Personal Blogging – The science of stars

You guys.
Hey. You there. Yes. You. Reading this.
Can you tell me something? Is my head getting bigger? I feel like it must be getting bigger. Oh man. What if it gets so big that I can’t wear headbands anymore? My hair is too short to stay back on its own. I NEED HAIRBANDS!
And my ego? Can you smell it from where you’re sitting? God, I hope not. But I wouldn’t be surprised if you did. Hell. I’m sometimes even surprised that I can still walk with all the feathers currently crammed up my bee-hind.

Honestly – I joke (a little) but these past almost-three months have been a parade of things that are great boosts for feeling good. About myself, that is. Because who knew: one of the perks of personal blogging is a daily shower of loving likes and liking to be loved that totally gets you in an ‘awwww yissss, I’m feeling mahself‘ kinda zone. Booyah!

Ain’t no one over the top like my girl Christina <3!

That little number on the bottom of the blog telling the world how many people follow it – is increasingly getting bigger. 850 it was this morning. That’s insanity, isn’t it? And don’t even get me started on the amazing comments I get. They’re so lovely and nice and heartwarming (sometimes maybe even a little too much so, actually. You know. that #awkward category of a bit-over-the-top replies? I still need a manual on how to handle those, man. )

But that following-‘o-mine? It’s growing. Faster than expected and quicker than I understand. But I love it, none the less. That tiny number getting bigger and bigger. Soon, I’ll not even call it small anymore, I wager. I wonder when that is.

It leads to me cracking my brain though – I AM an overthinker after all. Because with all the people bashing the little star to ‘like‘ my content. With all the hilarious, lovely and nice folk finding the ‘comment‘ button and with all the daring, brave peeps who actually hit ‘follow this blog‘ I wonder: how does this work in the brains of people that are not-me?! And how much of it is actually…yaknow….real? (In as far as an entirely virtual puddle of words can even be real to begin with).

So naturally. I’ll start with myself (center of the universe and all that, right). And tell you the science behind stars in my eyes. And the process of a like-and-follow-from-moi. Because reading blogs from other magnificent writers around the world has now thoroughly banished my 1/2 hours pre-bed-book-reading entirely. I read blogs now. Fuck books. And likes? They exist in these categories (aka: why I wonder if other people are weird like me, in this regard) if you ask me:

• The ‘hell-yes-this-is-awesome’ star
  When I read something I genuinely like I’ll hit that star like there’s no tomorrow. AND read the next 5 entries on that blog. Or the next ten. And bash the follow button so they might never escape me again. The best of likes, this one! The purest one, too.
• The ‘support’-star
  I start my mornings these days plowing through my reader feed. Catching up on the blogs that caught my eye and made the follow list. And most of these? Regardless of what they post – I’ll give them that star cause they’re just that awesome. Me and mine deserve all the stars of the world, after all. Support stars, woohoo!
• The ‘Oh-but-I-commented’-star
  I love nothing more than the posts that evoke a reaction. That elicit a response. That make me WANT to comment on my perception, their effect of the truth in them. But if I comment on something I’d feel weird if I didn’t also grant it a star. Cause youknow. I commented.
• The ‘I-just-walked-in’-star
  I bloghop. A lot. A lot a lot, actually. Cruise from one blog to the next from an entries suggestions list, or the comment section, or the list of likes. You find new gems that way, quickly. And hey, when I read your latest post I have this ‘Mount Everest’ urge. I gots to let you know I was there. So have a star! And should I end up in your neck of the woods again and be star-inclined again: guess what – have a follow!
• And then there’s the category I don’t personally ever ‘star’ in – but acknowledge none the less:
  The ‘GODDAMN-I-NEED-ATTENTION-PLEASE-SEE-ME’-star. You know, where your phone explodes because SOMEONE likes ALL of your postings in the span of three minutes. Causing your poor ears to suffer a continuous wave of BLEEPS as they do so. Please don’t. Really. I rather you actually READ my stuff, and not like anything instead of just…forcing me to singlehandedly click away each and every one of the damn notifications. ANNOYING AS FUCK.

And though I thoroughly enjoy the ‘bleep’ telling me that somebody hit that star on a writing of mine – I WILL admit that it takes the last place in that hierarchy of recognition. I appreciate comments above all else. People that read what I write and felt moved to formulate a response. Be it a compliment, a joke or their interesting view on the topic: I like that look inside other peoples brains the very most. Followed closely by the eg0-stroking ‘follow‘ (because at least that number validates my ‘hobby’ in a way). And only then is there the like. Always with the fear that it’s only a star from those latter two categories. Attention-whoring. Not actual appreciation. But yaknow. Still awesome.

Because, after all, we ALL deserve that pat on the back. That ruffle of the hair. That golden star sticker and that virtual appreciation because ‘we’ bloggers do what many don’t: share ourselves. Online. And that deserves any and all recognition we can give! Huzzah!

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<sub>PS. Wanna read more about the ins and outs and hows and whys of personal blogging round here? Click on, brave warrior, click on!
<sup>* Personal blogging – Risky Business
* Personal blogging – Dirty little secret
* Personal blogging – To be recognisable or to be unique?
* Personal blogging – Out for the count
* Personal blogging – Listless
* Personal blogging – The science of stars
* Personal blogging – The personal touch
* Personal blogging – The Voice
* Personal blogging – Patterns
* Personal blogging – Art of repetition
* Personal blogging – Choices</sup></sub>