Keeping in Touch
If you haven't noticed already, I'm kinda nosy. Today I got to wondering how the rest of you manage to read, blog, live life and keep up with your all of favorite blogs. Right now my patched together method consists of:
1. I always visit people when they comment on one of my posts and try to comment on theirs. I've made some great blogging friends with this method. Between work, kids, six pets and never-ending renovations at home some days this is all I am able to do. Does this make me selfish?!
Wait. Don't answer that! I always feel a little bad doing it this way but it seems to be my default method. I know I'm missing out on some great posts and book recommendations (like I really need more of those!) but it also means I never miss the people who take the time to visit me and that's super important to me. I realize not everyone can visit everyone's blog every single day so how do you manage to stay on top of your favorites? (How's that for a sentence?!)
2. I have a little list here to the bottom right of blogs I enjoy reading but often feel like that looks like I'm playing favorites. I debate deleting it altogether on the daily but it's a good nudge for me to visit blogs I love reading. Some folks choose not to comment/visit other blogs and that's cool. That list right there is all up in my face so it's hard for me to miss out on some of those people who don't always comment but write blog posts that I find interesting I've also found some great blogs from other people's sidebar blogrolls. But, honestly, does this kind of thing leave you feeling excluded?
3. I use Bloglovin' but it seems I rarely look at it because it's last on my list of things to do on the PC and there are always soooo many posts that it overwhelms me and I close the window and scurry away. I'd probably be better at it if I could actually fit the app on my phone or even my Ipad but they're both stuffed and that would mean deleting books and podcasts and I can't bring myself to do that.
There has to be a better way to stay in touch and read all the words! Please tell me what it is!
Reciprocal Visits
1. I always visit people when they comment on one of my posts and try to comment on theirs. I've made some great blogging friends with this method. Between work, kids, six pets and never-ending renovations at home some days this is all I am able to do. Does this make me selfish?!
Blogroll
2. I have a little list here to the bottom right of blogs I enjoy reading but often feel like that looks like I'm playing favorites. I debate deleting it altogether on the daily but it's a good nudge for me to visit blogs I love reading. Some folks choose not to comment/visit other blogs and that's cool. That list right there is all up in my face so it's hard for me to miss out on some of those people who don't always comment but write blog posts that I find interesting I've also found some great blogs from other people's sidebar blogrolls. But, honestly, does this kind of thing leave you feeling excluded?
Bloglovin'
3. I use Bloglovin' but it seems I rarely look at it because it's last on my list of things to do on the PC and there are always soooo many posts that it overwhelms me and I close the window and scurry away. I'd probably be better at it if I could actually fit the app on my phone or even my Ipad but they're both stuffed and that would mean deleting books and podcasts and I can't bring myself to do that.
There has to be a better way to stay in touch and read all the words! Please tell me what it is!
Pretty much I do the same as you. I have 10-15 blogs I visit regularly and I then I always seem to stumble on a few more when I'm browsing. I'm like you with Bloglovin'. It's usually the last thing I end up checking if I check it at all. I do try to visit the blogs of people who comment on my blog and I've made a lot of friends doing so. Great discussion and I look forward to other people's thoughts.
ReplyDeleteAnother of my problems is getting sidetracked by new blogs. There seem to be millions of them and then I end up losing all kinds of time. I tend to have 10 or so windows open on my browser so I don't miss someone. It's kind of organized chaos around here.
DeleteThe Netgalley drama meant reading a 550 page book on the computer over three days so that took the whole of three mornings plus a few afternoon hours so I think this week I lost about 16 blogging hours which is a lot! I had no time for putting up most of the blog posts I wanted to do but normality should restart tomorrow as well as more blog visits!
ReplyDeleteBloglovin is actually my first stop each day so I can see all the posts I need to look at. I look at or delete the things I don't have anything to say on ie news, erotica/contemporary reviews, music video posts, celebrity posts, fashion etc. Priority are my regular visitors, TTT, STS, then occasional visitors. Normally I have time to do this and answer all comments on my blog. I'd love to have more time to go back to blogs I've commented on to see if responses have been made to what I said but I usually run out of time!
I'm so sorry about your Netgalley mess. That is a lot of hours to lose and I feel you on that :( Once I figured out how to send things to my Kindle app everything now works pretty smoothly but I every now and again I accidentally request a non-kindle and it's always a pain.
DeleteI think I need to get better at Bloglovin', maybe better about deleting things or quickly marking them as read. I'm easily distracted and just tend to get lost.
I will usually subscribe to comments in order to follow conversations but I may need to stop doing that or be a little choosier because now I'm spending way too long going thru my email. There just aren't enough hours in the day.
I am with you on trying to balance and fir it all in! I always try and comment back to those who come and stop by me. I also try and hit up Bloglovin every morning but I do sometimes miss things. It is hard to get to everything - plus read, write reviews/posts and you know other parts of life. I have been meaning to do a blogroll but then I get lazy!!
ReplyDeletelol, I think I'd be lost without my little blogroll over there. It helps me remember who I love to read when I get overwhelmed in the world of book bloggerland.
DeleteI think I am pretty much like you so don't feel bad. I was actually going through my bloglovin today and deleting a lot and rearranging, finding out many blogs are no longer active or have went private and you have to be invited so I just though okay delete. I am trying to arrange them into a better way but I doubt there is going to be a great way, as I will still just forget about some even though I don't mean too. :(
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think I need to do that too. There's only so many hours in the day and I have too much on there.
DeleteI do the best that I can. I try to get to everyone who comments on my blog but I admit that I haven't always gotten this done. I follow so many blogs on Bloglovin' that it is almost unusable for me. I have been doing better this year (so far!). I may need to think about doing the blogroll thing at some point.
ReplyDeleteI have the same issue that's why I prefer my little blog roll but I know I'm always forgetting some good people. What a dilemma!
DeleteI have found it more difficult to keep up with blogs as I have discovered more and more. I do the same- try to always visit back those who visit me and then expanding out from there. :) And there is a core group of blogs that I seem to frequent a lot (the Sunday Post crowd in particular since it feels like I've been doing that forever). Bloglovin also does show me a lot of posts I would miss. But I wish I knew the answer too. :)
ReplyDeleteIf you find it please return and share it :)
DeleteMy methods are similar, actually. If I don't have the time or energy to do too much, I'll just go visit the blogs of anyone who has commented on my blog as I go through my comments. I don't think it's selfish. That way you're not neglecting people who've taken the time to visit you. And then, when I do have more time and energy, I use bloglovin' to find more posts to check out :-) I used to try and keep track of my favorite blogs with live bookmarks, but eventually it got out of control and bloglovin' just works best for me.
ReplyDeleteI think I need to tweak my bloglovin' to make it more usable for me. I do prefer to visit back my visitors. I've found so many great people doing it this way :)
DeleteI use Feedly to visit blogs I follow. I do the reciprocal visit for blogs who aren't on my feed, but I usually comment on my favorite blogs as I'm going through my Feedly subscriptions. I do categorize my Feedly to mark blogs I don't want to miss, but I try to keep my overall number of subscriptions as low as I can. It helps!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the blog roll reminder! Mine needs an update. I don't use it to visit other blogs, but I know it's a great resource for other people to find new blogs.
I've never heard of Feedly. My Bloglovin' most definitely needs a pruning! I think keeping subscriptions low is a great idea. I've made most of my social media sites unusable by adding too much.
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