Posted on by Brendan Birth

Blog News: Time for Some Feedback from My Readers!

Hello, my readers!

As some of you might know, I already (sometimes, kind of) do Throwback Thursday posts on social media, where I share old content of mine on my Facebook and Twitter accounts. 

Now, I haven’t always been the best at following through on those Throwback Thursday posts on social media, but I still think that doing something similar to that is important because it gives me an opportunity to share old content that is still relevant.

However, I’ve realized recently that I can do the same sort of thing on WordPress. Basically, I’ve discovered that you can re-publish a post on WP that you’ve already published. Ever since discovering that (mostly through other bloggers who’ve used that feature), I have thought about using this feature on my blog to re-publish some of my old posts (especially if they’re relevant to what I do now, or relevant to current events). 

With all that being said, I have a simple question: How would my readers feel about my using this re-publish feature to re-share some old blog posts?

I want to see how my readers feel because honestly, I have somewhat mixed feelings. On one hand, it would be an opportunity to share some posts that many of my readers might not be familiar with (I have many more followers now than I did even one year ago), and additionally it may be good to be reminded of certain “blind injustices.” On the other hand, doing this might give readers the false feeling that I’m publishing new content when in reality, I’m just re-sharing old content. 

So, I am open to hearing others’ feedback (as well as taking feedback from a Doodle poll on this, which one can take here). Do you want to see some of my old content re-published, or not? Depending on the feedback I get,[1] I will decide whether I re-publish old posts.

So, people have one week to give me feedback (until the following Friday at 8:00 PM). I will announce the results of that feedback in a blog news post two weeks from today.

[1] If more than 60% of those who vote and comment approve of what I’m thinking of, I will try to re-share old blog posts at least once a month. If 40-60% approve, then I will re-share less frequently (a few times a year, probably). If fewer than 40% approve, I will just not re-share/re-publish old blog posts at all.

18 Replies to “Blog News: Time for Some Feedback from My Readers!”

    1. Okay then! Yes, that’s actually one of the big pros for me. I have more than quadrupled my following on WordPress in the past year! Which is great, but it also means that most of my current readers may not be super familiar with my older (but still relevant) content.

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  3. Hi Brendan: I really like this repost feature on WordPress, and I think it’s great to use it sometimes, and you should feel free to do that. I mainly repost new stuff, but sometimes, I discover that old posts of mine are particularly applicable to current events, and so I repost them. My readers often respond really well to them. I hope that helps.

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    1. Yes, this helps a lot Shelly. Thank you.

      I’ve been concerned about the idea of re-publishing old content as if it’s new content. But once again, if old posts are particularly applicable to current events, then they may have a new relevance that they lacked when originally published! For example, it might be good to republish my post on body image sometime in the spring given all the fuss over having a “beach body” in time for summer.

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      1. Yes, absolutely! That is the type of think I have done, Brendan. And I don’t think it is a bad thing to do periodically at all. Especially if you provide some kind of reasonable explanation for it. It can be especially good if you have new followers.

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      2. Okay then! Giving an explanation for it also sounds like a good idea (and something I would absolutely do, especially on social media), so that the republishing doesn’t come across as completely random to my readers.

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  4. I think reposting is fine. If you have a lot of content, you may find that some tweaking and editing and it can feel new. Also, you have new followers and they would not have seen those posts. Even if someone reposts something that I’ve liked before, I will reread it if its been a while.

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    1. Thanks for the feedback, Alexis.

      Someone else (Kenneth) also suggested that I should maybe do some tweaking and editing to make old content feel new.

      At the same time, you also mentioned one of the big “pros” (for me) of republishing old content–most of my current readers probably aren’t familiar with my older content, so it may be good for many of you to see some of those older posts. Especially if those posts are relevant to what’s going on now.

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  5. Helpful for those of us who are relatively new. I have wondered the same thing myself (my blog has been going since 2012) and haven’t done it — so I will watch what happens if you make this decision.

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    1. Okay! This is really helpful feedback, Maren.

      Your blog has been going for seven years? Wow! Yes, with a blog that’s been going on for seven years (I will hit two years in a couple of months), I think that re-posting old content is extremely helpful. But that’s just my opinion.

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  6. Pingback: Blog News: My Decision About Re-Publishing Old Posts – Blind Injustice

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