It’s a Good Thing I Don’t Have Too Many Followers

Blogging, humor, lessons learned, music 2 Minutes

Earlier this week I wrote a post about songs featuring the name Caroline.

One of the songs featured was written and performed by a wonderful band from Pittsburgh, the Clarks.

I had written a post three years ago about how we had the opportunity to watch the Clarks perform in an intimate setting at the house of one of my colleagues. One of the highlights for me that night was the song Caroline:

A few days after I wrote this week’s post about Caroline, my colleague who hosted the house party came across the link to the post on Facebook, and left a brief comment as well as including members of the band in his comment. Greg Joseph, the person on the right side of the video, left a comment, and he, along with the Clarks’ band page shared my Facebook post.

I didn’t think much of it until I saw my view count start to increase dramatically this morning, by the minute. On a typical day, I receive between 400-500 views of my blog. By noon today, I had over 600. And it was being driven by my post from this past Monday, thanks to Greg and the Clarks sharing my post. The Clarks have over 71,000 followers on Facebook.

Of course, I couldn’t stop checking my stats all day, even more than usual…

I then started thinking about how bad I would be if I had that many loyal followers. I would be checking my stats every few seconds, completely oblivious to what was going on around me. I’d probably start putting up crazy ads for vegan food and juggling equipment. I’d be unbearable to live with. Well, even more than I am now…

So like I said, maybe it’s a good thing for me and the small but loyal group of people who read my blog that I don’t have more followers.

Wait.

Who am I kidding?

I’d happily have lots and lots of followers.

You know what they say.

The more, the merrier.

And just think of all the blog stats I could share then…

and a big thank you to Greg and the Clarks!

*image from a Forbes article about the Clarks written by my Villanova colleague, Ray Taylor

Published by Jim Borden

A 60-something guy trying to figure out the world, and his place in it. Happily married for 40-plus years, three wonderful sons. Accounting teacher, fitness enthusiast, blogger, reader.

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49 thoughts on “It’s a Good Thing I Don’t Have Too Many Followers”

  1. Congrats on getting all those views. But you should know that followers are a dime a dozen. It’s smartass commenters that you need more of, like that blogger with grammar and syntax issues, named Caroline.

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    1. OH my gosh, you are full of it tonight, aren’t you! Shaking my head!
      Jim, so far you are the last elf that has yet to fall in a hole today, I would be very careful in considering how you answer Tippy’s comment. Just saying! 🙂

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      1. For sure. Followers are a nice base for
        a steady stream of views. Its those days with unexpected spikes in views that trigger the pleasure hormones in my brain and make me check stats more often. Having something like 71,000 followers would be pretty cool too.

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  4. Oh gosh, Jim, you’ve reminded me about those stats again. I NEVER remember to check them. I should because it is useful to know which posts do well although I don’t suppose it would change anything I write about, even if I did know. I’m a bit set in my ways of getting a spark and just writing a post; nothing planned and no writing schedule.

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    1. The stats don’t influence anything I do either, but I do enjoy checking them. And I have nothing planned either, but I do publish something every day, even when there’s no spark 🙂

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  5. You usually get to the bottom of those big stat days. One of the things I don’t understand is how an old post that I wrote a while back will suddenly get a lot of views from out of the blue.

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  6. jim – that’s so cool that the clarks did that, and you must have been in stat heaven! from one of your many followers.
    you never know, where these things fall down the rabbit hole, where they’ll lead.

    to Pete, above – when you post something new, some of your old posts are displayed below and if someone clicks on one and responds, it pops up and others may be seeing if for the first time and responding, as it’s new to them.

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    1. thanks, Beth – you are one of my most loyal followers, and it is greatly appreciated.

      And it is fun to see an old post get a big jump in views and try to figure out why, such as the reason you mention…

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  8. So happy to hear you had a big post! (I always forget to check my stats.) Congratulations!

    You had me a Pittsburgh. I’m a local girl, so it’s exciting for me to see a hometown band mentioned here.

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    1. thanks, Staci! It was exciting. Have you heard of the Clarks?

      I lived in Pittsburgh for two years while I was in grad school in the late 70s, early 80s. Loved it there.

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      1. Where did you go to grad school? I got my undergrad and grad degrees at Carnegie Mellon. I love the city, too. I was born and raised in Western PA. Moved away for about twenty years, but now I’m back. Nice to be with family and friends again.

        And no, I haven’t heard of The Clarks, but I watched a few of their videos when I saw your post. Now I want to see them live!

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      4. the MBA program was kind of removed from the rest of campus life; I wish I had taken more advantage of what the school offered while I was there. I do remember watching the buggy races one year. But I wish I had gone to some of the plays – I am sure they were top notch…

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      5. I never went to a play, either. And I wish I had. So many actors/directors study there.

        I didn’t do much socially on campus. My then boyfriend often wanted to go home. My sophomore year, I did stay for Spring Carnival, though. My honor society put me in charge of designing our booth.

        If I could go back and do it all over, I’d do a lot differently. Probably try to have a little more fun and worry a little less about grades. A LITTLE less. (I’m sure I’d still worry.)

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      7. You definitely missed out on that one. We used to do a lot of things in the city. There’s always SOMETHING going on. Plenty of festivals. And the Regatta was always fun.

        I actually used to spend a lot of time at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. All the museums are wonderful, though. And conservatory. And the planetarium. And the inclines. The Cathedral of Learning was interesting. Also, we went to a few shows at the Benedum, all of which were amazing. Lots of sporting events…

        I’ll stop now before I get carried away. (Well, more carried away…)

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      8. wow – I did miss out on a lot. I do remember giving my wife-to-be her engagement ring at Christopher’s at the top of Mt. Washington, and then riding the incline down. Lots of good memories, and we’ve been back a couple of times to visit.

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