I really haven't it figured out at all! I intend to blog regulary, but haven't managed it yet. I want to do it to contribute to the community, but also for selfish reasons- to say something and put it out there, and to be seen and heard. I haven't blogged regularly since I joined, despite my best intentions, but am astonished that I get new followers even when I haven't posted for a while. I love that. Not because I'm interested in saying 'I have xxx numbers following me' but because I only follow people when I like what I've just read, and I think I'll like what they write in the future. (Of course, some people could be following me to see how my amazing act of stupidity works out in the end: if you're one of those: sorry, no update yet: still in limbo.)
I think there's a huge 'hit and miss' with followers. In a way, unfollowing someone feels like an act of bravery. My home page is people I follow. If I really want to follow them, there needs to be less, not more! Just because otherwise I can't see the wood for the trees.
It might not be sensible, and I might change that later, but at the moment I am just liking everything I like 100%. (Unless it something that I am a bit 'bleh' about. Despite the fact that I don't think anything is really black or white: here mostly I either vote, or I don't). I know that financially/votewise that might not make 100% sense, but right now it feels like the way to go as I figure it all out.
Maybe I am a hit-and-run-er. When I post something I don't hang around to wait for a response unless I have something else that really needs to be done yesterday. (Ah, the joys of procrastination.) Also, I'm not sure that I understand the etiquette and rules of blogging: embracingchaos is my first toe-dip in the blogosphere. That may mean that I am unwittingly riding roughshod over guidelines of politeness that I simply don't know. If so: apologies!
There seem to be a lot of rules and regulations that I haven't got my head around yet. But basically what I'm looking for is somewhere where I can honestly blog and read some interesting stuff. And uninteresting stuff when I am looking for excuses not to work. Ho hum. I'm not too worried about losing the odd subscriber. I've even discovered that there are ways of identifying your 'dead' followers. I used it, and found that I personally know 2 of them: It's summer: They're busy! (It seems like you are 'dead' if you haven't been active for ?four weeks.)
Sorry: that's a post-length response! Basically: thanks for the points you brought up. Here's to our learning curves :)