Why my mother won’t read my blog

It’s true, my mother doesn’t read this blog, has never looked and this blog and has no plans to visit this blog in the future. But I’m adorable and she loves me! So what’s the problem?

Talking to her on the phone the other day, I asked if she had had a chance to look at it. She said, “No, I’m not really interested in all that ‘blog’ stuff”. Now, my mother is a well-rounded, intelligent woman whose good opinion I crave – so how can I reconcile her refusal to take a look at a creative outlet that I pour my heart and soul into several times a week without wanting to kill myself?

Actually I checked and it turns out some of the most important people in my life don’t read this blog and will never read this blog. Why?

Case #1: MOM
Subject: My mother, a retired elementary school teacher living in Collingwood, Ontario.
Level of online engagement: Low; she uses email and Skype to talk to my overseas siblings and occasionally looks for travel deals on Expedia.
Prognosis: Hopeless, unless the bridge-playing community in Collingwood inexplicably develops a taste for marketing blogs written by wise-cracking whippersnappers.

Case #2: DOUG
Subject: My boyfriend of six years, an IT support specialist and computer programmer.
Level of online engagement: High; he lives and breathes online content, participates in several online communities, but only those exclusively related to gaming.
Prognosis: Hopeless unless I start adding copious Xbox content.

Case #3: JAN
Subject: My best friend, an investment banker, who I have known since I was three years old.
Level of online engagement: Moderate; uses the internet as an information resource, but doesn’t participate.
Prognosis: Better than average if I keep sending her links on Facebook and whine about it a lot.

This is a little depressing. Mitch Joel, author of “Six Degrees of Pixelation” talks about a ‘The Trust Economy’, where “you’ll trust Sally from Carefree, Arizona over the New York Times Book Review”. So by this reasoning, I get more respect from “rpatz”, my (sole) sixteen year old follower on the Chapters.ca community, who thinks my book reviews are rad (or whatever the kids are saying these days) than I will get from those nearest and dearest to me?

Eh, maybe, but there’s something else in this equation, I just know it…

So, for my mom, as a test, I asked her: if wrote a book, would you read it? After a short but scary pause, she conceded that yes, she would. Okay, so it’s not me, per se –it’s the medium. I can live with that.

Doug, while a lover of things online, is by nature a social idiot. He refers to Facebook as “PhaseBook” and has a one hour time limit at all live social functions. I guess getting him to read a marketing blog about new media is about as fair as him expecting me to go over to his buddy’s place to watch the hockey and talk about video games. Which I won't.

As for Jan, I’ve been nattering at her about my blog since its inception and remind her about it every time we speak. I don’t think she was even considering giving it a try until she spoke to a mutual friend Audra (hey Audra!) who told Jan that it was actually enjoyable. Only then did I see a break in Jan's stone wall – she’s considering it… considering it…and still no. I guess that’s because…er…nope, I’ve got nothing. Nothing! There is no reason that Jan - YES, YOU, JANICE SMITH are not reading my blog! READ IT! Or I swear, I will start describing what we were like in junior high school!

Okay, so clearly it bothers me, but I’m going to have to let it go and get thicker-skinned. After all, my mom, my boyfriend and my best friend already know how totally awesome I am. It’s the rest of you I have to convince.

So, people who are not related to me and for whom I don’t do laundry - stay tuned and keep reading!