Suggestion for hub pages

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   Sophia Angeliqueposted 12 years ago

   I have always wondered why people follow me...
   
   a) Was it something I said?
   b) was it my frankenstein photo?
   c) Is it an expectation that I must follow them?
   d)They fell in love with my writing and want to read everything I write...
   
   Wouldn't it be nice if we had some idea of why people were following us?
   
   I think that HP should program that in the next time they redesign HP...

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      prettydarkhorseposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I think that with the range of choices/reasons why one will follow another person, the HP can't capture it all, that is why they just gave us some choices which we can tick.
      
      Datawise, it is difficult to analyze or put an open and ended answer as to why people will follow you. There could be thousand of reasons if you have thousand of followers.

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2. 71

   Cagsilposted 12 years ago

   It's already programmed in, unless you're asking for more specifics than already applied. On a side note- fanmail is optional, not a requirement.
   
   Some people might like your writing, some might like you because of something you said and it could even be the picture you posted.
   
   What difference does it matter, as long as your followers do read your hubs and some do make comments, vote and give other marks, so there is freshness to your content.
   
   But, HubPages has already arranged for people to highlight why they follow you and given them a choice of sending you mail.
   
   So, I guess you're looking for something more specific?

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      Sophia Angeliqueposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yes. Like a form they can tick. It never occurred to me that fan mail was anything but a compliment. What difference does it make? I don't think that followers read one. That's actually why I would like to know. My experience of followers all over the place is that they tick you for some reason and then you never hear from them again. Certainly, if they were reading me, I would get a lot more readers than I do.

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         Cagsilposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I've ticked people off in the forums and then I find them following me.

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            Sophia Angeliqueposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            That's funny. Happy new year. )

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               Cagsilposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Happy New Year Sophia! It's officially here now. It's 12:03am!

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         Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Actually that could be a good idea!
         
         The form would say:
         
         Please indicate why you wish to follow Jane Doe:
         
         1.  I like her style and want to know the minute she writes something new.
         2.  She can't write to save her life but she looks like a real hottie.
         3. I couldn't care less about her but I expect her to follow me back and improve my Hubberscore.
         
         If anyone ticked 2 or 3, a message would come up saying, "sorry, those are not valid reasons" and block the person from becoming a follower of that Hubber. 
         
         That way, we'd have fewer people following for all the wrong reasons!

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            Sophia Angeliqueposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Marisa, that's exactly where I was going. I had someone email me this evening saying that they had 'rated' my hub and would I rate their hub in return and follow them in return.

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               Cardisaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Marissa, I like your ideas...
               
               It would be a way to filter the "followers" from the people who are really interested in your work. Of course the explanations wouldn't be so obvious because people would just click the first one.

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   relacheposted 12 years ago

   How is what you are asking for different from what already exists?  People who opt to follow you can chose to leave a fan mail, or tick one of the following: thanks, good writer, hot!, you're cool, great hubs.
   
   I think demanding or forcing people to give a reason is inappropriate.

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      rebekahELLEposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      +  I agree here.  I think it's kind of cheesy to make people choose a reason. 
      If they want to tick on the fan mail option, that's fine. If not, that's fine. 
      If they read our work, great, if not, what's the problem? I don't see it as an issue.

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         Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         LOL, I'd have thought it obvious from the silly choices in my "form", that we were just having a bit of fun.

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            Cardisaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            You think Sophia is taking it seriously? I hope not. I sure didn't.

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               Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               No, but Relache and Rebekah sound like they are!

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   relacheposted 12 years ago

   Why is Sophia posting here if she's not serious?  If she's just jerking everyone around she should be posting in the Sandpit...

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      Cardisaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Relache I meant Marissa's thread about the options, if Sophia thought Marissa was serious about the options Marissa posted.

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   Sophia Angeliqueposted 12 years ago

   Actually, I am serious. I would really like to get an idea of why people follow other people when it's clearly impossible to follow as many as they do.
   
   I don't think the fan mail gives any reasons at all. Then, again, I've never quite understood what fandom is about either.
   
   I see people on facebook and google plus following thousands of people and I would like to understand what they gain. I now have close on 900 people following me and adding every day. I don't know any of them.
   
   I think it would be nice to know the following.
   
   a) I'm following you because we pretty much think alike.
   b) I'm following you because you're the kind of person I like to argue with.
   c) I'm following you because I think  you're pretty/goodlooking.
   d) I'm following you because I think it's important to look as if one has many followers and if I click on you, you might click on me, and I really don't care if it's not a genuine reflection of my work.
   e) I'm following you because everybody else seems to be following you and I like to follow the crowd. You're always safe when you follow the crowd.
   f)I'm following you because I read a lot and you write a lot.
   
   g) whatever/??
   
   Why do I want to know? I guess I grew up in a culture where independence of thought was taught from day one. Following someone else was the last thing on earth one did. There was a saying, "If Jack jumps into the fire, are you going to follow him there?" If one ever wanted to do something because someone else was doing it, that was said to you. So, I guess I find it quite strange that so many people follow other people. The one thing I know for sure is that only one or two in a hundred actually read one.

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   Peter Hogganposted 12 years ago

   I guess it boils down to what each hubber deems important to them.
   
   Why people are following you by its very nature restricts feedback to fellow hubbers, but that could be seen as important to some.
   
   To others, the number of readers specific hubs receive might be a better indicator of what works and what is really important.
   
   The "follow you follow me" brigade will, in my opinion, just adapt to any changes that are made and the reasons people are following you would become more difficult to ascertain.

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      Sophia Angeliqueposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Peter, I think that's an excellent observation. You're perfectly correct. Virtually all my traffic is from search engines. I get very, very few hp readers. Not moaning about it. It just puzzles me why people would follow one if they weren't reading you.

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