How do you discover blog posts? – Analysis of my poll
September 10, 2024
I started a poll on Mastodon to find out how readers come across personal blog posts. My observation was that posts not actively promoted on social media often only reach a small audience. But how exactly do readers actually find their way to blogs? To learn more about this, I asked how you discover blog posts.
The question was: How do you discover blog posts? (Only one answer was allowed.)
Results
A total of 184 people participated in the poll, and the distribution of answers was as follows:
- 42% “Only what appears on social media”
- 28% “Various ways”
- 24% “Via subscriptions, feed readers, RSS”
- 5% “None of the above”
Additionally, there were some comments on how readers find blog posts. Here are a few excerpts:
- Dedicated Mastodon accounts or hashtags
- RSS/Atom feeds
- Mastodon notifications for friends’ posts
- Twitter (formerly)
- Recommendations from friends or acquaintances
- Crosspromotion
- Newsletters and email subscriptions
- News aggregators and apps
- But also: Print media, radio, and television
Conclusion
The poll confirms my suspicion that blogs struggle to gain reach without active promotion on social media and other channels. Only a quarter read blogs via feeds or subscriptions. This surprised me a bit. I do this myself and find it very convenient, easy to organize, and effective. As a blogger, this confirmed the impression that it is important to promote blog posts on other channels—perhaps even a newsletter is a good idea.
Thanks to everyone who participated, shared the poll, and shared their insights
