I got an invite to do one of those “award” things again.
I’m not clear on the point of these awards. From what I have observed, it seems to be a way of increasing blog readership, rather than an actual acknowledgement of one’s writing. You answer some questions in a post, link back to the blog of whoever nominated you, and then nominate a few more bloggers to do the same.
Essentially a chain letter, without the threat of something terrible befalling you if you break the chain.
I’m conflicted about my response. The questions themselves are both innocuous and mildly interesting, a way of introducing a bit more of myself and my story into the blog-reading community. I enjoy the blog and writing of the person who nominated me, so part of me would like to respect a well-intentioned invitation. But for me, the real kicker is the part about tagging some more bloggers to write.
To me, this feels intrusive and presumptive on my part, as if I’m saying “Tag, you’re it” to someone who didn’t know there was a game to be played and may not want to play. It’s harder to turn down a request when it’s from someone you know. For me the point of writing is to express myself and explore the experience of writing. I do use prompts for this, today’s prompt of compromise is the starter for this post. The difference to me is that the daily prompt is a neutral source, it’s entirely up to me as to whether or not I write, and I have no sense that anyone will be disappointed if I decline the invitation.
I also recognize that other bloggers may feel differently and may want or appreciate an invitation tendered as an award. I’m interested to hear from you. Does this feel more like an opportunity or an obligation? Would you want to be nominated for an award? If you have been nominated, how have you responded?
Curious Steph 
Great minds again. I nicely turn down the nominations by explaining I prefer to keep my blog award-free. There are also other bloggers who puts up an “award-free blog” badge on their sites.
Awards seem to thwart the the flow of what I write, and also finding people to tag is very tiring (I find it may be intrusive to some), so I prefer not to stress myself out over it. I do fine with prompts and challenges when they are in the flow of things.
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When I started blogging, I thought they were awards. Now I think they’re annoying. I think the point was to get people to write about themselves or post more often or increase their readership. I don’t do them at all if I’m invited. I just say “No.”
Considering I’ve been doing this for some 5 years, I don’t have a really big readership but that’s OK. I only have 70 Facebook friends, too. 🙂 I’m either anti-social or very elite…
I started doing this because I wanted to sell novels and a book I read said, “A WordPress blog is a necessity for anyone who wants to sell books.” It’s true; it’s helped me with that but not in the way the book implied.
My goal as a blog writer is to write everyday and (with the daily prompt which I originally thought was stupid) to take on a challenge I might not present myself. Over the years, I’ve made connections that are now friends — that is a sweet bonus of doing this. I’ve also read some wonderful stuff and learned new things.
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They are a lot of work! I haven’t had any award s in a long time, but if I received one I would decline.
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Oh my!! I think we may be soul sistas!! I was “nominated” twice and although I appreciated the thought, I have not been able to accept and participate. At first, I struggled with feeling like I was being ungrateful.
I have 50 followers for my blog. Theoretically, I should be jumping at chances for more exposure. But I love my 50 new connections. I feel like we found each other in an semi-organic way. I read and follow people whose thoughts make me want to read more. I hope that is why people follow me.
I don’t want a like for a like, a follow for a follow, or an award for an award. I just want to be free to be me. I think that’s enough.
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well put, sista! thanks!
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I’ve been nominated for the best award-free site.
Cheers.
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Cheers to you!
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oh, definitely an obligation. I participated once and had some fun answering the questions, but I can’t see doing it more than the one time. Once I was nominated by 2 people in the same week for the same award, but the questions were completely different. I made up my own questions (on topics that I wanted to write about) and then I nominated a bunch of people I knew would never play. I doubt I’ll ever get involved in one of those again.
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I’ve been sweetly nominated for about 5-6 different ones, by bloggers I love, and at first my ego jumped up proudly at the recognition. Then I realised they are indeed kinda like a chain letter, as you say… so I gently declined them all, after thanking the blogger for my nomination. I did feel bad, but more relief in the end. They seem to come and go in phases I’ve noticed; so if you decide not to play, just be respectful, and it will pass.
‘Discover’ or Freshly Pressed though: that would be a very different delightful experience!
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Thanks, and yes, Discover and FP are quite different, and I would look at them differently.
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never been asked. probably never will. And from what I’ve seen, yeah, it’s a way of quietly utilizing the same technique that inspires chain letters and FB “friends and friends of friends”…by the end of the week you have 40 new friends and 1600 total strangers.
Awards should mean something, more than recognition. Nice, but not necessary.
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