Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Rules to making an interesting Blog
So I was curious. I know blogs have sort of reached the 'phenomenon' point once again, and I do realize that I have a blog, but I was missing a point here. People read other people's blogs. That's just how it works. But good grief, why?
My blog is really sort of an update forum for people who might want to know what I'm doing. Heck, it grew out of a desire to keep from e-mailing large numbers of people with the same info and stories and the like. But this doesn't make for riveting blogging. This doesn't give people who don't know me any reason to come check this thing out.
But somewhere out there, they do. There are blogs written by people that are read by hundreds and thousands of complete strangers. Why? What has made this blog thing so darn popular?
I went to the 'bloggies 2005' award site and got to cracking. Herein are the popular ones. Herein you find the phenomenon. This is why these things are popular. Stuff like this.
So here's what I've determined.
Really, when it comes to making a popular blog, it's all about having something that the average person might want to read. Diversity springs off from there, but that's the trunk. Things that have public interest, like politics, knowledge, or, lets say, porn, tend to make for popular web logs.
Neat, huh?
Okay, so this got me to thinking about what I might want to do here. Do I want a popular weblog? Nah, not really. I wouldn't shun fame out of hand, but that's not what I'm trying to do here. But interest, I am a big fan of interest. Even for people that are just reading this to see what I'm up to. You wouldn't mind interest, would you? Course not.
When it comes to personal web logs, the most popular, or perhaps just most common, method of adding personal interest is storytelling. 'Today I went to a party'. Booring. 'Here is a dynamic short story about some random event at the party.' Interest.
I am not going to pretend that I have enough time or energy to be storytelling every other day, and heck, I'm probably not interesting enough to do it anyway, but perhaps there's something to be said for a more intriguing format every once in a while, eh?
So who's up for a story?
* * * *
Trying to describe the sensation is almost impossible. It's like my hands have been covered in fabric. It's like my sense of distance as related to touch is completely off the rafters. It's like some sensation that ripples up my arms and ends in my teeth.
I really hate this feeling, I don't know why it shows up. You get used to the kinks and quirks of your body after a few years, and this shows up every once in a while, but I've never gotten used to it. It's like running my hands over a mesh grid made of jucy peach-flesh.
I think the last time I felt like this was because I had a fever. Fever always does strange things to the mind, and I remember some of the strangest dreams when I had fevers as a younger child. Sometimes my body felt like this too, I think.
Gaaah! Now it's like my fingers are skeletal-thin!
It set in late this evening, round 9:00. Nothing particularly notable on the onset, just that sinking sensation that this has happened before. Oh, no. It's that strange feeling again.
I can spend hours just trying to figure out what it is, exactly, I'm feeling. It's like a weight in my chest, or a glitch in my nerves. I look down at my hands, and they don't look the way they feel. They feel stubby. They feel like they're touching something.
Uwarg...ugh...almost gone now.
Yes, I was going to write about something else, but then my hands and mouth started weirding out on me, in this way that has *precisely* happened before, and I feel compelled to document the occasion, though, unfortunately, no ammount of words can capture the indescribable strangeness, and yet *familiarity* of the sensation. I guess I just have to write 'that strange feeling' and hope for the best.
* * * *
Okay, that was probably one of the stranger stories I could have possibly written. But then again, this blog rarely makes sense to anyone but me, I think.
I'll try and write something more popular next time.
-N
So I was curious. I know blogs have sort of reached the 'phenomenon' point once again, and I do realize that I have a blog, but I was missing a point here. People read other people's blogs. That's just how it works. But good grief, why?
My blog is really sort of an update forum for people who might want to know what I'm doing. Heck, it grew out of a desire to keep from e-mailing large numbers of people with the same info and stories and the like. But this doesn't make for riveting blogging. This doesn't give people who don't know me any reason to come check this thing out.
But somewhere out there, they do. There are blogs written by people that are read by hundreds and thousands of complete strangers. Why? What has made this blog thing so darn popular?
I went to the 'bloggies 2005' award site and got to cracking. Herein are the popular ones. Herein you find the phenomenon. This is why these things are popular. Stuff like this.
So here's what I've determined.
Really, when it comes to making a popular blog, it's all about having something that the average person might want to read. Diversity springs off from there, but that's the trunk. Things that have public interest, like politics, knowledge, or, lets say, porn, tend to make for popular web logs.
Neat, huh?
Okay, so this got me to thinking about what I might want to do here. Do I want a popular weblog? Nah, not really. I wouldn't shun fame out of hand, but that's not what I'm trying to do here. But interest, I am a big fan of interest. Even for people that are just reading this to see what I'm up to. You wouldn't mind interest, would you? Course not.
When it comes to personal web logs, the most popular, or perhaps just most common, method of adding personal interest is storytelling. 'Today I went to a party'. Booring. 'Here is a dynamic short story about some random event at the party.' Interest.
I am not going to pretend that I have enough time or energy to be storytelling every other day, and heck, I'm probably not interesting enough to do it anyway, but perhaps there's something to be said for a more intriguing format every once in a while, eh?
So who's up for a story?
* * * *
Trying to describe the sensation is almost impossible. It's like my hands have been covered in fabric. It's like my sense of distance as related to touch is completely off the rafters. It's like some sensation that ripples up my arms and ends in my teeth.
I really hate this feeling, I don't know why it shows up. You get used to the kinks and quirks of your body after a few years, and this shows up every once in a while, but I've never gotten used to it. It's like running my hands over a mesh grid made of jucy peach-flesh.
I think the last time I felt like this was because I had a fever. Fever always does strange things to the mind, and I remember some of the strangest dreams when I had fevers as a younger child. Sometimes my body felt like this too, I think.
Gaaah! Now it's like my fingers are skeletal-thin!
It set in late this evening, round 9:00. Nothing particularly notable on the onset, just that sinking sensation that this has happened before. Oh, no. It's that strange feeling again.
I can spend hours just trying to figure out what it is, exactly, I'm feeling. It's like a weight in my chest, or a glitch in my nerves. I look down at my hands, and they don't look the way they feel. They feel stubby. They feel like they're touching something.
Uwarg...ugh...almost gone now.
Yes, I was going to write about something else, but then my hands and mouth started weirding out on me, in this way that has *precisely* happened before, and I feel compelled to document the occasion, though, unfortunately, no ammount of words can capture the indescribable strangeness, and yet *familiarity* of the sensation. I guess I just have to write 'that strange feeling' and hope for the best.
* * * *
Okay, that was probably one of the stranger stories I could have possibly written. But then again, this blog rarely makes sense to anyone but me, I think.
I'll try and write something more popular next time.
-N
Comments:
Hola, amigo Noel <- Like name of God!!! I am sorry I am religious... This is Hernesto G. again. Recuerdas? I think you correct about blog... Many people read, many blog... I read blog too, they interesting... Many interesting people...
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# posted by 
: February 2, 2005 at 9:48 AM
: February 2, 2005 at 9:48 AM
