Very quickly after starting my adventures in the blogosphere I realised that as much as my blog is about words, it is also about numbers.
Numbers that can consume and fill my mind space. Numbers that can drive paranoia. Numbers that, unlike words, I have no control over.
At the beginning checking my blog statistics was fun. I enjoyed watching the numbers grow and change. But then, my statistics became a deep, dark place that I would haunt late at night. Stalking the page of analytics, like an addict. Now, I pretend they don’t exist. Not even there. It is better this way, for the both of us.
Then there is Facebook. My love-hate relationship with Facebook has been a long one. Long before I had a blog, my private account was a place of over-sharing, under-sharing, lots of friends, culling friends, and privacy settings – the one roller coaster I actually liked. The always Josefa Facebook page is one I enjoy updating. One I have no paranoia over. Facebook and I, so far, seem to be a good team.
Then there is Twitter. Here is where my story takes a turn. Previous to this blog, Twitter was like Mordor; full of deep dark secrets, where predators lay, waiting for their kill. Twitter and I had a mutual understanding, that we just “didn’t get” each other. Up until the last moment, always Josefa was not going to have a Twitter account. It made perfect sense not to.
Until one day, I followed a favourite blogger onto her twitter feed, and the chatter was outstanding! The action, the speed, the instant overwhelming excitement! I changed my mind and right then I set up my account.
Then I sat. Waiting. Watching. Watching the numbers. The followers. The followers come. More indignantly, the followers go. I can’t believe the sadness I felt watching the numbers decline. It made no sense to me. I was genuinely nice. I thought that I was genuinely likeable. I didn’t engage in controversial Twitter topics. I couldn’t make sense of what I was doing wrong.
After a week of turmoil and doubt, I gave up and decided that the best possible answer was: karma. I had bad Twitter karma and it had to change. So, convinced I was doing the right thing (when in reality, I had no idea at all what I was doing) I went through my Twitter lists. All the people that followed me (that were not companies I had never heard of before) I followed back. I unfollowed people I genuinely wasn’t interested in and only followed writers, bloggers and people who I was interested in reading their words. All this happened late one night, so once it was done, I felt better about myself and promptly went to bed.
The following morning I had a Twitter surprise waiting. New followers. Bloggers and writers. Instantly, I followed back. Later that day, more followers and once again, if the fit was right and we had interests in common, I followed back. Good Twitter karma!
Now all of this may just be coincidence, luck, fate or craziness. After all, it is Twitter, does it need to make sense?
How does your twitter karma work? Do you follow always Josefa?
Feel free to leave your twitter handle in the comments below and maybe my twitter karma and your twitter karma can become friends.
