It’s not often I veer off the path of reviews, but something caught my notice this morning and after a mini-rant with a fellow blogger.
It’s all to do with likes.
I often wander through my WordPress reader or my fellow bookbloggers’ blogs looking for something interesting to read. And if I find a review that I like, I click on the little star and, erm, like it.
Often if I’ve liked something, I’ll share it too. Because if I liked it, then chances are other people might like it too. Share the joy.
There are some bloggers who I know well, who are posting reviews of books that I’ve read and liked, and I may click retweet *then* go and read their posts, but you can count that list on the fingers of one hand.
And, from time to time, people stumble across *this* little slice of the internet, and click the like button and share the post. And for that I am eternally grateful, and I really do appreciate every like and share.
They mean a lot. Like, totally a lot. When you’ve put your time and effort into crafting a review (yes, I do craft them, there’s no need for that), it’s nice to see that someone has, you know, liked it.
Then you stumble across a blog which has HUNDREDS of likes. Much like (sorry) the one above. Over three hundred likes.
Whoa.
But… I do wonder with some of these blogs whether it’s a mutual you follow me/I follow you thing, with people autoclicking the like button.
I know of some bloggers who seem to go through and retweet a bucketload of blogposts. It’s entirely possible that they’re reading them all and genuinely liking/sharing, but the sceptic in me wonders if they’re just going down the list in WordPress reader and liking/sharing.
Now me, I’d love the likes, but would far rather someone retweet/like a post because they’ve actually *read* it and liked it.
Talk to me, folks. Why do you like and share?
espresso coco 
I like and share because I genuinely liked the post and enjoyed the content. I’m not going to lie though and there is a part of me that does it in the hopes that it will encourage other bloggers to reciprocate and share my stuff as well. But mostly it’s because I really do like what I’ve read and want other people to be exposed to it.
I don’t have a WordPress account so can’t like posts. I only ever share posts I’ve read; if time allows I try to pick a quote from a review or make some sort of comment if it’s an opinion piece, extract or guest post but I must admit that more often than not I just click the share button or RT.
Yay, mini rant.😃📚
Far more polite than that other blogger would have been.😂😂😂
I agree with Nick, I like and share because I’ve enjoyed the content. I also try to share blog tour posts from other bloggers when I’m on the same blog tour. I’m also the same with Nick that I hope, at times that others will reciprocate and share my stuff too. There are a few bloggers who I always try to share their posts, sometimes though I don’t share at all and I might just read the posts through the reader and like them or if I don’t have time to blog or, I’ll be honest, feel like blogging yet still end up on the time vacuum that is twitter I’ll retweet some various blog post tweets that on my feed as it’s still a little bit of support for the blogger.
I’ll be interested in the comments you get on this, it’s an intriguing topic.
I like and share bloggers posts that I enjoy and others with whom I have established relationships with.
This is an awesome post! I often have “Like” envy, I’m lucky if I get 20 “likes” on a post, lol. So yes, I do wonder about those blogs with hundreds of likes. Honestly, I hit like if I’ve read and enjoyed the post, or maybe I read it but I don’t agree, I still hit like because it’s a way of showing that you’ve taken the time to read the post. My theory has always been that the number of likes relates to the number of blog hits, and it seems to average about 10%. I don’t know if that’s accurate but I always try to explain things with numbers. Also, if you don’t have a WordPress account already, it’s impossible to “like” a post. You would have to literally sign up with WordPress in order to hit that button. I’m picky about retweeting, I only retweet when I REALLY loved the review or post.
I will generally like the posts I read. I don’t always comment but I will drop a like to show that I did take the time to look at their content. Its a way to support each other and let my fellow bloggers know that I value their content they put forward.
I think I probably spend a few minutes a day reading through WordPress posts and I will always like and share after I’ve read the review or post and I always try and support new bloggers and the bloggers I know well. If I’ve read and enjoyed the book I think it’s good exposure for the book as well to share the link on Twitter.
300+ likes?! Wowsers.
If I like and share a post, it’s because I enjoyed the content and, like you, I want to share that content with others. I hope that this will be reciprocated, but I don’t expect it, and I don’t begrudge anyone a like and share. And I don’t always have the time to read and share other posts – life has a nasty habit of getting in the way at times and, like everyone, I have other commitments that mean it’s just not always possible.
I do think that there is a bit of an “I’ll scratch your back” mentality at times – not always, and certainly not from everyone, or even a majority, but I think that it is there. Saying that, I can see how this might be used as a way of prioritising which posts to visit first, given how many blogs there are out there.
This post does make me think that I should comment on posts more often to let people know that I’ve read and enjoyed their content, even it’s it’s just to say that I enjoyed their review / content etc.. It can be frustrating to think that the content you’ve spent hours putting together isn’t actually being read at all, which is one of my main fears, in relation to blogging, at least.
I opened up a WP blog just to ‘like’ everyone’s stuff even though I don’t blog with it!!!
So, the other week I put out some feelers for a post I wanted to write in regards to the appropriate curtesies in the field (it failed miserably because I had too little votes for me to derive any info from it) in regards to the same issue (so I gave up). From what I can tell by Twitter, people repost but don’t engage with the post (often or at all). That stinks! On top of that, if you don’t use WP, like me, then people engage even less. Depending on time, I do try to ‘like’ WP posts as much as I can or comment. Definitely if I have received some of the same curtesies.
Although this is disheartening, I am trying to let it slide and not let it upset me. I am rethinking my expectations at the moment and how much of my time I should give others while evaluating my own work. Perhaps I am not cut out for it after all. What are the common curtesies to follow?
That’s why I came over to WP, Scarlett, I get a lot more interaction now and that was part of why I wanted to blog. I don’t want to get obsessed with stats but I don’t want to be shouting into a empty room either, ya know 😕
I try to squeeze in some bloghopping every day. I have notifications set for bloggers whose content I enjoy and don’t want to miss. I never like or share without reading and liking what I’ve read but I am perhaps a little more generous share-wise when it comes to bloggers who’ve supported me along the way. I think I can only dream of 300 likes 😂 But I prefer 10 people actually reading and enjoying over 100 empty likes. But if I could have both that would be great 😂
I’ll like and retweet one I’ve stumbled across if I liked it …. not often tho I forget to share time I’ve read it I’m rushing about to do something else , however 302 likes would blow my mind and I don’t understand how it all works I get happy when I get the ping to say I’ve had one like – doesn’t happen often don’t think I blog enough or people don’t actually like my reviews so I see it now as my own WP diary of books, I’ll try to retweet a few if I’m on the same blogtour as well but I’m just a tiny little fish in a massive ocean, used to get really down I wasn’t generating a lot of likes but now like I say I view it as my own reading diary or I’d give up
I get very few likes on my posts in comparison to how many people have viewed them, so incredibly grateful when someone presses the magic star. I have limited time to tweet reviews so I read them in the evening usually whilst my dinner’s burning-sorry cooking-and then work back through the list and tweet/like them in a clump. Can’t see why people wouldn’t go to the effort of reading them, as we all know what a labour of love reviewing can be!
If I read it I usually click like if I don’t I don’t click like. I’m not going to do it just for interaction because I just enjoy reading blogs
I don’t think Likes are a good judge of a post’s popularity because only people with WordPress accounts can Like, which effectively means other bloggers.
I Like posts that I, well, like (which isn’t necessarily the same as “agree with”). There is a certain incentive to just Like every post you see, but I try to avoid that impulse. I try to share fewer posts to avoid cluttering my feed.
I’ve noticed sometimes that the ‘like’ buttons aren’t there when viewing on mobile – I think WP sometimes shows a mobile-friendly view rather than just the standard blog page (which should look ok on mobile anyway), so it’s a bit more effort clicking through to get to a shareable page!
I’m not logged in on my phone, so I can’t Like anything if I’m not using the app. I also deleted my Twitter app, which makes it a pain to share posts from my phone.
I’ve noticed that the Like button doesn’t load properly for some blogs. Not sure why.
When I first started blogging and tweeting, I had time and desire to discover everything, so I was sharing and commenting all the time. I just don’t have the time to do that anymore, so I find myself sticking to a smaller circle of preferred bloggers, whom I still try to keep up with, although I might not always be able to comment. I’ve noticed it’s nearly always the same handful who read, comment and share my posts too. I do occasionally discover a new article or blogger that I absolutely want everyone to know about, but I’m no longer actively seeking them.
Yeah, I’ve got a few bloggers who I’ll check out regularly and try(!) to keep up with. I’ll share posts which I’ve found interesting or think others will find useful, and will often check out others which my friends have shared. In some ways it’s easier if they’re on wordpress as you can just click like and share, though I’ve noticed some weirdness if you view a WP site via mobile as it seems to show a slightly different view without the share options, so it’s a bit more work to find the standard view to get the sharing buttons