Is blogging a competition?
Bloggers often write me thanking me for the blogging information that I share. Some of the advice I give comes from articles. One article explained it is okay to share as much information as I want in my posts since bloggers are no longer competitive.
Bloggers are no longer competitive? Were they ever?
Medieval European author Thomas Hobbes in his Of the Natural Condition of Mankind explained that he felt people were continually jealous. He wrote, every man is at war with every man. Does that hold true for bloggers?
Even Charles Darwin is famous for his theory of survival of the fittest–the most competitive among us stand the best chance for success. Again I ask, does this apply to bloggers?
Could Hobbes and Darwin, two of the most famous men of their time, be wrong?
I maintain that they absolutely are. Many months ago, before I even heard of what I am now calling The Great Blogger Hoax, that bloggers are competitive with each other, I wrote a post about how helpful other bloggers have been. In What No One Tells You About… Blogging, I elaborated on the many bloggers that have been helpful to me.
Not only are other bloggers not competitive, they are so cooperative, they actually hold events to help other bloggers. Events such as Linky parties (even I hold one every week) and blogger Meet and Greets are two examples. Jason Cushman of the Harsh Reality blog and Don Charisma are two “power bloggers” that hold those events. I know Jason Cushman alone has over 50,000 followers. He holds his events purely to help other bloggers.
Lysa Wilds of the Welcome to my Circus blog hosts a guest blogger series as do many others in order to give bloggers exposure. She then feverishly promotes the post. She actually wrote on her blog after I guest posted for her that people should go to my site and follow my blog. After Jason Cushman reblogged my Expert Round Up Interview, he actually turned off comments on his site and told his readers to come to my site, so I could get the traffic. Benjamin from Human Interest, knowing I am still an up and coming blogger, routinely reblogs my work as does WysJoyful Company and many others, even my Linky parties.
Since then, I discovered not just cooperative people helping me along the way, but cooperative groups. WordPress holds classes for bloggers, and bloggers hold conferences in order to help other bloggers. I described how valuable the one held by Melissa Reyes was in my posts How Bloggers Can Focus and 6 Ways Bloggers Can Stay Focused.
Since then, the best example I can give of cooperative bloggers is my recent interview of 19 strangers and virtual strangers, How to Be A Successful Blogger: 19 Experts Share Their Secrets. Authors and bloggers, already a success in the field, agreed to help me for the sole purpose of helping a fellow writer and blogger. If that doesn’t convince Mr. Hobbes and Mr. Darwin, and anyone else who still has doubt, bloggers are definitely cooperative and not competitive.
There’s a line from the song There’s A Fine, Fine Line from the musical Avenue Q that reads, There’s a fine, fine line between what you wanted and what you got. In answer to the question posed in the graphic above, what I got was a blogosphere of helpful, cooperative bloggers.
I will answer the questions I posed at the beginning. Mr. Darwin’s and Mr. Hobbes’s theories do not apply to bloggers. To say they apply to “every man,” to quote Mr. Hobbes, is nothing but a hoax, in this case, The Great Blogger Hoax.
Readers, if you think others will enjoy reading The Great Blogger Hoax, please share.
What do you think readers–are bloggers competitive or cooperative? Why? I look forward to reading about your experiences. However, if you don’t feel comfortable commenting, please take my anonymous poll.
[polldaddy poll=8683506]
