Enough Followers?

~ beetleypete

I checked my Stats earlier, and realised that I am fast-approaching 9,000 followers on WordPress.

8,395 WP followers.
47 following by email.
382 following on social media.
Total : 8,824.

Okay, we all know that most of those don’t really ‘follow’. Some probably don’t even exist, or have long since stopped blogging.

Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that I have 2,000 active followers. They produce around 325-475 views a day, and generate a lot of comments, depending on how many posts I publish.

Many people begin blogging hoping to get 10,000 followers. Some would like to have 100,000 followers, or ten times that.

But if you love to interact with the community, as I do, and if you love your fellow bloggers and cherish them, as I do, then how many followers is too many?

Would you have time to comment on all the blogs you follow, or to reply to the comments you receive from your own followers?

If you are a serious community blogger, with a love of blogging, and a sense of responsibility to your followers, then there is a limit, based on what time you have available on a given day.

So I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but almost 9,000 followers, active or not, genuine or not, is enough for me to cope with.

72 thoughts on “Enough Followers?”

  1. Hey Pete! Congratulations! 9000 followers is a milestone, though I believe you deserve 90,000 or more. I understand your concern. It is like playing Daniel Radcliff playing Harry Potter. Every one knows you and you wish you had time for everyone too.

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    1. Thanks, Shaily. I have reached the point where I have only just enough spare time to cope with the number of followers I have now. I don’t want to get into a situation where I have to ignore blog posts, or cannot reply to comments.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  5. Nice, Pete! I can barely keep up, even though I dearly love my blogging family and writing. I won’t follow a new blogger unless I can read and comment. That’s how it should work, right? I am amazed at all you have achieved. Best to you, my friend.

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  6. I don’t need any more followers. In the beginning I responded to each person who liked a post. Since then I have narrowed it down to people who respond to my comments and me to theirs. It is manageable. I think I am now part of a subset of writers who all seem to read and comment about each others’ work. It suits me just fine.

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  8. 8,000 followers is impressive. You’ve earned your status/ statis, yes, with interaction and discipline, most certainly with genuine care of and friendship with your readers, but more than all of that, it’s your quality writing and your enthusiasm for the art that puts you in rarefied air.

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  14. There are people who follow who obviously are trying to make money from their blog, so by following or liking a post, they hope that you will either follow back or check out their offerings such as blog named smart-money-tactics or make mo’ money. I appreciate the followers who comment, but I understand it’s difficult to interact on a regular basis with all the talented bloggers out there. You can quickly tell who is genuine and who is not.

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  15. you are an active, engaged, and always kind fellow blogger, and I am happy to be one of your minion, even if wp kicks me off now and then. like you, I enjoy the connection and engagement part the best, and do the best I can to read and respond whenever possible, as I know how it feels to be on the other end

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  17. I only started blogging because I was overseas for an extended period, and it was a good way to entertain family and friends with our adventures. But I’ve always been a writer and it grew to following some prompts. Unless I was making an effort to be a professional writer and looking for followers for that fabulous novel that will come out one day, I don’t have time to be in the blogosphere all the time. I still work (where I am all day on the computer) and when not there, read a lot and like to write my stories into notebooks first. So, I have to be keen to get onto WordPress. And for the few minutes each day that I am, I quickly scroll and read what looks interesting, and offer a comment and a hello!! I’m sure you feel an obligation to respond to followers, but it’s a lot of work! Phew.

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    1. Thanks, Trish. I really appreciate it when you get the chance to comment on my posts. I am retired, so blogging is my joy, as I am able to make new friends from all around the world. If I was still working in my old job, I would never have had time for blogging.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  19. I feel the same, Pete, and I am not as devoted as you are to following other people’s blogs and replying to bloggers. Some bloggers seem focused on providing advice and/or some kind of services, and they don’t always interact with all the people who comment, while others see it more as you do, as social interaction. I started my blog with a different idea from the one I have now. I think about the blogging community and my group of digital friends. It is not the quantity, but the quality, definitely. Thanks for all the support and for making us think.

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  20. That’s a lot of followers, Pete! Congratulations anyway!! 🙂 But I agree with you, if they were all active, you could never keep up. I don’t care much about those numbers anymore as many seem to follow, but never read, like, or comment, even once. It’s a puzzle to me, but I’m thinking some folks only follow so you’ll follow them back. And some are businesses that just want visibility, that I sometimes remove from following.

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  21. I don’t routinely follow back everyone who follows me, but I do try to visit all the blogs whose bloggers “like” one of my weekly posts. If I can relate to any of their posts, I leave a comment. I think that’s one of the keys to attracting real followers. Until I began doing that, I had almost no followers.
    You’re right, at a certain point you get maxed out and can’t sustain the level of posting/following/commeting.

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    1. That’s a good approach, Audrey. I have always had my ‘golden rule’ of replying to any comment on my blog(s). If people take the time to read a post and leave a comment, I think it is only right to reply in context, or at least thank them. But I am reaching the point where I am, as you say, ‘maxed out’ in the time I have available.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. Thanks, Carolyn. I keep at it because I love being a blogger, and part of this community. But I am now close to ‘saturation point’ in the time I have available for blogging.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. You can delete them, but I have never bothered to do that, Darlene..
      This is how to do it.
      ‘To remove a WordPress.com follower, go to My Sites → Users → Followers. Find the follower, and click the Remove link next to their name. You can also remove email followers at My Site → Users → Email Followers’
      That information is from WordPress Help.
      Best wishes, Pete..

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  27. Great questions Pete…I find that there are a core group of fellow bloggers who regularly “like” and/or comment on my posts – several of them are regulars of yours as well…I also get a LOT of my comments on Facebook, where I post everything simultaneously – as you know, my cult film blog gets a ton of reaction there. And of course, I will run into a friend who will compliment me on something they read, but when I ask why they don’t leave a comment they quickly add “oh, I NEVER do that!” Shadow readers!

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    1. I also have ‘shadow readers’, here in Beetley. No local people ever comment on my blog, but when I am out with Ollie, they will mention that they had read a post yesterday. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  29. You are the most devoted blogger I know. I know you also spend hours a day attending to your avocation. Then comes the creation of your blogs. Hours. If I remember correctly, you attend to 90 active bloggers. 90. I can’t imagine.

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