I've been writing a daily blog post for almost four years--never missed a day, and I learned a LONG time ago that if I gauged my success (or personal satisfaction...) with the number of "Likes" I got or views my blog received, or comments others posted, I would be disappointed.
When I first started my blog I checked several times a day to see if a particular blog post resonated with people, i.e. how many people viewed it. And based on those early numbers, I think many of my friends were excited to read the blog. I even got a lot of comments those first couple of months. But then, as I kept writing day after day, I think people got a little tired of my little blog.
And I'm completely okay with that.
There's a lot of blogs that I follow, but I don't read all of them. I remember going to a writer's conference and I attended a panel on increasing one's social media footprint. I came out of that panel realizing I didn't have the time to do what they recommended, namely spend several hours a day--a day--reading and commenting on other people's blog so they'd follow mine. Getting blog followers can be profitable. If a publisher knows you have several thousand followers, that could swing a book deal. Not always, but it can't hurt.
So a couple of years after I started my blog, I got published. First one short story, then another, then several flash fiction stories were e-published. I decided to create my very own Facebook Author Page. The next thing Facebook wants you to do once you've created a Facebook Fan Page is to invite all your friends to "Like" it. I did at the time and I got...well, you can see how many "Likes" I got.
Really, this hasn't bugged me because the number of "Likes" on a fan page hardly determines if I'm a good or bad writer. I'd pretty much forgotten about it until a fellow writer posted that she had several hundred Facebook friends and only just over one hundred "Likes" on her Author Page. I checked my numbers--I had more Facebook friends and fewer "Likes."
If you're on Facebook and a friend (or not...) and you're bored thinking you want to do something but not necessarily change the world, go: HERE and click, "Like." To quote Pedro, "If you vote for me, all of your wild dreams will come true. Thank you." *
* Guarantee of wild dreams coming true cannot and will not be honored, but hey...you never know!
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