February 1, 2009
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Reflections on Making a Name for Yourself on the Web
So I was reading an article about how to promote yourself for a job in a a down market in the 21st century. That got me to thinking…
I did a vanity search and found out that what comes up to the top of the list is a comment I left on Amazon. My minimax0r Xanga tag was fifth in the list with no other mention of my Xanga. My Live Journal doesn’t even appear in the first 100 results. Bummer.
That reminded me that I really, really need to fill my profiles out on both Xanga and Live Journal. Fuck
Stalker BookFace Book.But more to the point, it got me to thinking….
I get more traffic off of my political posts e.g. than I do off of my computer posts e.g.. The odd thing is, I think more about computers than I do about politics. In fact, I tend to think I write more about computers than I do politics.
I read a lot of sites. I can’t think of one political news feed I have other than fellow bloggers (i.e. truntthepaige,
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reality_hammer, and gothelittle. I would include The Theologian’s Cafe in the list, but he is more of a newsfeed than a place to get a political take on things.)I read many more computers sites. I’m following
linux, ubuntu_users, macintosh, unixadmin. I’m also subscribed to Engadget, Coding Horror, and John. C. Dvoark’s PC Mag columns.Apparently, computer blogs are only for those who get them and then you have to be an expert to be read. We could talk about Microsoft initiatives for hawking their products as the best thing since sliced bread and self-proclaimed gurus who think they are computer gods because they know how to double-click an icon in Windows, but that’s beside the point. I read a lot of tech stuff, comment occasionally and record my tech thoughts on my blog less frequently than that. I labor over my posts, hoping I’m giving the best presentation possible but instead I get lambasted for it.
The oddest thing is that despite all the tech stuff that I’m into, I’d like to think that I’m more into film. Granted, I don’t write about it the way that
swashbuckler332 does and that pisses me off. I did write film reviews for the Exponent, but those were rushed and shitty at best, not the quality stuff that swashbuckler332 turns out. It’s funny too, because swash and I usually have the same thoughts on the films that we both watch. I just don’t have his stomach for Star Wars. The point is that it pisses me off that I can write good reviews and yet I don’t. I should, because at the very least I’d be able to put together a list of reviews if I wanted to make some extra cash, say writing reviews for the local paper.I think that the reason my political posts get such better remarks is that a lot of my readers and I have the same views on politics and when I get as passionate about a subject as I do with my politics, I let ‘em have it. Perhaps it’s this quality that people are reacting to rather than my viewpoints. Nevertheless, it was something I thought about today, had a theory about and wanted to see what you my adoring audience thought.
What kind of my posts do you like: political? tech? film? random craziness? Other (please specify in the comments)?
Also, do you think my theory that my political posts get more response than anything because of the passion behind the writing is correct? Discuss.
Comments (33)
Hrm. I’m not much of a tech person, so tech posts are kind of hard for me to read in general. I like your random craziness posts the most, but then that’s just me. I can only stomach so much politico speak, no matter how interesting, though the passion behind your political entries is what makes you one of the few people I actually read on politics.
As for your second question, I think it is the passion behind any entry that makes it an interesting read, so I would say your theory is correct.
@lizheartshakespeare – Thanks. Sometimes you just need a second opinion to make sure you’re not crazy, yannow.
@ProfessorTom - I understand
@lizheartshakespeare – awe! Thanks for the mini. I feel loved now.
@ProfessorTom - Your very welcome
A mix of all things, but I originally started reading you because of your political posts and comments on other political posts. And yeah, definitely the passion behind the post makes the difference.
@DirtyAndShaken – yannow, the thing that sucks about reading trunthepaige? When she makes a good point in her post, not only do I feel like I have to express my views, but I also feel like hers is one of the few sites where you can have a political discussion without it quickly breaking down into name calling.
@ProfessorTom - totally agree with that. I subscribed to her around the same time I subscribed to you and pretty much for the same reasons. And both of you are really good about backing up your facts and doing thorough research instead of just throwing out a bunch claims. That holds a lot of weight with me.
@DirtyAndShaken – If you think the posts I put up are good, you should see the ones that never get finished for lack of reference or because it would take too much set up to make my point.
Thanks for the compliment.
Philosophical, personal, matters about ones faith, and politics. The subjects that draws your greatest passion, will likely draw out your best and most interesting writing.
@ProfessorTom - Honestly? That’s usually the reason I don’t openly blog more about political issues. I usually gain my thoughts on a particular issue or topic on drive to or from work, but then it gets muddled and lost. And I don’t want to ever post anything like that without something to back it up, and I just don’t usually have the time for that right now. So I understand. I do a lot of private political blogging now and then, because I like looking back in my blog at years past. This has been such a turbulent year and an important one (for better or for worse).
@trunthepaige – Indeed.
i have no idea why i started reading you, to be honest…as such, i wouldnt focus in on any one thing unless YOU want to. Hell, i keep trying to promote myself as a medblog, only to fail miserably because I hate forcing myself into a corner of any one thing
@DirtyAndShaken - I need to post about this too.
There was this episode of Dougie Houser, M.D. where he begged his dad for a laptop and his dad finally got him one on the condition that he use it to keep a journal. (This was before blogging obviously and I dare say before the internet was used by the masses as a mode of communication.)
I used to keep a pen an paper journal, but that was sporadic. I had to hide it if I wanted to keep it personal. I was always cryptic when I wrote and struggled to read my handwriting.
When I got my own computer, I thought about using it in a manner like described above, i.e. keep the journal on the machine. But then if something happens to the machine or the file, it’s gone. If the machine is stolen, it’s gone. There are ways to secure a machine, sure, and you can even password protect documents, but security can be circumvented and passwords can be cracked. In short, for those reasons, but more because of laziness, I never kept an electronic journal.
I hate social networking sites. I really, really do. I started a MySpace before the site was hugely popular and shut it down shortly thereafter. I was on Face Book when it was colleges only. Soon after it went public, I stopped using mine and then shut it down. Recently, I started using it to try and pimp my blog, but I haven’t seen anything in the footprints to indicate that has worked.
When I finally figured out what blogging was and how it worked, somehow it just made sense to me to journal things for others to read. If you look at my early posts, I was cryptic then too (probably still am to some degree) but I found that there is very little I don’t mind the masses knowing. There’s one thing I’ve thought about starting a second blog for on a different network, but that is to be totally anonymous when and if it ever happens.
I’ve never made a blog that’s totally private. Someone has always been able to read it besides myself. There are only two entries I have made private after posting. I never delete a post unless it’s a test post.
I should turn this comment into a post.
Well, there you have it.
@Rveblade – I can’t rememer where I came across your blog either. I just know I like reading about your struggles to become a doc.
Yeah, I don’t want to pigeon hole myself, but at the same time I think that I have done myself a dissservice by not going vertical. I need to blog about that too.
I think people respond to your political posts more because everyone has an opinion about politics (even if it’s dumb). Whereas, on the tech posts you’re obviously more of an expert than the majority of people, so maybe they don’t feel there’s much to discuss.
Then again, who knows. My “throw away” posts are always the ones that receive the most comments, and the ones I labor over for hours usually get, like, one; so I’m probably not the best person to be asking about the psyche of blog readership.
@heidenkind – I have a theory on that too.
I think if you post something stupid like “I’m a Dr. Pepper”, the reason you get a ton of comments is because people can interprete that any way the want. This means that there is unlimited potential for commentary. But if you limit the focus of your post to one key issue that the average YouTube-watching idiot can’t understand, they shy away from opening their mouths in the arena of ideas because they know that it is better for everyone to think them a fool rather than open their mouths or pound on their keyboards and thus prove they’re an idiot.
@ProfessorTom - Hmm, good point, although most of the comments on dumb entries are, you know, kinda dumb. lol I might write a post about how I’m a Dr. Pepper just to see if your theory works….
Will let you know after I have subscibed for a bit but I will hazard a guess that it will not be the computer posts
@ProfessorTom - If you think the posts I put up are good,
you should see the ones that never get finished for lack of reference
or because it would take too much set up to make my point.
I bet those are fantastic! Tell me more about how awesome these posts are that we never see. I also write awesome posts that I never put up. But if I did, THEY WOULD CHANGE THE WORLD, trust me. I don’t of course because they never get finished because it would take too much set up to make my point, but damn they’re awesome!
Tom,
Well it’s Go Granny here, thinking about getting back in the xanga saddle again, and I just had to comment about your post.
Your posts about computers do not keep my interest. It’s like reading latin to me. That’s not my thing. I am more interested in movies and music…but only slightly. Political posts are okay.
But the blogs I like the best, are the ones when you put your feelings out on the line. That’s where I live….I am a person of the heart. The post that made me start reading you on a regular basis, was one near Easter 2 or 3 years ago. You had spent a lot of money to send flowers home, and no one even acknowledged them (at the time of the post). You opened up your feelings, spoke from the heart, made yourself vulnerable.
That connected me to you in a way that films, computers or politics won’t. But I am just me, I am not any of these other fine folks who commented. We’re all different, and the connections will be different.
May I be honest? You seem like a young man who is still finding his way. Looking for who he is, what his purpose is in life, and how his life can made a difference. That’s okay! You are still young, and you have plenty of time to figure those things out. Some people figure it out in high school or college, and others much later in life.
Keep it up Tom, you are very special and God has something in this life for you to do, that no one else on the planet can accomplish! I know, kind of sappy, but I really do believe this kind of stuff!
Hugs,
Granny
@Umnenga – Welcome aboard! It’s always good to have new subscribers.
@ehowton – You said yourself that I put in mor hours a week than you do. If you really mean that, then you know that time is a limited resource. Writing takes a lot of hard work. You don’t just throw words together; you have to connect them like puzzle pieces.
@go_granny_go – Heya Granny. Haven’t seen you in ages. You should come back to zanguh.
I remember that post. That might be the other post that I have turned private. Yes, sometimes I do let my emotions bleed all over the page. If that’s what it takes to keep you reading, I will have to do so more often.
Thanks for stopping by.
@go_granny_go - GO GRANNY!!!!! *squee*
@ProfessorTom - Thank for you pontificating on a point which had nothing to do with my statement. What else can you not do?
@ehowton – I squeed too when I saw her comment. It was like Christmas in the middle of Feburary.
@ehowton – For all this talk about how I shouldn’t presume to be better than everyone else, you sure are driving your point into the ground like an arrogant son-of-a-bitch. Discuss.
@ProfessorTom -
Lucius
:
[
Bob and Lucius are sitting in a parked car, reminiscing
]
So now I’m in deep trouble. I mean, one more jolt of this death ray and
I’m an epitaph. Somehow I manage to find cover and what does Baron von
Ruthless do?
Bob
:
[
laughing
] He starts monologuing.
Lucius
:
He starts monologuing! He starts like, this prepared speech about how
*feeble* I am compared to him, how *inevitable* my defeat is, how *the
world* *will soon* *be his*, yadda yadda yadda.
Bob
:
Yammering.
Lucius
:
Yammering! I mean, the guy has me on a platter and he won’t shut up!
You’re all talk. You’ve given us nothing but words about how good you really are, without showing us a thing. Your sleight-of-hand is your excuses, and your smoke & mirrors are lack of motivation. I don’t give a rats ass about the long list of things you haven’t done. Try instead talking about something you *actually* have accomplished. A blog entry on why you suck might be why you suck.
Discuss.
@ProfessorTom - Sounds like you do need to do a post on the topic. I’m always interested in such a topic. Back in the day when I started online journaling (long before it was called blogging), most of my fellow writers were doing it for the same reason. It amazes me sometimes how much the blogging industry has blown up. I almost want to give my way of writing a different name than blogging because it just doesn’t seem to fit. I could careless about labels, I’m just saying : )
@DirtyAndShaken – If I do blog about this, it will likely be a repeat of what I have already said in the comments here.
i tend to gravitate to the meta-whore posts
@pamilvr – Meaning?