When I started blogging — sometime in 1998 or 1999 — it was really exciting to have access to this *”instant publication”* medium online; instead of waiting *weeks* or even *months* for magazine articles to appear, you could have something up and running, and in front of readers in a matter of *minutes.* 

![x087-Cairn.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/denmarkguy/EoK6Nnc6Vd8kqhHSLVtx4x1BtREwRT8UcTnVkEDasHA6a45fgT3QW1D56v8cyr9Wujv.jpg)

The excitement of instant publication, and being able to post *”a body of work”* gradually gave way to the question *”Is anyone actually READING my stuff? Am I just shouting into an empty space?”*

Maybe we try to tell ourselves that we are just doing it *"for the love of writing,"* but that's not *entirely* true, is it? After all, why *publish* something, if it weren't your intention that someone *read* it?

Early blogging was somewhat complicated. The initial iterations required bloggers to install a separate utility if they wanted people to be able to actually *leave comments.* And visitors couldn't just leave comments, they had to go *register* an account with the comment utility.

Note to self: *When people  complain about Hive being complicated, remind them that the earliest days of BLOGGING were also complicated!*

![x548-Dandelion3.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/denmarkguy/23viGyapEJf8QfTjRYPC8iKEGg7PXkj3acUDogTiHxrBAoiFqeCognE8do92Snaf4gqxw.JPG)

Anyway, back then getting a pair of eyeballs on your creative writing took a *lot* of effort. *”Page views”* could often be counted on a pair of hands, and if 20 people looked at my stuff it was kind of exciting!

We have come a *long* way since then. 

I was looking at the visitor logs for my oldest blog *(active since 2002)* and my three most popular posts over the years all have *over 20,000 views* per post. Which is quite a contrast to how often my posts here on Hive are viewed, although I have no way to look back at page views over the *years* to make comparisons. 

That said, I *do* know that the people who get the daily *”most upvoted”* badge from **@hivebuzz** tend to get 1200-1500 votes… and most of us are well aware that 90% of those votes are the result of automated curation, not actual *people* looking at a post.

![x431-RedFlower.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/denmarkguy/Ep3gEtcTjiwvh4jkUpL2n5jNKSV2ZpSQ9vAKQ6UEPt1fQ66tVjjb3GwLNUDzJCpQ1v7.JPG)

One of my *(non-specific)* ambitions for 2025 is to get more engagement on my posts. Which might mean a return to an old practice of *asking direct questions* of readers, at the end of the post... actively *inviting* dialogue.

It might also mean making more use of recent features/services such as **@commentrewarder** to help boost engagement. 

I have to say, though, that I really miss **@abh12345's** Curation and Engagement Leagues, which *really* was one of the best engagement generators Hive has ever had... by encouraging people to participate in engagement *as a game.* It was great because Asher actually developed algorithms to rate the difference between a *"nice post"* type comment, and a long and relevant piece of feedback in a comment. 

![1125-Calendula.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/denmarkguy/EokfbFULnSH4HJMQfvv3tK4x614jPmiMNHYa15uPx5govjFGnxyDQYTS3YsgnXDfg4B.jpg)

I suppose this has long been one of my talking points because my entire *reason* for being here — in the first place — was tied to my long-time love of those early blogging days where we called it *social blogging.* 

We shared stories about our lives, or the human condition, or our interests... and then *discussed* it.

It might have been clever by Facebook/Meta to declare *"all you have to do is give it a thumbs up!"* as if eliminating the need to actually *talk* to each other was a *feature,* rather than a *setback!*

Of course, before you can have a *conversation* about something, people have to *read* it...

![1058-View.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/denmarkguy/23zbKP18dWd2waR1FQnbGNaYeAmwX4L3DeWboMHFppNZsYnFPZmya6Yj17MxqvGMgvHtW.jpg)

And so, perhaps the challenge is twofold:

We have to get people to *read* our stuff — by making it *interesting* and *compelling* — and then we have to get people from *outside* Hive's borders to not only *show up,* but also be intrigued enough that they want to go through the protracted circus of creating *(and understanding!)* a Hive account.

Tall order? We can but give it a try!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great Friday!

***Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation! I do my best to answer comments, even if it sometimes takes a few days!***

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