On Deodorant and the New Author

I ran across a blog post this morning with the blogger stating that he’d stopped reading blogs except that a couple that he thought were awesome.  Reasons he gave were the on-line diary, preaching to the choir, same old stuff “Redux,” and some he followed for the “I follow you, you follow me” formula.  Then I saw my own blog drop one follower. 

I don’t believe this blogger ever followed my blog, but his article couldn’t have been timelier.  Am I just preaching to the choir? Are my articles redundant?  Am I a bad writer?  Did one of my posts offend someone?  Or, is a follower just trimming back and re-starting in cyberspace?  Am I wearing the wrong deodorant?

Other reasons may exist, but I’m not going to track down the un-follower of my blog.  (I couldn’t find a way on Blogger).  Also, I’d ask myself why the person dropped me.  Maybe I didn’t follow that person back.

But wait, let’s re-run the prior sentences:  I’m going to track them?  I want to know why they dropped me?  My writing? My preaching?  My articles?  My deodorant?

There it is: Me, me, me!  What about the un-follower?  What does he/she want?  Maybe he/she’s looking for more content.  Maybe he/she’s cutting back on what they can follow realistically.  Meaning, does it have to be about me at all? 

People have their reasons why they follow or un-follow anyone on a social site, be it Facebook, Twitter, or blogs.  I’ve noted the number of followers on a blog doesn’t reflect blog traffic.  On Twitter, I read blog posts all the time and comment by Tweeting, not by logging in and posting.  So a blogger can’t please everyone all the time, or perhaps followers found other interests. 

I’ve only un-followed one blog, which I found out too late didn’t like self-published books.  On Twitter, I do use apps to check un-followers, and I un-follow those that un-follow me.  The numbers are small, and I don’t follow everyone.  Keeping a common interest in the vast Twitter-world helps me learn what writers/readers are looking for, so I find it helpful and fun.  Also, please, Tweeps:  If you don’t state in your profile who you are, how is one supposed to follow?  A few writer/reader Tweeps un-followed me as well, maybe it’s when I’m on TweetDeck and tweet that I’m a Tribble from Star Trek.  To me, it’s all in good fun, but may not be for everyone.  A generous Tweep also informed me to unlock my Tweets to get followers.  Yes, me the Clueless didn’t realize what the little lock symbols meant.  (Not my greatest moment).

So, new authors, join us in cyber-space.  Please tweet who you are so we can follow back.  If you’re un-followed, that doesn’t cast you out of society; in some ways it certifies it.  Nobody can please everyone.  And to be “Sure,” in cyberspace, it’s not your deodorant creating un-followers.