“I Want to Read about People”: On Why We Follow Blogs

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The meaning of the verb “to follow” has changed quite a bit in recent years — it’s another word that social media has rendered flatter and more transactional than it used to be, not unlike “friend” or “like.” In a recent post, Jeff Cann — a writer based in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania — reflected on what “following” means to him in the context of the blogging community.

I won’t trade for follows. I don’t want my reader filled with unreadable content. For the most part, I don’t want to read about travel or makeup or restaurants in a city I’m not planning to visit. I don’t want to read about books I’ll never read. Or movies I’m not going to watch.

I want to read about people. I want to read about goals, dreams, fears, foibles and achievements. I want to read about you. I want to read about real people blossoming and withering. Growing and shriveling. Experiencing life… and death.

I want to read dissent, opinion and point of view. But I don’t want to read about hate. Hate is for Facebook.

Read the rest of Jeff’s post for other thoughts on the art of following other sites.

Do you see value in reciprocal following? What makes you decide whether or not to follow a blog you’re reading? Let us know in a comment.

160 Comments

  2. I love to read to real-life experiences, surreal stories, thoughts and inspirations of life etc. If you guys know such bloggers, please do share them cos I’m new to blogging and bloggers.

    Liked by 5 people

  3. I click the “follow” button if I find myself enjoying a piece by the blogger. I enjoy a wide variety of topics, though I’m most commonly drawn to real life experiences and poetry. I won’t trade follows for follows. As someone who truly values the time, consideration, and feedback of my followers, I feel “trading” follows cheapens the value of follows.

    Liked by 7 people

    1. I feel the same way! In fact, I’ve noticed the more I blog about my personal life, especially the failures, the more people seem to view and follow my blog. It’s actually made me change the nature of my content to real stories about me rather than “generalities about leadership”. This post let’s me know I’m on the right track.

      Liked by 3 people

      1. Your comment made me check your blog out and you now have a new follower! Honesty is always best, at least in my opinion. People want to read things they can relate to.

        Liked by 3 people

  7. I really enjoyed Jeff’s blog and the conversation via the comments that followed it. On all social media platforms I have never felt the need to follow someone just because they followed me. If I follow someone it’s because a) I like what they have to share b) they’re friends/family so I have to 😂. I don’t feel rude not following someone back and I wouldn’t feel annoyed if someone didn’t follow me back. Interactions are more important to me than follows.

    Liked by 5 people

    1. Oops didn’t answer all the questions. I follow blogs where I’ve really enjoyed a post and want to read more from that blogger. As I want to develop my writing skills more I have started to follow ‘flash fiction’ and ‘authors’.

      Liked by 2 people

  9. Since I just started my blog, it is kind of strange to follow people just because they have a lot of followers and likes. Lifestyle blogs are interesting, but I like blogs that are more specialized into one topic, like movie and music reviews, especially because my blog is dedicated to mostly talking about music. Pretty much what I’m trying to say is I want to find other music review blogs like mine haha.

    Liked by 4 people

  10. You write about what you know. Everyone has a story, and not all of us lead lives that would be considered interesting or exceptional by a lot of people, but, to me, if the story is told in an honest and unreserved manner, then it has my attention. Happy or sad, harrowing or depressing, I want to know the person’s story. Thank you, Jeff, for expressing this view.

    Liked by 5 people

  17. I like reading about any subject as long as a it is written well. But reading about people (who they are and what they’ve done) always strikes a chord.

    Liked by 5 people

  21. I can relate so much to what he has written. I follow blogs if I enjoy what the bloggers has written, and most of the times this happens if the bloggers has put his/her heart and soul to it. I chose blogging to reveal myself, and as an opportunity to pursue my dream of writing, therefore I will follow those bloggers that I feel are doing the same thing.

    Liked by 6 people

  22. Hi Ben, I didn’t know this post was here. I’ve been frantically trying to keep up with the comment flow (that you created) that has finally abated on my blogsite. I came back to Discover to find some interesting reads, and I “Discovered” this post.

    I follow blogs much the same way as I pick out books at the library. Topic area is important to me, but mostly, I start reading, and if I like the style of a couple of posts, I follow. For the most part this works well, and like checking out library books, little is invested except time.

    Regarding my Discover journey, this has been one of the most exciting weeks of my life. Blogging is a hobby, but it is also something more. It is a platform to post what I consider “my art” and now thousands of new people have taken time to read some of it. To say I’m grateful is a ridiculous understatement. Ben, you ROCK!

    Liked by 6 people

  24. The whole reason I started my blog (and I started it fairly recently) is to share my experiences and thoughts. I’m an introvert, so reflecting on personal experience is one of the few ways that I found really helps friends and people understand what kind of person I am. I couldn’t really word it correctly until I read through your post. Thanks for the viewpoint!

    Liked by 9 people

  26. I think that reciprocal following is a good way to start or continue a conversation. Following someone without even reading their content or just because you want more followers on your own blog is not the right thing to do. If you want genuine followers to come to your blog, the you should start by engaging in conversation with different people on various subjects; even if they aren’t what you blog about.

    Personally, I like to follow people who have their own personal opinions and thoughts on a topic and not just repeat what another blogger or the writer said.

    Liked by 6 people

  27. Blogging makes me happier, stronger & better. Blogging is something I’m already in love with though I’m new. 3 days it’s been & I’m already in love with the appreciation. Happy Blogging to all :’)❤

    Liked by 4 people

  28. I see why people do it. It is a shortcut to be able to point to a number and say look at my number. However, if you do that you’re never going to have an active following just a large one. If you just write what you want to write people who can identify with something within what you are saying and then you will have an active following and you can always build your following as you go.

    Liked by 4 people

  30. I don’t find the reciprocal following as necessary. I appreciate people who choose to follow my blog.

    However, as a reader, I opt to follow if I may be interested in reading their future blog posts. Alternatively, I like specific posts.

    Liked by 5 people

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