Reblogging and Being Reblogged--Much More than an "ego trip" whenever it happens!!

I wouldn't go so far as to call this an "epiphany". It was more like a reality check. I have started reading some ActiveRainposts, which I more or less, "wish I had written". They were germane to the type of information I was trying to contribute; they were relevant to the reader base I thought I had some appeal to. I "reblogged" these posts, sometimes with a small preface indicating why I thought the post in question was noteworthy. Many times I have received thirty or forty comments on posts I have reblogged. At times, I returned some of these comments.

I have written a lot of posts, myself, [over 300] in the roughly two years I have been on Active Rain. Thirty have achieved featured status; a bunch more were read by more than one or two people. I have not kept track of how many of my posts have been "reblogged". I like statistics, but there is a point where statistics can really get in the way of production. Suffice it to say, many of you have chosen to "reblog" things which I have put together.

The point of this post is to comment on the impact of "reblogging" in ActiveRain nation. To me it is a thoroughly useful tool to educate and communicate. When I reblog something, I am telling people who follow me that this is worth their time. I am more or less committing my stamp of approval to someone else's work. That means the post in question, at a minimum, needs to be lively and topical. If I reblog "junk", it speaks ill of me, so there are standards even in the reblog arena.

In terms of my own work, I need to be mindful that someone, somewhere may reblog my post to someone who does not read me. The people who follow me seem to cut me a lot of slack. I do not have that kind of well of experience with new people. I need to write decent stuff every time I release that mouse. The specter of being reblogged creates a quality requirement over every post I publish.

The best part of reblogging, in either scenario, is that it keeps the lines of communication alive among us and gives us opportunites to comment and engage. When we engage, we become more than a name; we become a trusted source. There is no finer honor than to have achieved that status with all of you, and that is what I am shooting for every day,