I have noticed a trend lately — people hating on the “Like” button.

Like, whaaa?

What pretentious stick lodged its way so high up there that you feel the need to hate on such a sweet little fellar?

Look, I (pretend to) get it. Random ‘Like’ clicks are so easy, and you want readers to work harder for your wondrous words! You want them to read a minimum of 106 of your older posts (because 106 is legit, anything less would be sacrilege), follow your blog for at least 3 months, and leave comments every other hour. Then and only then will you allow someone to hit that sacred ‘Like’ … because it is only then that they will have a semi-understanding of the type of poet you are.

And then she said, “I’m the Stephen Hawking of bloggers!”
So I replied, “Yeah, and Justin Bieber is a dude!”

I guess I must be too new at the whole blogging thing, because I really just don’t get what the big deal is.

Sure, people can go through and click ‘Like’ without reading a word you wrote. And persons can click ‘Like’ simply as a way to get more publicity. Or maybe even [insert other reason here]. But why does it matter so much??

Whether hurriedly or not, someone just paid your post a compliment. It’s sort of really lame to turn one of those away. Kind of makes you seem, oh I don’t know, conceited. Yeah, you worked hard putting all those words together. Blogging ain’t a walk in the park! It’s a slave trade! I spend quite a bit of time putting my top-o-the-line posts together … but I thoroughly enjoy it — so maybe I don’t get that dilemma.

Or maybe it could just be that I am a desperate attention whore. I constantly need reassurance and a pat on the head. If someone just looks at me while walking past, I take that as a compliment. Therefore, if someone ‘Likes’ a post of mine, I take it as a good thing instead of spending hours wondering what their motive was.

People are lazy nowadays. I mean, just look at us. Sure, you may be traveling and taking pictures, and working, and living a full life — but are you not still spending hours in front of a computer screen? I don’t think its a bad thing (because then I would be bashing myself, and that is a no-no), but give people some credit! After a long exhausting day of Google-ing, rating people on HotOrNot (oh wait, what? people don’t do that anymore?), and hating Pandora for playing that song .. sometimes I just don’t have the energy to  write you a comment. I just want to hit the ‘Like’ button in peace without feeling your eyes burning through my soul.

Point is: a ‘Like’ means your blog got some attention, it doesn’t mean the world is crashing down on you. Just relax and drink some tea. And if nothing else, send those stragglers to me … I gladly accept chronic ‘Like’ers.

Just some newbie thoughts from someone who likes compliments — wherever she can get them.

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