Does Anyone Read Your Blog?

TL;DR – I know of a few people that “follow” me, but for the most part, I’m talking to myself. 😁

I get this question off and on by people. I don’t really know the answer. I’ve never installed a counter and SPAM is rampant in the comments. I have some Lurkers that have made themselves know IRL a few times, but that’s rare. Occasionally people mention this blog, but I don’t particularly think I have a following. This is my response to this question when it came last week:

The Blog serves a few purposes for me…

1. It gives me a semi-public place to organize my thoughts when I have opinions on things. It usually keeps me from saying something I regret or saying something without having back-up for it. A lot of times that’s as far as it goes. I did the post with the multiple Main/Davis intersection options before bringing it up at the Plan Commission, to make sure I’d given it sufficient thought. For example, it wasn’t until I’d drawn out a couple ideas that I took the next mental step to consider the other utilities that are in the current ROW, which means those areas would have to remain ROW.
2. Occasionally, a blog post becomes a payroll stuffer if the topic is appropriate.
3. Occasionally it gives me a time-stamped document to point to when someone tries to appropriate an idea I’ve put forward. (A few individuals come to mind…)
4. It gives me a place to post things that do double duty as advertising a project and providing an easy place to point people with questions. I’m doing a lot of that with Twitter and Instagram for the Riverside Commons project. When the bank asks about status, I can point them to the ECC instagram or a recent blog post on this.
5. It’s a trick to keep my website current. Since the blog posts appear as updates on the front page, it appears that my page is constantly being updated, despite the fact that the website is pretty stagnant. I just don’t have the time to do that justice and struggle to justify the expense of paying someone to do it. I paid someone to do the Sand Hill Farm website and it’s slow, hard for me to edit and overall clunkier than the ECC site which has been up forever. Currently it’s even lost it’s home page and I haven’t had time to research a fix. There’s a blog there too which I try and speak from with a different voice, i.e. less personal stuff.
6. When someone chooses ECC they are really buying me. If they are interested, the blog shows them some of my community involvement, some of my politics and some of my sense of humor. From my blog, people have met my grandfather, know my disdain for Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” and DST, and friends that have passed like Mary Ellen, Pete, Bobbie and Richard. They’ve even gotten to see some personal art.
7. It gives me a place to write. Facebook is too sappy and promoted for some of what I just need to get off my chest. I don’t necessarily want a big following or someone sending me hearts. Though occasionally I cut & paste a blog entry there if I think it’s appropriate. The blog is much easier to correct and I like being able to include pictures and links within the text.