They keep finding me.
An excellent question posed to cyberspace at large. Kudos.
What I love is the choice to follow a blog PUBICLY or PRIVATELY. I follow a lot of blogs privately ... not so many pubicly. I personally think it has something to do with admitting you have a crush on someone from the podium at the prom. It's okay to like someone behind your computer room door - it's another to advertise it. It also might be embarrassing to like someone who DOESN'T LIKE YOU BACK. (I follow HER!! But she doesn't follow ME!! The shame!)
I just moved you from private to public - I hope to have boosted your self-esteem to explosive level. (Keep your crown polished.) But feel no impulse to reciprocate the gesture - I don't have the thingamajig.
Psssst. You commented on my "homesick" post about consoling myself with the missionaries. Oh, believe me, I cook THE most lavish meals for them ... but my husband The Bishop refuses to get trunkie with them. Dang stickler.
I thought it was for people with memory problems or something.
I already know who I follow because they're a little tabby thing on my navigation bar. Just so ya know, I follow ya! :D
I have followed your blog for about 6 months now. I think we have e-mailed a couple of times-nothing particularly deep. I like the way you think and think we might be friends in real life if we were in the same ward. I used to feel this way about Oprah until she started yapping about how marriage wasn't for her.
I am vain enough to watch my stats but don't really want followers identified. It would just be one more exercise in external validation and I am pretty sure that although I have friends and was Homecoming Royalty I still harbor many an insecure thought that I don't have that many friends.
When my children talk to me about friends, I always say, if you have one good friend that shares your interests, you are rich in friends.
Also when I read your posts, I just like to say, yes, it is just you or no, we all feel that way. Odd. Huh?
Hey, thanks for "following" me :-) I just put a follower gadget on my blog yesterday and I'm not so sure what to think about it yet. I had a blog roll, then I removed it because I couldn't get it updated and I didn't want to offend anyone. I have reader, too, but I have to log in to see who has a new post. Somebody suggested following, so all the blogs I follow show up on my dashboard. If it's a popularity contest then I'm not doing very well, but that's okay because I got excited when I saw your little birdie icon. You are one of the popular blogs out there, so it's like high school. I get to sit at the cool table with the popular girl justRandi:-) Yay! Okay, so seriously, if you figure out a better way to keep up with blogs you like to visit without the Homecoming feel to it, please let me know. This bloggy cultural phenomenon is fascinating, isn't it?
I dont quite know what either of them or or how they work :)
So, I just have all the blogs I follow saved under "Favourites" and I go down the list from there.
From the dark ages, I know.
Ya. It's just you.
I'm not sure I like the Follower thing either. But, look, now you have 30--you're so going to be the Homecoming Queen!
i hate follower. and yet i still have it on my blog.
perhaps i hate it because i've had the widget for more than a week and i have two followers.
one of whom is my husband, and i signed him up as a follower myself. he had no choice in the matter.
This is awesome Randi. I think you are the blogging Homecoming Queen here. Great way to get them to understand the follower. I love the follower because I have actually come in contact with people I hadn't seen in years and had no clue they knew I had a blog. How fab is that. From 9 to this. How fun.
hey i became a follower, I added the link to mine a while ago...but just not as super cool as you. :)
I'm laughing at Stephanette's comment!!!
You're on my Google Reader list - does that count?
I am so lame that I'm not even really sure what a blogroll is, but if they had one in college I'd bet money it had something to do with making out.
I'm voting for you for Homecoming Queen! :D
I decided not to put myself down as following ANY blogs, because I'm worried about the messiness and all! But I really appreciate you and my 5 other followers! (It sounds like a religious group, haha!)
Oops! I just signed in again, and my dashboard shows that one of my followers just dropped me! SHUN! SHUN! SHUN!
Yep...messiness! ;)
When I first figured out what following was I realized it's just like gooogle reader, but with the followers you can see your "friends" pics. Then it automatically puts them in your reader to, so now I had double. I had to go and edit the reader. Well I only have two followers, so yes, I can understand your post.
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