You have to tell people what you want. People cannot guess easily what you have in mind. Even if they assume something, they may not act upon it as they do not know whether their guess is accurate or not. Tell other people, including bloggers, what you want if you expect something or are hoping for something.

Now, you should not run around telling people what you want without doing anything yourself. You have to work for something and you have to tell others what you are expecting.

An example of how not telling someone important things can hurt in the offline world

Recently, I bumped into an old friend that I had not seen for over a year. She was so excited that she kept laughing and crying at the same time. After a while, though, she told me “I am still sad that we couldn’t be more than friends.” I was surprised to hear that, as I never knew she wanted me to treat her more than a friend. Whether or not I liked her back then, if she had told me that she liked me, I could have made sure that I told her about my feelings and I would have also made sure that she did not feel awkward around me afterwards because of me not having the same feelings for her.

Now here is the funny thing. I had also not told her that I expected “only” good friendship from her. I had assumed she would know that I was a good friend and looking for a good friend only. I should not have assumed things, and should have instead let her know of the level of friendship I was giving and expecting. When you interact with people, cooperation has to be from both sides. Otherwise, you are simply forcing yourself to force someone else to cooperate with you. Now that I think of it, if I was in her shoes and she was in mine, I would have also expected something more because of the way she acted towards me.

Tell bloggers what you want, and ask readers what they want

While appreciating readers is a good thing, bloggers also need to know what users want in order to appreciate them. Not all people want money. Not all people want Amazon.com gift coupons. Not all people want magazines. That is why I am happy that Stacee from Chase The Stars and Vivien from Inspiration Bit are expressing the things they think are good for blog readers. If I only stick to prizes that I think people should get, I am assuming that people would want the things that I can imagine. You have to tell people what they want, and you have to ask people what they want too.

Next time you feel disrespected or even ignored by someone, ask yourself one question: does this person know what I want, or how I want to be treated? As for me and my friend, I am glad that we ran into each other too. Sometimes distance and time away from each other can make you appreciate people more. I told her about this site as she had stopped visiting my site long time ago. I hope she does not mind me using this as an example.

As a sidenote, we are collecting a list of potential prizes for the Reader Appreciation Week. If you have an idea for what you would like as a prize, we would greatly appreciate your input.

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