What do you prefer: a lot of followers or few but interactive ones?

[Daniel Reyes]

In my Science Fiction & Political Thought blog I have few followers but the ones I have are recurrent, even if not all of them comment and interact (which is something I would like to change), but I know of friends who have a lot of followers and most of them are just stats and rarely go to their blogs, much less comment. Then what is the point of having so many followers? do those stats by themselves do something for a blog?

[Tina Martin]

I only have a few members who comment on my posts. I would love to have more followers who actually read my posts.

 

http://ibetterfindyourlove.blogspot.com

 

[Clara Myers]

I'm greedy -- I want both :P

[Skip O'Neal]

It's not an either/or proposition necessarily, but I think answering the question can show you something about why you are blogging. If you are after raw numbers of followers, you want a wide readership (perhaps for marketing, etc). If you privilege comments, you probably are more interested in community and conversation. One isn't better than the other, but I think identifying what you want is better than comparing yourself to other bloggers. 

One other note: some blogs require a "follow" to enter giveaways/contests. These followers tend not to be very active, so if you see a blog with a disproportionate number of followers to comments, this might be a factor. 

 

Cheers, 

The Reading Ape

[K. E. Argonza]

I much prefer interaction.

 

I find that the ones with a great number of followers, but no interaction, are usually follow-for-a-follow type of blogs, and a lot of their writing is created for the sake of getting eyeballs on their site. I want readers, just like everyone else, but I also want GOOD readers, or else there's something unfulfilling about even having the comments section open. 

 

Long story short, I love my readers now because they interact, they leave great, insightful comments, and they push me intellectually, which is the point of having a philosophy and social commentary blog.

[Daniel Reyes]

What's the link to your blog?

[K. E. Argonza]

http://www.ShoesNeverWorn.com

[Anastasia Fitzgerald-Beaumont]

Comments are a bonus, and I always reply where reply is necessary, but it really is not all that important.  If people simply read and enjoy what they are reading that's enough for me.   

Sorry, I should have supplied a link http://anatheimp.blogspot.com 

[David King]

I have to admit, I set up my blog originally for me to just spill out some of the book related thoughts I had churning around my head.

 

The numbers of followers wasn't a huge bother to me and to be honest i didn't expect to get much more readership that those who were already friends. I have had some others follow the blog though and I will admit it is good to know that I am at least "entertaining" a few new people that the usual group of people I interact with anyway.

 

In the end though I do prefer the interaction with people as I think that is part of what a Blog is about. I was so happy to have a few comments poster here and that people were actually commenting on what I had said and offering their own views.

 

Any just to note, I have started following your blog as I am a bit of a Sci-Fi geek and what you have there looks rather interesting.