I started my blog years ago with the help of my daughter, to reach out to other artists, tell my story and post original songs I have written or produced for great local artists I have been lucky to know. I added pictures and opinions from time to time. People visited. People viewed. People liked. People commented. I responded. I was encouraged to post more.
A few years back I retired from my day job. Shortly after I retired from musical gigs for other groups and individuals. I posted less often and as you (or anyone) would expect my views dropped. Because of this I noticed something strange after one WordPress Update, and you may have as well.
Then I got one of those surveys from WordPress and whatever they call themselves now. JetPack, I think. I responded and said basically everything was fine but I could not trust the view/like data. Now that I was getting very few views and responses to actual posts, there was an obvious problem. I would have two visitors and three views in a day, but have 35 downloads of my songs and PoetryPod or creative posts……. Sometimes the same song or file would be downloaded 10 times in the same day. But only two visitors. I scoffed and thought surely they know about all the AI e-bots scanning and copying creator content.
A month later and another update. To my surprise, I got a follow up message from my survey with the attitude of what could you mean by our data is not dependable? We are great Please tell us what you mean. I thought about responding but knew it would be a waste of time. So I just let it roll.
Another update. I rarely post now. Sometimes I respond to their question of the day messages……. but now I get between eighty-five and one hundred views in a day. Every day.
More views this month than all of last year. But no downloads. No likes. No Comments. No Referrals. No people.
It used to be fun.
I moved my catalog of music to my SoundCloud page under MIDIMike. Here is a link to one of my PlayLists of great songs so you don’t have to wander through more than one hundred songs I have posted there so far. If you do feel like wandering, I have a different picture or icon that indicates the various projects or styles of music.
I will be posting more on SoundCloud, but I am just too old to fight the system JetPack seems to be using now.
MIDIMike
MidiMike 
I’m having the same problem Mike. I’m getting multiple views and no feedback. I looked at the origin of the views and most of them are coming from North Bergen, New Jersey. Obviously a language bot scouring my blog. I agree with you, it spoils the experience. I rather get one genuine view than a thousand bot views.
JIM
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I understand that reaction. When playing in local bands, we would much rather play for a small and rowdy crowd than a larger audience with other things to do. It is unfortunate and I appreciate your comments all the more!
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You know, I absolutely agree with you. Connecting with people is not at all what it used to be. But the thing that’s really missing now is actually connecting. Algorithms and data make us all believe that connections are now just about numbers and likes and comments. But is that really engagement?
I have over 18,500 followers on Twitter. Can you guess how many of them actually engage with me? I mean, real, actual, meaningful conversations? Zero. Absolutely none of them do. And yet, when I had less than 200 followers, I had real conversations with maybe five of them. And those were complete strangers, people who actually purchased my self-published books and made an effort to give me feedback directly. That was genuine engagement, and with real people, no less.
I miss that feeling, just as much as you do. But I think all of that data has given us the wrong idea of what engagement really is. ‘Likes’ tell you nothing more than how many people care enough to make you feel good about yourself. But it’s not engagement, and it’s not genuine. Something has been lost in those 1s and 0s. Personal connection and real communication is what was lost.
I’ve really enjoyed connecting with you over the years, and I don’t want that to seem less genuine than it actually is. So, as a leap of good faith, I’m throwing my email out into the ether for you to save and hopefully use to keep in touch. I would honestly enjoy having a genuine friendship again, and not just numbers on a screen. I’ve sincerely enjoyed your company on this crazy ride called life.
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Best offer this year!
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