Is Anyone Out There?

     Woohoo, I have a follower.  Some one is actually following this blog.  And not just someone, but a fellow vintner and blogger.  I have never met him but he is special to me because he took the time to click the button that allows him to follow my blog.  That is very empowering for me.  It gives me a glimpse into what it must feel like to have thousands or millions of people following your blog.  That is assuming that more followers would be more satisfying but I'll tell you right now, one feels pretty darn good.  I realize there are obstacles standing in the way of receiving any feedback from the social community in the form of the follow button, the comment block, and now, Google's +1 button.
     A major obstacle is that one must actually search for a blog or perhaps follow the link provided in the Facebook announcement that is posted each time a new installment is offered.  This takes effort and requires choices.  I realize that web users are exposed to many links and options that are vying for attention every day.  Some cost money, mine costs nothing.  Some are not worth what you have to pay for them, mine is almost always worth what it costs.  Some are interesting, mine... did I mention it is free?  So follow the link.  Re-post it to your friends. You don't have to like something to expose people to it.  If you did, the Internet would probably consist of only two or three pages.  Take Herpes for example.  Nobody likes it, but if you have it, you probably got it from a friend.  So pass it along, the link, I mean.  It can't be too much worse than Herpes.  The last person you passed Herpes to will like this more.
     Another obstacle that I see is commitment or more to the point, fear of it, especially in people of the on-line community.  If they weren't afraid of commitment they would probably have an actual life and wouldn't be posting their opinions and rants under some fictional username to avoid responsibility for a shameless attempt to gain approval from strangers... but wait, this part is supposed to be about you, not me.  Pushing that "follow" button is a big step.  It's almost like a marriage, albeit without intimacy (did I say almost)?  "Now I'm committed to read what that stupid blogger posts and what if I don't feel like reading or I don't have time or I'm doing something important?"  Calm down.  Even as a blog follower you have "certain unalienable rights", among them the comment button, the like button, the +1 button or, God forbid, the "unfollow option".  But I'll tell you right now, your opinion is as important to me as mine!  Honestly?  Well, no, but it is important and I would like to hear it.  If nothing else, an anonymous, "I was here. This stinks", would let me know someone looked. And just because you looked doesn't mean you have to read it.  Believe me when I say that I understand how difficult that can be.  Sometimes I actually have to read it myself after I've written it.
     There may be some other way to track if anyone is opening this page.  I think Google might be keeping statistics.  If that's true, never mind.  In the meantime, I definitely appreciate an audience so if you are a part of it, God bless you.  Of course in my opinion if you are a part of it, He already has.  I have never meant to offend anyone, only to be humorous.  So I will close with words that Will Rogers may have said had he been a witless blogger instead of a comedic megastar, "It ain't so much the jokes he writes that ain't funny, it's the way he writes them."