This is a small blog written with small expectations. I write it because I am an opinionated introvert, which means that I have more things to say than I have people to say them too. (More precisely, the ratio of opinions to listeners is so large that I could expect the denominator to shrink rapidly were I to share every little thing that crosses the transom of my mind.) The blog pleases me, and I hope it pleases those among my friends and family with the inclination and the patience to read it.
A few months ago, Blogger started tracking page-view statistics for all of its hosted blogs. I just got around to checking out my own stats for the first time. My first reaction was disappointment. Only 16 page views today? Some of those are mine, of course. My ego had been whispering to me, though I tried to shut it up: "What if you have the next 'Conscience of a Liberal' on your hands and you just don't know it yet?" I now know empirically that this isn't true.
But wait a sec. Sixteen just today? So half of them are from me. I'm fairly certain that my few dedicated readers, bless them, are unlikely to ping me back on a daily basis, panting for new material. That means that people whom I don't know may occasionally read what I have to say. I swell with journalistic pride. I am a tiny New York Times.
I have two page views each this month from Latvia and Slovenia. I wrack my brain: have I been serving my Baltic constituency well this month? And where is Slovenia anyway? I head immediately to Wikipedia. I learn that it is between Italy and Croatia. Its capital is Ljubljana, which I have no idea how to pronounce. If I have not irrevocably alienated my Slovenian constituents by now with my shocking ignorance of their country, perhaps one of them will leave a comment helping me out with this.
After the United States, the second most-represented country among my readers is Brazil. (Nearly 6% of all page views.) As far as I know, I do not know anyone in Brazil. I am ecstatic by this point. My fingers quiver as they strike the keys. I will not let you down, my loyal South American brothers and sisters. If one of you will do me the favor of sending me prepaid plane tickets to visit your beautiful country, I will return the favor by writing more about it.
I take a breath. Most of these welcome strangers are just passing through. Most recurring traffic is probably still from people I know well.
There's just one thing: most of the people whom I know are reading me on a regular basis are Mac users. Those who aren't are nerds. So why are 43% of my page views coming from Internet Explorer -- the highest of any browser? My friends, I see what you are doing.
You are reading my blog at the office. Shame on you. Is that what they pay you for? You can hide no longer.
I check your blog every day for new content... sometimes twice... always with Firefox. Why? 1. Going down my bookmark list of blogs is what I do when there's nothing on TV. 2. I don't know how to make it tell me when there's a new post instead of just checking every day. 3. You don't post often enough for it to be worth the guilt trip of checking at work. However, if there were a Slovenian blog I liked, I might check that at work. It would feel multicultural, like I was expanding my mind.
ReplyDeleteI know people in Brazil! Should I send them your blog?
ReplyDelete-Rose
Of course you do. And by all means, Yes!
ReplyDelete