I Became a Widely Shared Giraffe

So last Sunday, October 27, like most people on Facebook, I became a giraffe. I failed to answer a riddle, and as a result, I had to change my profile photo to that of a giraffe’s. After which and after being in a hiatus for weeks from blogging, I blogged about how I feel about the official answer, being “your eyes,” and expressed my reason why I dissented.

Upon sharing my blog post on my Facebook timeline, I know it will reach my friends and, of course, I expected it to be viral within my friend’s and friends of friends’ circle. Later that night though, upon opening my blog notification, I was shocked to see that my blog received thousands (almost 8,700) views and 7000+ unique visits—something I know that is beyond my local community’s sharing power. I was also surprised to see that my post about my dissent with the official answer has been shared more than a thousand times, and comments started to come (both agreeing and disagreeing with my opinion and theory).

Needless to say, I was overwhelmed by this fact. The first thing that came into my mind was a pang of regret, because I procrastinated in monetizing the traffic I’ve been enjoying the past months. I have a constant traffic of 300 unique views a day, and I have been planning to add advertising plug-ins to my blog so I can earn passively from the views and visits it receives. But what I did not expect is that I’d receive thousands of views in a day just because of an opinion I posted, more than 8000 on the first day and more than 12,500 on the second. I know it is too late now because this traffic will not last as it will die down when the meme becomes a bit older, perhaps in a few days. But this is an achievement for me as a blogger, to receive this amount of traffic in just two days for a mere opinion; and no amount of money can ever equal to that (well, honestly, human nature makes me wish I could still receive all those missed passive incomes, hahaha!). Maybe I’ll do it soon when I have the funds to buy my own domain and pay for a host, but I know I won’t be getting this much traffic.

Well, aside from that, I just also found out (literally moments ago) that my blog has been featured in Know Your Meme—something that is even more unexpected from getting a lot of traffic! I myself is a fan of Know Your Meme; I visit it whenever I do not understand a meme or its origin, and being featured by this site is one of the biggest achievement I have ever had in my life as a blogger. I have been blogging for a while now and have been featured in some local sites, but being featured in Know Your Meme is really something that I will forever be proud of. (Someone also posted on the comment section that my blog “is also the #1 hit on [G]oogle if you type in the first part of the riddle,” which also makes me feel a real accomplished blogger.)

To those who shared my previous blog post, thank you very much; because without you, I will never receive this traffic, let alone get featured in Know Your Meme. This makes me feel really enthusiastic about blogging again despite busy work schedules. And no matter I get high traffic or not, I will blog because now I know, that there are people actually read my blogs, not just visit them. Again, thank you very much random netizens and linkaratis.

Related post:

The Great Giraffe Challenge Inconsistency