5 Types of bloggers you will meet on your journey

Today has been an interesting day for my blog… I have seen a few notifications that have caught my eye, and I am almost certain that was the intention. So as any normal blogger would do, I pulled out my laptop and decided to write about it. I won’t say what happened or who did it – that would kill all the fun. Instead, I want you to put on your detective hats and try to spot the different types of bloggers in your life.

Disclaimer: Once you do this exercise, there’s no coming back from it. So think wisely before proceeding to read about the different types of bloggers.

The stalker/copycat

If you have not yet encountered this type of blogger, you your blog probably isn’t big enough yet. The stalker blogger is that person that almost seems to be tracing your steps. If you like a post, they like it too. If you comment on someone’s post, they like your comment or drop a similar one. Depending on how professional they are, they could even go as far as replicating your entire blog!

Don’t be alarmed, these stalker bloggers aren’t hackers, so if you have done your due diligence and eliminated all personal information, they will not find you in real life. Take it as a sick type of flattery… They like you so much they practically want to be you. If you need some sort of measure of success, I would recommend counting how many stalker bloggers you have.

I haven’t gotten any just yet, but I’ve spotted a few here on WordPress.

The serial liker

When I first joined the blogging world, I used to spend hours reading others’ posts and learning from them. Since I was teaching myself about blogging, I decided to look to my “seniors” for inspiration on how to structure the blog posts, engage the audience, use political terms without being offensive, etc. And most of the posts I read got likes and a comment. As my blog grew, I noticed that my views would shoot up on certain days, and at times I would get a gazillion likes from one or two bloggers. I was flattered!

But here’s the thing, these bloggers that were reading and liking my posts were going through about ten posts in two minutes. Gosh what a skill! I honestly wish I paid more attention in the speed reading classes, so that I too could be as efficient as these bloggers. Since I see them as superhuman, I call them the serial likers. The ones that come through to grace your blog with as many likes as they can get within 60 seconds. Let’s call them the chosen ones.

A cautionary note to anyone hoping to have these gods grace their blogs – they can be destructive. I learned the hard way that these serial likers can cause your bounce rate to increase exponentially. I would tell you why that’s harmful to your blog, but that’s a story for another day.

The ghoster

This one is my personal favourite… the blogger who shows you so much love and support until you finally follow back and return the love. I have met a few of these bloggers along my journey, and I have mixed emotions about this. Firstly, I may potentially be this blogger to someone out there because I have followed so many bloggers that it is almost impossible to keep up with daily content. Secondly, my pandemic life is pretty much back to normal, so I don’t have but a few minutes each day to throw a post together and respond to comments.

On the other hand, you have those types of bloggers that spend their time hunting for new followers and just disappear once they have won you over. It’s a frustrating thing to support the ghoster, especially when you see them posting a few times a day. Blogging is a two-way street, so don’t fall prey to the ghosting syndrome.

Related: Why ghosting is worse than confrontation

The rebounding blogger

Have you ever had a ‘relationship’ with someone that felt as though they would leave and then return at a more opportune time? Well, once your ghosted blogger has come back to your sphere, they have officially transitioned into the rebounding blogger. This category doesn’t necessarily have to be bad, depending on the ‘why’ behind the disappearance.

Life happens, we all know that for a fact. But if you notice a pattern of support when you drop your engagement on their site, then they disappear when you get back to supporting… Run!

The toxic blogger

My last and least favourite is the toxic blogger. They will read your posts – all of them – and selectively choose which to comment on. And when they do, they will direct every single word you wrote with a counterargument. The level of toxicity depends on whether they choose to leave the essay comment for all to see, or if they decide to send you a long-winded email about how wrong your post was.

I get it, I do, as bloggers, we need to convey accurate information because someone somewhere will read it. The issue comes in when you are describing a personal experience or your views on a particular subject. Don’t get me wrong, healthy debate allows for growth. But if all you get from one specific blogger is a discerning synopsis of your blog, run. One thing that you should never allow is for someone to belittle your views or make you feel like you need to conform.

There are many other types of bloggers out there…

Of course, there are other types of bloggers including the supportive blogger, the BFF, the tit-for-tat blogger, etc. I am fortunate enough to have quite a few that fall into this space. Even you! Just the mere fact that you are reading this post means a lot to me. Support is one of the things that have kept me going and I will never take that for granted. So thank you! I appreciate you.

What other types of bloggers have you encountered? And which type of blogger are you?

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