This Weeks Theme is Collaboration

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Like for like?…

Whilst sitting on Facebook playing the like for like game with over 40 people I realised that almost 90% of those people won’t look at a single post I put up let alone interact with them in any way, and I found that I had forgotten what blogging was all about. Coincidentally, at the same time we were discussing social media and blogging and its affects on the business environment during my business degree course (shout out to The Open University) so I realised this was a much larger issue than just my blog and its traffic (The world doesn’t revolve around me? what?!) so I didn’t think I should ignore it!

More Traffic? More followers?

Other than regular quality content (which I am striving to achieve) readers want to have a sense of your site and the more friendlier you seem the more they like you (it mimics real life). My theory is that the more you collaborate with people and help others, the more likely they will want to help you. I also think that focusing on someone allows you to learn more about yourself. For example I have learned:

1. I was selfish – I saw every blogger out there as the competition or the enemy so I would refuse to read some of the blogs in the same categories as mine because I didn’t want to “add to their traffic”
2. I was jealous – People who had a better theme or layout or ideas didn’t deserve to be praised or “liked” because how dare they express themselves better than me!

I didn’t like that I had become like this because in real life I enjoy other peoples’ successes almost as much as my own (almost – I’m not a saint).

The realization came…

I realised that I am interested in what other people had to say so why shouldn’t I make their experiences heard. I love reading and listening to other peoples’ stories so why don’t I become involved in telling them. I enjoy finding recipes online so why not encourage other people to post through me, I realised I was so focused on being the “winner” of the “blogging game” that I realised that no one can get there by themselves, blogging is collaborative and yes you write about your views/perspectives and experiences but you share them with the world and how do you expect others to open themselves up if you don’t let them.

I’ve made a decision..

So with this in mind I made a decision about my site. I will still be using it to post about all of my content but I want to make it a bigger platform for other people to showcase themselves. I am hoping to make collaboration a bigger focus and allow others to share more of their work on my site without being resentful or jealous! That is my blogging goal from now on (and if you know me at all I have goals for everything :p)

I have also decided to dedicate an hour each week to reading (actually reading) through posts on certain subjects and actually interacting with other bloggers out there! Looking around their sites without any hope of anything back so that I stop being so selfish.

What have I learned?…

That my site is unique because it is my story, my perspective and my experiences and I have put my stamp on it but everyone has a story to tell and it is my responsibility to respect and help to get them heard because we are all in it together!

To Collaborate with me…

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