Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Are You Getting Enough "Likes"?


A couple of weeks ago I threw myself a pity party on Facebook. I posted that I was thinking of discontinuing this blog because the number of visitors has hit a bumpy patch in recent weeks. Until then posts enjoyed one to three thousand visitors each week, not counting 500+ subscribers. Visits plummeted to several hundred one week for a post I considered among my best. The next week’s visitors increased but were still well below a thousand. Another week the numbers were down to several hundred again.

I wondered if it was caused by spring breaks or the recent reservations people have expressed about Facebook, my primary way of spreading word about a given post (which I do on organizational and group pages, not on personal pages). A pop-up box that I also get seems to require a log-in and password, but the box is easily dismissed by clicking twice on cancel. (You won’t have this problem on Chrome browser, btw.) But that glitch has been around for several months, and I assumed it was an AOL problem, or having to do with my new laptop.

Finally, it appears, the numbers may have to do with the new Facebook algorithms that only promote a post among those with whom I am more often in direct contact. I confess that, to keep up with all my Facebook friends, I would have to be on Facebook much more often than my introverted self and time limitations permit.

Not long ago, a friend and I were discussing social network addictions, and he suggested I may be addicted to “likes.” Though Facebook friends infrequently “like” the links to my blog (which makes them less visible), what I am keener on are how many people actually “see” a given post by following the link. Obviously, there is pride involved in this wish, but it’s my compensation for all the effort that goes into every post.

I didn’t think to say to my friend that I was no more “addicted” to visits than anyone would be “addicted” to adequate compensation for their work. Given my blog is not really a money-maker, not being “monetized” by ads or links, not charging for subscriptions, and, for example, receiving about $200 in donations in the first quarter of this year, my reward is rather in seeing how many visitors the blog attracts.

I almost scuttled this post because it sounds like a personal jeremiad not worthy of your time. But it occurred to me that many if not most of you have the same experience in your own work. How many of you are praised when you are, in the words of The One Minute Manager, “caught doing something right”? How often do you even know the people your volunteer or non-profit or service-oriented work helps? Do any of us take enough time to let clergy, educators, servers, care professionals, even friends and family know how much their efforts mean to us?

In the midst of populist uprisings in this country and the world, those of us who think “we know best” are being urgently told there are peoples who feel underappreciated, undervalued, and overlooked. Our own occasional feelings of being neglected should help us understand them and their anger and their desire to “even the score.” Many of us who are privileged in one way or another resist those protestors blind to their own privileges, but that is only “catching people doing something wrong.” Better to stop and listen and attend to the woundedness, just as Jesus did when he heard someone cry, “Have mercy on me!” whether a poor blind beggar or a rich young ruler.

Queer Catholic theologian James Alison has suggested that we crave being liked even more than being loved, and this many years before Facebook! We want others to like us, to want to hang with us, to look us in the eye, whether they’re bagging our groceries or offering a medical diagnosis or making love or praying for us.

Linus of Peanuts fame famously said, “I love mankind, it’s people I can’t stand!” “Loving” humanity is often easier than “liking” human beings.

God loves us, but Jesus likes us, calling us friends, friends worthy of dying for, friends whose feet he is glad to wash, whose hunger he is glad to satisfy, whose thirst he is glad to quench, all while looking us in the eye and asking that we “like” him too, in “the least of these.”


Find out how you can support this blog—thank you!
Be sure to scroll down to the donate link below its description.

Copyright © 2018 by Chris R. Glaser. Permission granted for non-profit use with attribution of author and blogsite. Other rights reserved. 

11 comments:

  1. HI Chris, I get your articles in my email inbox through 1,000,000 Spiritual LGBTQ People. I wonder if your counter picks me up. There may be more readers than you know about because they are in external networks (???).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Toby. Only those who either follow a link or go purposefully to the blogsite are counted, so you may be right. I know too that a post itself is often forwarded to others, and often are re-posted on other blogs, with my appreciation! Good to hear from you, as always, and I am honored that you read my blog!

      Delete
  2. "one to three thousand visitors each week?" I am envious. Then again, I am not a professional writer. I am happy when a blog post receives over a hundred views in a week and my blog tops out at a thousand or two total page views in a week, maybe over 8,000 in a month, if I am lucky. http://summittoshore.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 8000 a month? That sounds great! I was averaging a total of 5-7500 visitors per month overall (not including subscribers who get it directly in their email box), and, until recently, always well above a thousand each week with every couple of weeks around 3000. By contrast, yesterday's post has only had 450 visits so far. One of my concerns, not mentioned in the post, is that my posts might not be as helpful to people as in the past. Thanks for writing, John!

      Delete
  3. As you may know, I suffer from the constant need to be liked. By everyone. Which runs completely counter to the reality of being an activist of any kind, because we are tasked with making people see things differently, and that often makes them uncomfortable. I have offended so many corners of my audience as a blogger over the years that I'm surprised there are any left to follow me. But it appears they keep following, maybe they like me one day and don't the next, but they definitely want to see what I write next.

    You taught me that, Chris. Authenticity not matter what, and let the chips -- or the traffic figures -- fall where they may.

    I get why you pay attention to the traffic numbers; it's the only solid gauge we have. But I am here to tell you that we are more than our traffic numbers on any given month. My reputation has grown beyond that, by plugging away over time.

    Your reputation was burnished long before you ever bought a domain name. The blog is simply a lovely vehicle during this moment; your worth as an opinion leader has been proven many times over. I'm glad you're sharing your views for the fortunate people who visit you here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Mark, as always, for thoughtfully bucking me up! You nudged me onto the internet when you equipped me with my Gateway computer, and that's when the editorship of Open Hands fell into my lap, and I needed to be on the internet to do that job. I'm glad you too continue offering yourself on your blog and beyond for your multitude of readers and followers. And I like you too!

      Delete
  4. Hi Chris, I almost always visit and read your blog. Due to reunion stuff, I have caught up with Marcy Rothenberg, nee Miroff, among many others I hope you don't mind but she wanted me to share your blog link with her. And, I can also post it on the class page on FB. You never know who else will be interested in reading your stuff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. And I can't tell you how much it means to me that you do, given your status as one of my close friends from high school and beyond! I wish I could attend the reunion, but given the contemplative retreat I'm coleading next week, it just wasn't realistic. I'd be pleased to have you share my blog on the class page, and I'm so glad to be reconnected to Marcy! Thank you! (I had to remove my earlier comment because I couldn't correct a typo without doing so.)

      Delete
  5. Well, I'm glad you didn't stop posting. Kelsey Ramirez-Raub just forwarded the link to me so I could get back in touch with you...this is Marcy (Miroff) Rothenberg! Kelsey and I reconnected thanks to the upcoming reunion (which I'm missing) -- would love to hear from you. I'm blogging (political) at DemWrite Press if you'd like to see some of my recent stuff. Hope all's well! Hugs...and let us know if you're ever in L.A.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Marcy, I am glad we're reconnected, and glad to know you're blogging for DemWrite Press--I'll check it out. I'm missing the reunion as well, but I'll let you know when I'm in L.A. sometime. I think Kelsey has my email address. Keep on blogging! Hugs to you!

      Delete