Me Seeing You Seeing Me: What Flavor of Blog Do You Prefer?
I have a huge favor to ask.
My regulars know that I tend to jump around between different topics and sometimes even different styles of writing. There is a kind of logic to it (I swear) but it may not always be obvious to all and even my now dominant theme — theatre — is handled in many different ways.
It is worth mentioning, according to almost every social media / blogging expert you will encounter, this is exactly the opposite of what one should do, if one hopes to develop a regular audience. In this respect, don’t do as I do, if a large fan base is your goal.
Recently, I tried a flavor of day-to-day blogging I never tried before and I wonder if or how people enjoyed it. Not surprisingly, this specific curiosity morphed into a more general curiousity about people’s opinion about the whole blog in general.
And that brings us to this post and the favor I want to ask — that is, the questions I want to ask any of my helpful and thoughtful readers. I would be supremely grateful to those of you who are able to take the time to respond to these questions. Feel free to post in the comments section below but, if you prefer email, that is helpful too (Sterling.lynch@gmail.com).
Of course, please write, respond, or comment however you please. The questions are there as a guide rather than a constraint. Although telling me what you like specifically or what you would like to see more of specifically in the blog is much more helpful for me than identifying what you don’t like, I am a big boy and I promise I won’t be offended by any well-intentioned criticism.
Also, hopefully, some of you will see this as opportunity to post a comment for the first time. Please consider the comments section of this post as a place to post any kind of reflection on what has been happening around here, on your own blog, or blogging in general.
Questions to consider:
1) How often do you read this blog? Daily? Whenever I post? When Tweeted? Weekly? Monthly? Now and Again?
2) What is the main reason you read this blog (Yes, “you are my friend” is an acceptable and useful answer if true)?
3) What are three things you like most about this blog?
4) What is something you would like to see more of in this blog?
5) What is it about this blog that makes it distinctive from other blogs you follow?
6) What flavor of blog do you prefer? Please identify the flavor and explain why you prefer it. It needn’t necessarily be a flavor you encounter here (and, yes, be as silly or serious as you want to be).
So that’s it. Any and all thoughts you have will be warmly welcomed and thoroughly digested, I promise you. It will also certainly affect the path ahead. The answers, I suspect, will also be helpful for other bloggers who are thinking about where to take their blog next.
I started this blog as little more than a platform to distribute my writing and it has since morphed into something much more interesting because people took an interest in it and spurred and inspired me into new directions. Let’s keep that ball moving!
For more social media related posts, click here.
I love questionnaires! Here goes:
1. Yours is one of the blogs I check daily. This is my habit with all friend-blogs.
2. You are my friend. That’s why I started reading. I’ve continued reading because I feel it gives me insight into who you are, whether it’s your creative writing, your philosophical musings or your day-to-day. I wish I could think of a better answer that didn’t make me sound like a stalker.
3. The thing I like best is your writing style. You’re thoughtful and humourous. I like that you actively encourage readers to comment. And I like that you always respond to the comments your receive.
4. I especially enjoy the posts that fall into the Sex, Love and Friendship category. Write more of those.
5. Not surprisingly this is a sort of hybrid theatre/philosophy blog. That’s unusual and cool.
6. Generally, my prefer flavour of blog entry reads as follows: Today something happened to me. Here’s that thing. Wry observation. Here’s how the thing that happened relates to a broader point I’m trying to make. Related hyperlink. Dry witticism. Now I’ll expand on the point (conversational aside in parentheses). Conclusion. I imagine this flavour is the weblog equivalent of grape.
In conclusion, I like you. I’m sincerely happy to read whatever you want to write. Which I suspect isn’t the sort of feedback that helps you here, but I’m throwing it in anyway.
nadinethornhill
July 17, 2009
More questionnaires in the future then!
Very helpful, Nadine. Thanks you. I like the way you articulate your grape blog-post model. It makes me think we think about things in a similar fashion. System building can be fun!
The relevance of the personal connection is very useful. It emphasizes that the power of social media is grounded in the personal connection it facilitates. I suspect that is true of all activities really.
sterlinglynch
July 19, 2009
1. Whenever you post. I’m all Google Reader’d up now. Though that actually reduces my motivation to comment because I would have to go to all the effort of clicking on the link when I have so many other pressing things waiting to be read!!
2. You are my friend. And I have always liked your writing. And secretly I want to be you. All footloose and fancy-free.
3. The way you write, your interactions in the comments section and the way you present yourself (i.e. I feel like I’m reading something honest written by a real human).
4. I like your Fashion, Politics and Society, Sex Love and Friendship and Social Media posts. Ummm?? Is that actually everything you write?
5. It’s written by Sterling Lynch.
6. I have two flavours of blog. First I have career related blogs on subjects like writing, communications, social media, non-profit leadership, etc. I like those blogs to be detailed, properly sourced, and informative on current issue. Then I have blogs I read as entertainment. These include friends who write entertaining blogs (be they funny or not), friends of friends who write entertaining blogs (seriously, I needs me some fashion help so thank god some friends of friends are inadvertently schooling me), and then random blogs I find through random links. The random blogs almost always need to be funny for me to read them.
So, I definitely like your blog. But would I read your blog if I didn’t know you? Only if I was interested in the arts, theatre specifically. Having been an arts administrator for years that means I’m a pretty safe bet as a reader (even though the theatre blogs are not my favourite!)
Lady Rose
July 18, 2009
Thanks Amanda. Very useful. I am glad to hear it comes across as honest. Thanks also for the useful details about your preferred flavors of blog.
sterlinglynch
July 19, 2009
1) Probably once or twice a week.Usually when you tweet a new post that seems interesting to me.
2) To gain insights,views, stories, experiences etc. from a local artist
3) a) Loved all the Fringe posts
b) Posts particularly dealing with acting (as thats my main focus as a student)
c) Generally I just find it interesting.
4) Acting posts (rehearsals,Audtions, backstage stories, approaches to a role, etc.) And also Reviews of shows, Local theatre talk in general…
5) The range of posts is definitely more interesting than most blogs. You arent necessarily tied to just theatre, which is cool.
6) Personally I love reading stories on blogs…I just find them interesting. Also anything that can help me gain better insight into the Ottawa theatre community is definitely worth my time. Also: Mint Chocolate Chip blogs are to die for.
Leslie Cserepy
July 18, 2009
Leslie, thanks so much for reading and commenting. I am glad to hear you enjoy the mix-bagged approach. That’s really good to know.
Hmm, now I really want some mint chocolate chip ice cream.
sterlinglynch
July 19, 2009
Mint chocolate ANYTHING is to die for!
nadinethornhill
July 19, 2009
I second many of Nadine and Lady Rose’s sentiments, though I’m not really your friend, I s’pose, having never met you or interacted with you outside of blogtown… though from time to time I may name drop you as my friend Sterling, who is in the theeeaahtah
(I jest). I have only this year begun reading blogs at all, thanks to PBP/PFP, so I guess I became interested in checking out your blog after reading some of your comments over there. I read your blog as soon as my blogger reading list alerts me to a new post. I love your writing style, your philosophical musings, and your wit.
I, too, love that you encourage readers to indulge in community-building commenterinks, though I sometimes feel a little out of place putting in my two cents when it’s clear that comments are coming from your personal friends — you know, I feel as though I’ve sort of become the blog reader equivalent of the hanger-on just outside your circle of cool, so lately I guess I’ve commented a little less.
I like reading blogs that leave me feeling a little less isolated in this big, scary world. I tend to get the tiniest bit flustered meeting people in real life, and it takes me a long time to warm up to most people. As a result, I think I communicate a lot better in print than in person. I’m not much of a go-out-and-bare-my-soul-to-others kinda girl, so being able to read about/share with others some triumphs and foibles from the comfort of my home and a silly made-up moniker really suits me.
I like finding and following blogs written by someone(s) with situations that you can relate to and that help you to feel like you’re the only whackjob in the universe who is (or knows the pain of) procrastinating on a Derrida paper, or who covets a “Joint-Action Wonder Woman” with an unholy passion. Y’know, just as random examples.
Like Lady Rose, I am also following a few fashion-savvy blogs in an effort to up my IRL fashion ante, if you will. Some of those fashion-y ladies, startlingly enough, follow my blog and give me some great advice when I ask for it. IRL, I would never have the lady lumps to ask such chic ladies for the time of day, let alone what shoes to wear with what dress.
While I haven’t made it through all of your writing (as yet) I love your takes on (in no particular order) 1) fashion; 2) sex, love, and friendship; 3) politics and society… and something about the neologism “slapfatass” makes me giggle like a fool. I dunno if any of this is helpful, but I guess that’s my two cents.
Lady Buttons
July 19, 2009
Whoa. That was long. Sorry. More like a dime than two cents!
Lady Buttons
July 19, 2009
LB! Thanks for your dime! It’s very helpful and please remember both your dime and you are always welcome in this circle.
Whatever cool that can be found here is directly connected to your place in the circle. I love the fact that I am connecting with people I would never have been able to know otherwise. I also love the fact that those connections are connecting with my other connections. Now that’s cool. So thank you for taking the time to investigate and to participate.
sterlinglynch
July 19, 2009
1. I make sure to pop in whenever there is a new post.
2. Because you are my friend and it helps me keep in touch; because you are an honest and hilarious writer; because your social commentary is enlightening and intelligent. These are not in any kind of priority order!
3. I like your tellin-it-like-it-is-ism. I like your no-hold-barred honesty. I like the humour AND intelligence you infuse into your posts.
4. I would like to see more social/political/gender commentary posts; more fashion (!) posts; more day-in-the-life type posts.
5. Though some of the other blogs I read are commentaries on current social/political issues, you bring a bit of an academic edge – while still managing to throw in the occassional smattering of vulgarity, which I appreciate.
5. Most of the blogs I follow are day-in-the-life blogs, fashion blogs, or social issue commentary type of blogs. For me, the best blogs combine all of these things and are funny in the process.
post-fab princess
July 19, 2009
Thanks PFP! Very useful.
As one of my very first regular and vocal readers, if anything valuable is happening around here, you deserve a lot of credit for your early support and encouragement. It certainly helped keep me motivated to write regularly. Moreover, without your advice, I would never have written any fashion posts! So, thanks!
sterlinglynch
July 19, 2009
Word, LB. The slapfatass rools.
post-fab princess
July 19, 2009
Also, it is one of your early attempts at turning some of my words into a meme.
sterlinglynch
July 19, 2009
I try to meme it up from time to time. Not everyone is as meme-orable as you.
did ya see what i did there tee heeeeee
post-fab princess
July 20, 2009
Gold.
sterlinglynch
July 20, 2009
Nice.
JVL
July 20, 2009
Hey, I just noticed there are a bunch of CHICKS on here, Sterling, you’re holding out on me man.
JVL
July 20, 2009
Yes, based on the comments sections, my readership does seem to be predominantly female. Although, perhaps, my male readers are less inclined to comment.
sterlinglynch
July 20, 2009
I think Justin summed this up nicely, btw.
Erinn
July 20, 2009
I hope there isn’t a test after this:
1) How often do you read this blog? Daily? Whenever I post? When Tweeted? Weekly? Monthly? Now and Again?
Weekly, but only because I never see it tweeted, and I have memory issues (me, not my computer).
2) What is the main reason you read this blog (Yes, “you are my friend” is an acceptable and useful answer if true)?
“You are my friend”, as well as the fact that I appreciate reading thoughtful ruminations on the various topics you have posted on thus far.
3) What are three things you like most about this blog?
It is humorous when appropriate, thoughtful and leads me to consider topics I don’t normally think about. The colour scheme? Not so much.
4) What is something you would like to see more of in this blog?
I don’t have any “expectations”, so do what feels right.
5) What is it about this blog that makes it distinctive from other blogs you follow?
You get more philosophical and meditative than most blogs writers.
6) What flavor of blog do you prefer? Please identify the flavor and explain why you prefer it. It needn’t necessarily be a flavor you encounter here (and, yes, be as silly or serious as you want to be).
Neopolitan. Don’t limit yourself to one flavour. Bring the best of them all to the table.
Erinn
July 20, 2009
Thanks Erinn. Very helpful. I am glad to hear you enjoy the Neapolitan approach to the blog. I think I would have a hard time sticking with one topic or issue for any length of time. I think it’s why ended up in philosophy.
sterlinglynch
July 20, 2009
1. Very regularly (at least daily)during the
work week.
2. I like the discussion in the comments section.
I also like to see myself occassionally mentioned.
3. The big idea posts like Doubt Conviction…
The daily Fringe updates, and every post that linked to my blog.
4. More on your vision for Theatre. It’s promise, the community (how to grow it), and the new iconoclasm.
5. Insightful, intellectual and accessible.
When you are at your best.
6. A little bit spicy,somewhat oily, deliciously à
salty, nuanced with smoke, and of course honey sweet
at its heart. Talisker 10y old in other words.
Wayne C.
July 20, 2009
Thanks Wayne! I like the Talisker comparison.
sterlinglynch
July 21, 2009
Yay! Something to occupy those mid-afternoon moments, the ones where it’s too early to start making dinner, and yet, the napping hour has passed.
1) I read when my Google Reader alerts me to an update. Often I’ll come back and check on the status of comments, because I find your blog often has great convo/debates going on in the comment block.
2) I came upon ye because Amanda told me to check out your blog. I’m always up for more blogs to read, and so I did what she said. Also, I find it’s generally a good idea to listen to her
I stay because I find your posts give me something to think about, to mull over. My experience working in theatre means I can relate to a lot of what you write about. Finally, I’m just often entertained.
3) The interactive discussion that often takes place in the comments, discussion on arts marketing and social media, and day-in-the-life type posts.
4) I’d like to see more day-to-day posts, and really- more of the same. I think you’ve got a good balance going.
5) It seems to be less ‘personal’ than the other blogs I follow- considerably less gut-spilling ranting. There’s more distance, kind of an arms-length to your ‘real life’. It seems professional, formal, a bit academic.
6) I love blogs! Most seem to be day-to-day personal blogs, but a lot of them are topic or subject specific: photography, cooking, fashion, design, copywriting, marketing. The ones I like best are a combination of ranty and funny, without reading like the diary of an awkward, 14 year old girl. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it’s just not my style. I like pictures, videos and other visuals, but don’t use them that often in my own blogging.
Meg
July 20, 2009
Thanks for your feedback, Meg!. Yes, Amanda (LR, BTW) is good to listen to ! I am glad also to hear you find it entertaining and that it also strikes a good balance. Useful!
sterlinglynch
July 21, 2009
*blush* (secretly can’t believe anybody listens to anythign she says)
Lady Rose
July 22, 2009
1) How often do you read this blog? Daily? Whenever I post? When Tweeted? Weekly? Monthly? Now and Again?
Every day-ish, depending on what’s happening in my life and whether or not you’ve posted.
2) What is the main reason you read this blog (Yes, “you are my friend” is an acceptable and useful answer if true)?
You’re a really interesting person with many provocative thoughts and an enjoyable writing style.
3) What are three things you like most about this blog?
Candor, intelligence, and humour. I also really enjoy the fact that you jump around a lot. Please don’t stop.
4) What is something you would like to see more of in this blog?
Fashion and sex. Your posts on these topics are most enjoyable. Oh, and philosophy.
5) What is it about this blog that makes it distinctive from other blogs you follow?
Well, it’s similar to others I read in that it’s a blog and it’s written in English. That’s pretty much where the commonalities end.
6) What flavor of blog do you prefer? Please identify the flavor and explain why you prefer it. It needn’t necessarily be a flavor you encounter here (and, yes, be as silly or serious as you want to be).
My answer to flavour questions is always chocolate. Fruity chocolate. Or spicy chocolate. Or melty milk chocolate. The best thing about chocolate is that it’s so versatile. It goes well with everything.
Bryn
July 27, 2009
Thanks, Bryn! Very helpful. I am glad to hear you like the jumping-around and something tells me you like chocolate…
sterlinglynch
July 28, 2009