Lost in the static of the internet.

My blog is just over four years old. In that time, it has been read by over a third of a million of people. It has garnered, too, some regular readers whose comments on the blog, prove interesting. What is characteristic about these regular readers is that they truly appreciate my writing and think it something special, for them. Yet, in my mind, this appreciation is juxtaposed against a modest daily readership of several hundred readers. To me, this means only one thing: my writing is being lost in the static of the internet.

I shall have to explain. By January 2009, Technorati reckoned there were 133,000,000 blogs and counting. No doubt that number has since grown. Now, this number is both inspiring and depressing. It is inspiring because so many people have taken to writing of their personal worlds. It is depressing because so many people have taken to writing of their personal worlds. You see, the vast number of blogs out there, means that any blog, no matter how good, how well written, how insightful, how memorable or how unique, is going to be swamped by the vast horde of other offerings out there. Basically, it is very difficult for any blog to find its audience, or should I say, for any audience to find its natural blog: there is simply too much out there for it to be clear what a particular reader should be looking at.

Thus it is that we have the situation on my blog about giftedness. The number of gifted people in the world is truly huge: about 2% of the world’s population, or roughly 140 million people, is moderately gifted or greater. It is difficult to estimate what proportion of those would be inherently interested in learning more about giftedness and perhaps enjoying tales of like experiences. Clearly, though it is likely to run into millions of people, out of that 140 million. So, the question is: why does my blog have several hundred daily readers, instead of several million? The answer is simple: there is no more crowded a place, filled with distractions, than the internet. My millions of natural readers, for this blog, are never likely to ever hear about the blog, or to learn that its writing would appeal to them, because it is buried in a vast ocean of other blogs, sites and random web pages.

Writing a blog is, thus, a long term investment in a future readership that may steadily grow over time, but which is not likely to be significant, over night. My blog will, I hope, remain on the net, for readers to discover, many years from now. Over time, perhaps, I will reach a greater proportion of those natural readers, as word spreads. Yet, this is going to be a slow process. I may not even be writing any longer, by the time most of those natural readers find my blog.

This fate, whilst disagreeable is, though, the common one for all blogs not written by a celebrity. I am not well known enough for hordes of people to stampede their way to my blog, finding it by active searches. At least, not well known enough at this time: that may change in years to come. Until then, I must be patient and write on, for my select audience, not knowing whether the audience will ever be much larger, despite the evident enthusiasm of the audience I do have. It is, however, in that enthusiasm that some hope lies: if you enjoy reading my blog, perhaps you might tell others of it, so that they, too, in turn, might have the chance to enjoy it. Perhaps word of mouth can overcome the nigh infinite anonymity of the internet, and point out my blog to more of those who would, naturally, find interest in it.

I hope to continue blogging in the coming year, even though my blog shall, no doubt, continue to be lost in the static of the internet, and remain relatively unknown. It may be that it will have more readers, after I have stopped writing it, than it has now. If so, then those future readers will have missed the possibility of direct interaction…but heh, I can’t wait forever. At least, I have been trying to communicate my understandings, these past four years. I can do no more, in that direction, than I already have.

Thank you for reading.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here: http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)