There has been some conversation in Christian circles about the Top 200 Blogs List released by Church Relevance. They used a variety of metrics, but Adrian Warnock was quick to point out they hadn’t accounted for Twitter followers. He compiled another Top 2oo, based purely on that, and which he has been kindly amending as he discovers other Christian bloggers of various persuasions. He followed up today with a further post in which he asks Christian bloggers to be aware of their motives in wanting to blog and to be on such lists.
Adrian is right to ask why we blog. Vanity can slip in all to easily. I recall one Christian friend who said he steered clear of blogging because he felt it was all ‘Me, me, me.’
But Christian communicators want to have an influence. The statistics, though, can only tell us so much. Does influence consist in reading? If so, I influence 2-3,000 people per week. But anyone can read, and only a tiny minority interact through the comments.
Yet much as I welcome the comments, and they are part of my raison d’être for blogging – I want to have a conversation – even that is a crude way of mentioning influence. Does not a messenger of the Gospel want to exercise influence in seeing changed lives? How do I measure that?
How much, then, are the metrics worth?
What do you think?
Big Circumstance 
I think we all want to reach out, to communicate. From my experience of being a commenter I would say ‘vanity’ could be a big issue for bloggers. I recall one blogger commenting “It’s my place, my rules”. A bit scary that. I also think a number of people who are not active in commenting on a blog, but are signed up, like to read the interaction between people – sometimes it can be quite entertaining! I’d say a thick skin is essential for any blogger. Notwithstanding all that, if the pluses outweigh the minuses keep going. And thanks for a great blog Dave.
LikeLike