SONGS AND SCRIPTS AND DUNKING BISCUITS

WordPress, the hosting site host of my blog and pretty much each one I follow, have recently been giving out badges in recognition of a blogging milestone that your blog may have reached. It’s a little like badges given to Boy Scouts but for bloggers, and if you run a successful site these can no doubt be very nice to receive, particularly for more dedicated bloggers than myself who have put the years of work in to merit them.

I was a recipient of a couple of badges, my first was for Perfectionist. Turns out I was awarded this for making 20+ amendments before publishing a post. I found this amusingly ironic as I’m not sure where the line is drawn between being a perfectionist and being a procrastinator. Several of the amendments were made because I found a word or two missing that I’d missed on the previous dozen readings, but if they want to give me a badge for that then load me up.

I also received a Globe Trotter badge (above), which means my blogs have been read in over 50 countries.  Wow. Okay most of us, unless you started very recently would have this on our blogs but it is kind of weird to think my little ramblings have reached that many countries.

The Trouble With Stats

All this made me look more deeply into my stats. Normally doing this confirms my confusions about blogging such as the following: why do almost all the people who follow me, in most cases for years, never engage? I mean, nothing, as in not a single like, not a dicky bird of a comment, often not an email opened. I get that some follow me in the hope of a return follow but when that doesn’t happen why not stop following?

And how is it that some bloggers regularly like my posts, but not because they actually follow me? Do they seek me out on a regular basis but don’t want to commit? But that’s fine, if they take the time to read my blog and send me a like I’m grateful. Better that than as mentioned, follow but don’t get involved.

However, a couple of interesting stats emerged when it comes to where my blog is read. On the 5^th March 2021 I published the post How My Anxiety For Hong Kong’s Future Pulls Me Closer To My Past. The blog basically talks about the two years my parents spent there and expressed my fears for the independence and freedoms of the place where I was born.

The blog received a staggeringly low response at just 4 likes. Three people commented. I often see mind-numbingly dull, unoriginal blogs that get 10 times that response. Not for the first, or indeed the last time I seriously considered whether blogging was for me.

Then I decided to put it on a local Facebook site, one that covers basically the local area. I’ve no idea why I chose to do that but it worked. I got lots of lovely comments from people I’d never met. I was offered help on how to find places should I ever go back. I put it on my personal Facebook page and again a lovely response.

My next door neighbour who knew both of my parents said their son showed it to them and they were shocked as my parents had never mentioned Hong Kong to them. What turned out to be an anonymous blog suddenly opened up a side to my mother and fathers life that most people were previously unaware of.

Paul is back in town…kind of

At the time I wasn’t getting any engagement at all from the island of my birth. Gradually that began to change. My blog site now regularly has more viewings from Hong Kong than the UK, pretty remarkable given the population is just over seven million. I also get a comparable number of views from mainland China. Am I being monitored? Do I have people from the island who have just simply taken interest in my blog given my relationship with Hong Kong?

Or is it, as is most likely, a combination of both of those things?

Whatever the reasons, it’s a lovely feeling to know I’m reaching people in the place that previously I had not been able to reconnect to at all. I recently met, quite by chance, a young man from Hong Kong who has been living in Liverpool for the last couple of years. He speculated there may be a possibility I wouldn’t be granted a visa to visit there because of the blog.

Maybe the disproportionate attention my blog gets there bears this out, but it’s hard to imagine the Chinese state seeing the blog hardly anyone engages with as a threat to their national security.

I suppose it all points to even my tiny blog can be worth the trouble after all. My old blogs, including my first ever, do get read on a weekly basis somewhere in the world which is a weird but quietly satisfying feeling.

So thanks to anyone, anywhere who reads any of my posts but as it’s my birthday on July 5th, a special shout out to anyone who enjoys reading it in Hong Kong – thank-you so much, it means a lot, and take good care.