I Was Counting Visitors Instead of Finding Readers

Michael Lynch wrote a post called "Why I Stopped 'Creating Content'," and the author over at unattributed.cc wrote a great response to it, RE: Why I Stopped 'Creating Content'. So consider this a reply to a reply, which is about as small-web as it gets. The core of that piece is the difference between an audience and "traffic," and it's been rattling around my head ever since. What bugs me is that I already knew this. I've known it for over forty years, and somehow I managed to forget it the moment I started a blog. Forty Years on StageThe author makes the point with concerts, from the crowd's side: you've been to shows that felt like more than you expected, and the band probably felt it too. I've spent more than four decades on the other side of that, and I can tell you the size of the crowd is a lousy way to judge a gig. I've played to ten people who were actually listening, singing along, heckling me in the friendly way and buying me a beer afterward. I've also played to a hundred…

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