I wonder who is out there reading, watching, listening? My blog audience is limited, but I do appear to have a few loyal fans. They aren't official followers/subscribers, so I don't know them by name. Some folks just don't like signing up for yet another online service, I guess. Nonetheless, their site visits are appreciated. They are anonymous. The information I have on them is limited to country, city or sometimes place of business. They literally are dots on a map. Sometimes those dots are in Asia or Europe. Most of the time the hits are coming from the states, according to the free blog-traffic reports I receive.Who is watching me in Miami? Do I know them? Are they a distant friend or just a stranger who stumbled upon my blog and became curious enough to click on it a few times a week? The only information I have is that they are somehow associated with something called Gadjraj & Sons Imports. I assume that is a business in South Florida. I would be thrilled to hear from them and to ask what it is that draws them here. I would be even more grateful to hear from them if they are a long-lost friend.
Who do I know in Manhattan, Kan., Queens, N.Y., or Potomac, Md., who checks in now and then? Of course, in my situation, I am always hoping that someone will find me through this blog and offer me a job or at least a spot in their garage band. However, that doesn't seem likely. In fact, even sites geared towards that sort of networking -- like LinkedIn.com -- produce very few tangible results for job seekers. I joined a musicians site that has yielded a grand total of one query in three months. All the hoopla about having to connect online in order to find jobs or like-minded hobbyists seems to be more myth than fact.
How often does a personal blog like this come up in a search? When I comment about President Obama does the FBI or Secret Service take note through some sort of Internet wizardry? Do I get on some agency's to-be-watched list? Doubtful. They can't even keep track of who is on the White House party list.
When I made a remark about Jerry Lee Lewis a few weeks ago my blog traffic went way up. In fact, that week's numbers were the highest I've recorded so far, leading me to think I should abandon this blog and start up a Jerry Lee Lewis site.
There are other people I don't know who come here regularly. And, unfortunately, there are some folks who visited frequently at the start of this blog but apparently lost interest, which just leads to more questions about the true value of blogging, social and professional networking.
I think half of the readers to my blog are just other bloggers looking for pictures to insert in their own posts. They are finding pictures I had stolen from other blogs. It's kind of a circle of life thing. My sister also blogs and says that she once randomly inserted a picture of a tuba into a post and ever since has had scads of people come to her site after searching for the terms "tuba" or "big tuba". I don't think we really want to know why they're out there.
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