Sol·i·dar·i·ty (noun) Unity or agreement of feeling or action, especially among individuals with a common interest; mutual support within a group.
This is inspired by No Love for Fatties’s post last week about the Solidarity Blogger Award. (Also if you’re not following her yet, do it! She’s awesome! 🙂 ) I decided to make this into my own post because I wanted some time to think about the topic, plus it gave me a post for the week.
When I think about blogging, my first impression of it is that it’s one sided. You’re writing something and just putting it out into the world for everyone else to read. But then you’re able to comment on each other’s posts. This turns it into a two-way conversation, and if I learned something from my master’s program, it’s that two-way communication is extremely important for creating relationships, especially online.
In that sense, I’d consider blogging, and especially WordPress where all of our blogs live, a kind of social media. I mean, it’s sort of like a really long form Twitter, except the comments on here aren’t as mean or you don’t end up in the Twitter comment vortex that I sometimes find myself in. The way that blogging is set up gives you more opportunities to share via words, pictures, and other types of media.
And through that, you can meet other people without leaving the comfort of your own home. Which, for introverts like me, is awesome. I mean, I can chat with you guys and I don’t have to put real pants on. Since I began blogging more consistently last year, I acquired a lot of new blogging friends, and I’ve found out that we all seem to run in the same blogging circle. (You know who you are.) I think that’s pretty cool, because I can go to someone’s post and see some of my other friends have commented on it too. (I’m calling us all friends because I think we magically become friends when we like the same stuff and follow each other’s adventures through life.)
Back when I was on Tumblr more actively, there was a handful of us that communicated a lot and were friends, and although we don’t really use that platform anymore, we all still follow each other on Twitter and Instagram. But after using both Tumblr and WordPress, I like WordPress better because of how it’s structured and how it allows for more communication. It’s easier to like and comment on other people’s posts.
One thing I love about blogging on here is that I’ve gotten to know all of you guys! I love following along on your travel adventures or reading your book reviews or just seeing something cool you did lately. We’ve created this little community from all over, and that’s one great thing about the Internet. It almost feels like we’re hanging out together and chatting about our lives, but realistically we’re in different states or different countries.
When I first started Strikeouts + Sprinkles, it was just a place for me to write when I felt like I had something to say, and I didn’t really have any blogging friends then. So I didn’t really stick with it. But once I started making connections last year, I wanted to post more about what I was up to, because I was looking forward to your guys’s comments and what you had to say. So far everyone I’ve encountered on here is so nice and welcoming. And I think we all need that right now. Just a little friend in our corner that we can pop in and say hey to.
So thank you to the blogger group that I ended up in for being awesome, and I’m looking forward to connecting with more bloggers this year! I need to get better about posting on the blog’s social media accounts, but follow Strikeouts + Sprinkles on Twitter and Instagram if you’d like!
What does solidarity blogging mean to you? How has being in a blogging community changed your perception of blogging?
Strikeouts + Sprinkles 
I have noticed that theres a group of about four or five people (you and some others) who I do most of my interacting with, where I respond to their stuff, even if it’s a “like” and they respond to mine in the same way.
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First of all, thanks for the shout out! You are too sweet!! I’m so glad that you made this post. It’s a great reflection on solidarity and on the blogging community as a whole! And you’re right about little blogging circles. I like to find new bloggers through others posts – like if I wasn’t me and I was reading this, and I saw you linked to my blog, I’d go and check it out. Or people who comment on the blogs I follow, I’ll go and check them out too. It’s like building a little web. It always makes me curious when someone follows who has no connection what so ever haha! There’s this one person who follows me who has no connection to any of my blogging circles and we’ve actually become really close. We don’t even connect through blogs anymore, but solely through email.
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You’re welcome! 🙂 Yeah, I wonder the same thing if people I don’t know or don’t look familiar follows me. But sometimes it can be a good thing because it’s another way to meet people outside of that web we have.
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Blogging is like talking to ourselves and then realizing someone else heard us. I’ve always wondered how many other blogging circles are out there that we don’t know exist. There must be a bunch, but finding them is so hard. I wish this were like sports where we could group ourselves together as a team and be listed somewhere, and then click on someone else’s team and see the bloggers on their roster.
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Like I’ve said before, it’s like we’re just yelling out into a void. And yeah, I wonder what others groups are out there, too. Like how did they form? What do they do for fun? Can we trade one of our bloggers for one of theirs? (If this turns into Fantasy Bloggers or something, don’t let me be in charge of a team because I suck at fantasy, as we all know.)
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Ohhh that would be fun. Weekly matchups against rival blogging teams. Winner is the one with the most combined words written. I like our chances.
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This is so true! I started blogging during such a hard time in my life when I didn’t feel like I had anyone around me in real life that cared. I started putting my feelings out there and got such a kind and encouraging response from these people online. And like you, that made me want to write more and more, so that I could continue to connect with these wonderful people. I am so grateful for the ability to blog as well as the incredible people that make up the blogging community!!
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Blogging is a good way to just share your thoughts and voice and everything, and it’s even better when you can create connections. It becomes more meaningful and it doesn’t feel like you’re just talking into a void.
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I absolutely love this post and I completely agree! Honestly, the blogging community is the best and has changed my life in so many positive ways. I definitely agree that we are all friends here, and I love scrolling through comments on a blog that I like to find other of my blogger friends commenting on it as well. I think blogging friends are so genuine because we all follow each other due to truly liking each other and sharing interests, not just because we happen to run in the same social circles like with work. ❤
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I definitely agree with your last sentence! We choose who we follow, and we choose who we connect with. It’s not like we’re forced to connect, so we can really get to know each other and show interest in what everyone is doing.
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This was such a great post! I used to be a little hesitant to share with other people, like my young friends, that I had a blog because I kind of felt like an old lady. Now, I do consider blogging a type of social media. It has evolved so much over time to a one-way conversation to a two-way conversation now that people can comment and connect from all around the world. I like bloggers like you because I feel like we respect each other and our words as opposed to traditional social media like Twitter and Instagram where people comment straight up baloney and hate hahaha. We like to keep it real in the blog world and be positive, and that’s why I like having a blog on this platform 🙂
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I agree that the blogging world feels more genuine. I think how the platform is structured allows us to share more than just 280 characters in a tweet or crafting the perfect picture for Instagram. I haven’t encountered anyone rude or mean yet on here, unlike what I’ve seen on other platforms. Maybe it’s because we all have good intentions here and want to support and connect with each other.
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I do love the community that’s formed throughout my blogging experience. Years ago, it was through the blog I kept on a different platform. The community I had there was smaller, but no less meaningful. Here on WordPress, I feel like it’s been a lot easier to connect with people, and I’m super grateful for that. Even with some folks who have stopped blogging at various points over the years have been people I’ve been able to keep in touch with through email or social media. It’s amazing to watch and read how lives grow and change.
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I do like how it’s easy to connect with others here on WordPress. When I was looking into getting a domain for my blog, I briefly thought about self-hosting but then I’d be taking my blog out of the Reader, and I still wanted to connect with everyone. I don’t think it would be the same, and I wouldn’t want to lose the friends I already made. And following each other on other platforms, too, is another way to keep in touch, in case people stop blogging on here.
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Becky, couldn’t agree more about WordPress! Started blogging (off and on…and off and on…) over a decade ago, and continue to find the folks “here” to be very welcoming indeed. I don’t know about your overall Fantasy results, but in the Intercontinental Football League this season you pretty much got everyone’s best game each time out. If I’m not mistaken, your team (great name, by the way) was the second-most-highest-scored-upon. I certainly have had many seasons like that. As for Fantasy Bloggers…if I start posting regularly again I might have to give that a try!
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My final fantasy record was 4-9 😦 Not what I was expecting but I’m hoping to do better next year. My big issue was that I panicked on taking my quarterback because I was too worried about getting the good RBs and WRs.
And thanks about the name! haha
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