I Like To Watch.

/ araneus1

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I always read my stories to my dog and she hardly ever falls asleep. OK, so this was a particularly long post.

I wrote this initially as a response to someone else’s post.

He was lamenting the disparity between ‘likes’ and ‘views’.

It got me thinking (sometimes I cannot stop that process), and the piece below was my response.

That is a really good question and one that I have not seen anyone ask in the brief time I have been on WordPress.

I too have noticed that good photos get a lot of likes, which does make a lot of sense as most people are visual first and verbal second. So I guess a ‘like’ or a comment on a written piece is worth ten on a photograph?

Maybe five?

In any case, this place beats the hell out of Facebook. My ‘friends’ expect the one liners. I can do that, and I do, but I would like my friends to enjoy my longer thoughts, but I guess they are just too busy most of the time.

Here it is different.

Here, people find you (and you find them).

Here, people read your stuff because they are free to do their research.

My stats show that a lot of people view my stuff and a few comment and a few like and a very few ‘sign up’ for more, which is very cool.

Those that look and do not follow are not wasting their time (or mine).

I know that when I write it is mostly for those who want to read.

That’s very cool.

In the past I wrote because I had to, then because I had a column in our local newspaper, but even then I got little feedback, so it was hard to know if anyone liked what I wrote (I guess my editor did and that’s what counts) I did get the occasional, “I read your article”, etc and I do have a few people who say that they look forward to the next issue (and the occasional one who did not like what I wrote [https://araneus1.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/you-cannot-please-everyone/] but it was not until I came here that I felt that what I wrote, and photographed, would be seen and appreciated.

Don’t get me wrong I like having lots of followers, and I hope to have more but, even if there were only a few followers and I knew that they got a kick out of my stuff, I would be very happy and would be motivated to write and photograph even more.

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When I have finished writing for the day, I put my precious stories in my briefcase and Honey sits on it and guards it till morning. You don’t want to break into my house and try to steal my stories. Honey is crazy, she’ll take you out!

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39 thoughts on “I Like To Watch.”

  1. I agree. This place is completely different from your usual social media and I feel I have a lot more freedom to be much more expressive.

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  2. Really enjoyed reading this – you have captured in a (perfectly expressed) nutshell how i feel about the WordPress blogging experience. There is a real sense of community here. And it does seem that Like finds Like, then Like Likes Like and… you know what i mean… And on top of all that, Honey is just the cutest, most gorgeous… and yah… of course cute photos of adorable pets are going to get you more Likes (…didn’t some guy make a $37.5m empire out of a funny cat photo??). But that’s ‘cos they make people feel good. And really isn’t that part of why we’re here trying to express oursleves? Thanks for making me feel good, and part of a very lovely blogging community! : ))

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    • Like finds like and then ‘likes’
      I think my friends are over me so I needed a fresh lot of people to annoy so I came here and I think it will be a while before I cheese everyone off so I going to enjoy myself while it lasts. Also, I have learned heaps in the short time I have been here from people like your good self. Here’s to learning and being among friends. Terry

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  3. And a really good title helps too 😉

    I really love this post, I feel the same way about Facebook and while I love my friends and even Facebook friends I feel I am slowly developing a community of wordpress friends that may like my both my pics and my stories and I can freely be more myself here. I wanted to hone my writing skills and its happening, being an avid facebooker I recognize people won’t always “like” your stuff but they may actually indeed like it and the same goes here. And if they don’t like it that is okay too.

    I did change my name here recently because my content is so personal and can be risqué which is why I wanted to have a different forum in the first place but, I do live in the “real” world too and have to be careful in case a client or colleague googles me. Onward and ever forward! So glad I found you or you found me, not sure which came first but I am always looking forward to your posts!!

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    • Thanks for those lovely words. You are very kind.
      The privacy thing is an issue, isn’t it. There are a couple of stories in my drafts folder that I like but there are issues about who is going to read them. My stuff automatically gets a promo post on Facebook and sometimes this can be an issue for me. Most of what I write is stories about things that have happened to me, or my take on things that have happened to those around me. Now, this seems reasonable to me but not everyone sees things the same way I do. Recently I had a story published in our local paper. It was an edition that encouraged short stories, poems, that sort of thing. I submitted a story which was basically a ‘day in the life’ story from one of my dogs; it was his birthday. I told it with his voice. I thought it was a reasonable piece with a bit of humour and so did the editor. The problem was that one of my neighbours was in the story (unnamed) and she wasn’t happy. I thought she liked my stuff and that she would get a buzz out of being in the story, but no. She has barely spoken to me for months! Most people who know us both think this situation is ridiculous. Personally I’m a bit gun shy after this. I now find myself second guessing the impact of a given story.
      If I wrote risque stories about my friends I could understand it.
      Frankly I don’t like having to censor my ideas (I have few enough as it is).
      The only upside has been that the piece I wrote about my frustration with this incident has become my most viewed piece. I don’t think it is the best thing I have ever written but it seems to have hit a cord with people. Maybe we have all been strangely misunderstood and misrepresented at some stage in our lives. Who knows? If you have any thought I would love to hear them.
      I’m enjoying your stuff and I’m not just returning the compliment. We are different genders and a LONG way apart in age and I’m enjoying your take on the world, and you come up with interesting titles as well!
      Be well, and don’t forget to be awesome.
      Terry.

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  4. Thanks for writing such a great post. I was entertained by your words and your photos. Seriously, does Honey really sit on your briefcase by herself. That is great! Thanks for sharing.

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    • Thank you for those kind words.
      I have to admit that I made that bit up.
      I had those photos from a while back and I thought they would go well at the end of the post.
      When we travel (which is very rarely, I’m glad to say) I take the brief case and the dogs use it as a step to get on to the bed (little legs, big beds). In these photos we were staying with our inlaws while visiting after our granddaughter was born.
      In the photos Honey is trying to get on to the bed while Zed is blocking her path. He thinks this is very funny. Normally she just walks right over him but on this day she was a bit stuck so she just sat there, at least long enough for me to get a few grainy shots.
      Terry

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  5. This was a very true post. I went through a period of not liking likes because I wanted to read a whole sentence rather than a whole word. But after a year or so of blogging, I understand that clicking ‘like’ is a simple way of saying ‘this meant something to me, but I can’t find any meaningful words to put in a comment box’, and I understand it because it’s how I feel 90% of the time. I’m commenting right now because your post is in the other 10%…

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    • And I appreciate your comments because I know that in this busy world it takes a bit of extra effort to type into that little box. And, I get the bit about relevance. Sometimes it is enough to say that you ‘liked’ what was written, and other times it sparks a thought that needs to be expressed.
      Thanks again.
      Terry

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  6. I think as long as you (or anyone else on WordPress) is *personally* happy with the photos or content they’re posting, that’s all that matters. 🙂

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    • Your comments are spot on, and I hope that one day that will indeed be enough. I personally have heaved myself up to the point where ‘views’ are as important if not more important than ‘likes’ as my most recent goal was to find a way to get my stuff read. I’m reasonably new to writing so I’m interested in what people think of my stuff….. I even take notice of those who do not like what I write. I unashamedly enjoy it when a piece gets a good reaction, particularly when a discussion starts up, like it has with this post. I need encouragement, I think that most creative people do. How much is enough? How much is too much? I don’t know the answer to either of those questions, but I do know that in my life, when I have become very good at something I appreciate the compliments but i no longer ‘need’ them.
      I’m looking forward to reaching that point with my writing.
      In the meantime I know how powerful a little encouragement can be so I’m going to give it whenever it seems warranted and I’ll take it with a smile when it comes my way.
      I think you are absolutely right and when I find myself ‘needing’ the likes too much I will remember your wise words, give myself a good kick in the backside, and get back to writing stories that please me.
      Thank you for taking the time to post, it is very much appreciated.

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  7. So weird, I was just explaining this phenomenon of “likes” vs. actual views to a friend of mine a couple days ago. I think you’re absolutely correct that this is an image-driven medium (and, moreover, an image-driven world). Once I figured out how the WP Reader functioned and, much later, decided to venture further into its options (you can easily spend all day venturing into cyberspace, as you probably well-know!), I realized there was little correlation between likes and views. To me, likes are wonderful and much appreciated but I no longer expect that everyone who likes the lead photo that appears on the Reader either looked at the rest of the images nor read the entire post. Moreover, even a page view doesn’t really mean someone read the post (sigh!) but at least they visited the page. I think that’s something, right? 🙂 Keep on keeping on!!!

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    • It’s interesting that YouTube has a stat that records how far into a video a ‘viewer’ went.
      Obviously there is no way of telling how far my readers get even if they did open the page. I hope that they make it all the way through (they went to the trouble of opening the page after all). In my head I count each page view as a read because I’m encouraged by all the views on my ‘Home Page/Archive’. I reason that if they have popped in to see what I am doing they will flick through my ‘Home Page’ and get a feel and then, if something takes their eye they will open a page……….. what do you think of my logic so far? Because of my constant search my ‘HomePage’ gets a lot of hits as people come by to see who visited.
      I’m reasonably new here so I spend a LOT of time checking out other people’s writing, photography and poetry (slightly less), I also search on ‘education’ (because I have a blog on home schooling ‘schoome’) dogs (because I have a blog on dogs, and I search on ‘old houses’……. because I like old houses. On a good day this takes me to many interesting blogs. The really cool ones (like yours) I click ‘follow’, and any interesting posts get a ‘like’. I must admit that I have become harder to please (that sounds so pompous, doesn’t it) when it comes to ‘follows’. I want to be able to look at all my follows every day but this can take up a lot of time so a few people have had to go (not many really). I know how much effort goes into building a post so I try and ‘open the page’ even on photos.
      Thank you for taking the time to post…………. you added something new to the discussion.
      Terry

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  8. It’s interesting that YouTube has a stat that records how far into a video a ‘viewer’ went.
    Obviously there is no way of telling how far my readers get even if they did open the page. I hope that they make it all the way through (they went to the trouble of opening the page after all). In my head I count each page view as a read because I’m encouraged by all the views on my ‘Home Page/Archive’. I reason that if they have popped in to see what I am doing they will flick through my ‘Home Page’ and get a feel and then, if something takes their eye they will open a page……….. what do you think of my logic so far? Because of my constant search my ‘HomePage’ gets a lot of hits as people come by to see who visited.
    I’m reasonably new here so I spend a LOT of time checking out other people’s writing, photography and poetry (slightly less), I also search on ‘education’ (because I have a blog on home schooling ‘schoome’) dogs (because I have a blog on dogs, and I search on ‘old houses’……. because I like old houses. On a good day this takes me to many interesting blogs. The really cool ones (like yours) I click ‘follow’, and any interesting posts get a ‘like’. I must admit that I have become harder to please (that sounds so pompous, doesn’t it) when it comes to ‘follows’. I want to be able to look at all my follows every day but this can take up a lot of time so a few people have had to go (not many really). I know how much effort goes into building a post so I try and ‘open the page’ even on photos.
    Thank you for taking the time to post…………. you added something new to the discussion.
    Terry

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  10. Yeah wordpress. I often read stuff without even liking it or commenting … but that should be a courtesy habit since it took somebody’s time and courage to put themselves out there to do so.

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  11. I reached this point, as is clear, and I decided to hook onto the desire for more readers by means of my own experience at the very beginning of aslak122.myvikingdomain.com. I mention the site location because after I began it sometime last December I scurried around my PC trying to find it again–because everytime I typed its name my search engine (and what a cold greasy term that is!) came back with the equivalent of ‘We can’t find it’. Luckily, I was/am so computer ignorant that I saved one of my first Posts to my Documents, so I could find my blog by double clicking on it there.
    So far, so good–but that didn’t get me to my Dashboard! Then a friend told me to click on the little gray island after the viewed page title, called ‘new’, and that gave me my Favorites and then my Favorites showed up in my ‘George’ menu of downloads, pictures, and such like. So now I can get to both blog and Dashboard and as is evident, to other folks’ sites!
    But even this blast of wind is tempered by this: I came here to see what I had written in response to Aranias1 earlier about a dog I once had–so I could see what I hadn’t told in that response to add to it, as requested–and haven’t found it.
    Ah well, it’s raining here this morning and it’s fitting for my day’s moniker: Mr. Shut IN!

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  12. I really like the “like” option, because it gives the reader an opportunity to tell the blogger that we do appreciate the work even if we aren’t feeling creative enough to comment. I thought that only WordPress bloggers who have an account can “like,” however, which would explain why there are fewer likes than page views. Non-WP bloggers wouldn’t be able to “like” a page. When I’m not logged into my account, there is no “like” option when I read someone else’s WP blogs.

    Another reason I like the “like” is that it introduces me to other WP bloggers. That’s how I “met” you!

    The WP Reader does make it too easy to “like” a post without actually opening it.

    I really enjoy your blog and always want to open to see what you’ve written!

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    • I agree about the ‘like’ option. The non WP readers thing had not occurred to me, good point. I have a couple of FB friends who read my stuff but they are not WP people (although I seem to have convinced a two of them to blog…. one is a talented photographer and the other a film reviewer…….. both creative people and brother and sister)
      My sister in law is my most faithful ‘fan’. She reads all my stuff. I would love to get her writing as she tells the most amazing stories……. maybe video would be her medium as it is ‘in the telling’. You need to see her to get the full effect.
      I spend a lot of time reading other people’s stuff and looking at their photographs and I want them to know how much I enjoy them, so the like button works well, and as you said, when feeling creative, the comment box works well too.
      Thank you for taking the trouble to comment. The last few days have been a bit rough and comments are a real boost.
      Terry.

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  15. I was reading your article on a tennis player ..but didn’t find the like key..made me felt as if I came to get a sweet..but couldn’t then I liked this story..it is better got pictures which are really cute..not yours’ ..but hey! you posted it..so technically your’s..and I like your style its got a lightness..and freshness..not like a flower that blooms..for that dies soon..but like a tune..gets in head and flash backs..sticks around that sound and I want more..so come around..it is valuable yet free..no charges ..as I can see and read as I please..nothing last forever..this may also end..but I have learned to enjoy the present..till my time does ..great post..nice pictures..keep writing ..many read as thirsty passers by..few can take a dip and say hi 🙂

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    • Hi kalabalu,
      I loved your comments.
      You have an excellent view of the world. If I had a really creative niece you would be her. I’m sorry that the like button did not show up on the ‘tennis player post’. I will take it as ‘liked’
      Glad you liked this story, and very pleased that you took the time to comment. The photos are mine (I always say if I use other people’s photos).
      Thank you for the encouragement, I’m enjoying writing and as long as I can entertain talented people like yourself I certainly will continue.

      “many read as thirsty passers by..few can take a dip and say hi”
      I love this…….. well said.

      I visit your site regularly and you never disappoint.

      Terry

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  18. Your opening sentence had me laughing. I agree with you, by the way. I am delighted with the numbers of people who actually read and comment on my stuff. The interactions with people from all over the world can’t be beat. I think I need to clarify what I wrote. (I was writing in between watching our National Basketball Association championship game, so I may a been a tad distracted.)

    I was really talking more about my web serial. I wanted to slow down how I post to be in synch with how much time people have, but it got to the point where I’d post a 900-word piece, and the same 10 people would click like 2 seconds later. Mainly, I’m hoping they take the hint and get lost.

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    • I get it.
      I hope you are not a Heat fan because I’m serious annoyed. SA’s back up point guard is an Aussie and the assistant coach was our National coach. He is also a friend who took our eldest son under his wing when he was coaching here. Would have taken him with him to the US and SA but my son declined!
      We couldn’t believe it at the time but that’s kids. He took a different path and has done well so I guess it worked out.
      Thanks for the ‘read’ and the ‘comments’.
      Terry

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