Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Really Random Tuesday #24: The Note Project Giveaway Winner, and a Question

Please congratulate Zibilee from Raging Bibliomania, the randomly selected winner of a Note Project Starter Kit, compliments of the O'Marys. Zibilee has a prolific book blog and posts thoughtful, detailed reviews on a wide variety of books, so be sure to visit her blog. I think she'll enjoy the kit, which includes a hardback edition of The Note by Mike O'Mary, a DVD video based on the book, and a set of three premium-quality thank you cards.

It's not too late to visit the Note Project and make a pledge to write a note of thanks. (I'm feeling kind of guilty. Although I made a pledge two weeks ago on the Note Project to write a thank you card to someone, I haven't done so yet. I've considered a few possibilities, but haven't made a decision. I am ruminating. I am vacillating. I am being indecisive, which is not really like me. Should I thank the Eagle Scout Troop who put bag dispensers for dog waste throughout a local park? Should I thank a teacher? Should I thank a relative? Should I thank a friend? Or should I go on a thank you binge and write several cards?) As I mentioned in my other post on this subject, the Note Project will donate to at least 12 literacy projects in 12 countries in 12 months, through GlobalGiving and GlobalGivingUK, so it has another important dimension to it.

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Followers
Followers

Is a book blog a social network? I raised this question recently, casually, in a follow-up comment to a post. As I've stated before, I was reluctant to put a Followers gadget on this blog, and didn't add one until after I'd been blogging for over a year (and had but a handful of followers). I felt that a book blog was not a social network, was not a test or measure of popularity, but I did eventually add the Followers gadget to my site because I saw it on numerous other blogs, and I thought it would give my blog a degree of credibility, at least in appearance. After all, if a blog has followers--who really should be called members or friends--it must have some value. I also felt that it might help build community and loyalty, evolving, difficult-to-define concepts in a virtual world. What are your thoughts about this? I'm very interested in hearing what you think about this topic, and welcome your comments.

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Really Random Tuesday is a way to post odds and ends--announcements, musings, quotes, photos--any blogging and book-related things you can think of. If you're inspired by this idea, feel free to copy the button and use it on your own blog. Please leave a link in the comments if you’re participating and I'll add it to this post.

Thanks for reading!

18 comments:

  1. For a time I didn't have the follower thingy up on my blogs either, and then one day Cheryl at CMash Loves to Read, wanted to know why, because she wanted to follow my blog, so for her I put it up. I feel that a follower is someone who visits my blog and comments, just as you do. Just stopping by and leaving your little follower thingy, does not a follower make. I only consider the people who visit and comment my followers. Thanks for always stopping by and leaving such nice comments. Gigi Ann

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  2. Gigi Ann, thanks for taking a few moments to articulate your thoughts. So you put up the Followers gadget for Cheryl! I guess she is the president of your followers. :)

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  3. The follower widget doesn't work on blogs hosted by Wordpress so I don't have one. It was probably more important to have it before so many other follower options became available. I have followers on my Facebook Fan Page, RSS Feed, Twitter and by email. I know how many there are but I just can't show it in my sidebar.

    I do think a blog is a social network because commenters can interact with me and each other. I have the ability to reply to a specific comment on my blog and I'd like that to facilitate conversation. So I guess I would agree that comments and conversation is the key to having a good group of followers.

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  4. Leslie, thanks for the reminder that Wordpress works differently. Comments and discussion are also important to me--that's where "community" comes into play, making this blog interactive. I especially enjoy the immediacy of the conversations about books and book-related matters. Thanks for your input!

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  5. Congratulations Heather! I've had the pleasure of meeting Heather in person and now feel lucky to call her a friend.

    I have no problem with followers because blogging is social. Wordpress won't let you add follower widgets that I know of.

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  6. Happy Tuesday Suko :) Congrats to Zibilee.

    I do think blogs are part of a social network for sure. I added the followers gadget on when I recently changed my blog look, and since then I've gained more followers than I had without it. I think its easier for them to just click that link.

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  7. Congrats to Heather. As for followers....I appreciate my regulars visitors like yourself, and always am happy when someone new finds me, and becomes a repeat visitor. I think blogging is social in some ways whether we expected it to be or not.

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  8. Congrats to Zibilee!

    I do think blogs are a form of social networking. I have followers set up and I do appreciate all of them and I appreciate all the comments even more.

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  9. Congratulations to the winner! :)

    I do believe that a blog is a social networking site too. We do write blogs with the intent of sharing our views with like-minded people and learning something from them. Maybe it’s not an out-and-out social networking site like Facebook or Twitter or Orkut, but the fact that your thoughts are out on the Internet makes it open for people to read and comment on them. I don’t know if I’m making sense here. :)

    I have never felt the need to have a ‘Followers’ widget up on my blog. At least not yet. I never thought about it – till this question prompted me to! I know the people who read my blog regularly and take time out to comment on my posts. I do appreciate that a lot, and share a warm, friendly relationship with most of them. That’s what I value the most and matters to me the most – building up a group of ‘friends’ who think alike, with whom we can be comfortable sharing things, and from whom we learn.

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  10. Yay! So excited to have won this prize! Thanks, Suko, for making it possible.

    I also think that blogging is a social activity, and when I finally realized that, it became so much more fulfilling and fun to me. I have met some great bloggers, both in person, and over the computer, and have a lot of good friends that I would have never found had I not been following a lot of other blogs, and having other people follow me.

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  11. I, too, appreciate the comments my posts generate (and remember a time not too long ago when I had many lonely posts). Although reading is often a solitary activity, we may share our thoughts and discuss what we've read.

    Thank you for all these well-expressed answers!

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  12. Thanks for your visit and comment. I love being a part of social networking. What interesting bloggers and it has been a real learning experience.

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  13. Yes, I think it is (a social network). I write my blog to share ideas, to "meet" people coming from everywhere. I'm always happy when somebody write a comment (as you do ! thanks!) but I don't search to have too many followers. As I'm a beginner, I try to do my best hoping to interest a few people.

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  14. Congrats,Zibilee. Blogging is social and I feel book blogs are no exception. I often wonder when "number of followers" became a benchmark for the popularity of a blog.And do people actually log into their google readers to read posts or just add blogs on because they'd get "extra" points in a giveaway?.

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  15. It took me awhile to put the followers widget on my blog as well. I'm a small book blog and I'm really content with that. I post about books that I enjoy, I keep everything low key, and most of all I love everything about it. I think that enjoying blogging is the most important part of it but my favorite part of social interaction are the friendships that I have gained from blogging :)

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  16. I know that I don't necessarily want to put the Followers gadget on my blog because I try to avoid popularity/stats/numbers when I want to focus on literature and relationships. But, I think it's wonderful you have 500+ followers!

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  17. My blog is really the only social networking I do... I have no facebook nor twitter, so yes, I think it very much is. I have met virtual friends like you, and I really appreciate that.

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  18. Thank you all for the encouraging words. My other blog only has a handful of followers, and gets very few comments, even though it gets steady, international traffic, but that doesn't bother me too much. :)

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