That is the question.
(Twitter Follow-me icon)(No, I DON'T twitter, just used their icon
because I FOUND it on Google Image)
How do you decide which blogs to follow and which to leave as random ships passed in the night? I've been asking myself that question for a while now. My follow list is already at 98, even with a modicum of selectivity on my part, and when does my list get too long to actually, you know, FOLLOW????
Well, here are a few of the criteria I've been using in my own selection process:
1) Friends in real life. If I already have a connection with you, and then I find you have a blog, that will probably be a trump card that will keep me following you even if you miss the mark on all my other criteria.
2) Personality. Something in your random blog post that I happened across jumped out and claimed my attention because it was so full of your fun and eclectic personality. Could I be any more clear!?! LOL
3) Humor. If you make me LOL, and especially if you make me LOL TWICE in the same post - - - I'm yours. Let's face it, life is really full of rather humorless things - - - I don't really need that in my blogaddiction hobby. Life is full of causes - - - some good, some not so much. I don't want THAT in my blogaddiction either. So - - - if you are fun, witty, and FUNNY - - - - you have me at hello.
4) Pictures. I'll admit it. If I open a blog, and it's a loooooonnnnnnnnggggggg column of just words - - - I'm moving on without reading. Once I get to know you, I'll stick around for some long prose - - - but that won't "grab" me to come in out of cyberspace. (I say this as I'm posting a loooooonnnnnnnggggggg very verbose post - - - go figure.) If the words are broken up into some interesting format - - - bullets, poem form, color added - - - that helps. What can I say - - - I think we ALL have very visual sides to our learning curves.
5) Comments. If you come to my blog and leave comments, I'm going to yours to check it out. (So be sure your comment name is linked to your blog or your profile.) When I get to your blog, all my other criteria kick in. If you continue to come to my blog and leave comments, especially if through your comments we start to build a friendship - - - then I'm also going to follow you. What can I say - - - for me the BESTEST thing about blogging is community.
6) Frequency of posting. Once I start following you, if you post with some amount of frequency, I will start to feel a connection with you - - - I will begin to "know" you and I'm yours. Periodically I go through my follow list and if you have posted so infrequently that I don't even know who you are by your blog title, I'll be honest, I'm probably deleting you from my list.
How do YOU decide whom to follow?
How do YOU know when your blog follow list is toooooo long to actually follow? OH - - - but I guess THAT should be the topic of ANOTHER post!!!
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19 comments:
Your list about sums it up. There are some that I read that don't reciprocate my follow, but most do. I don't post pictures as often as I should-mostly because the headless is hard to come by.
Whispering:
I'll be honest, there are a couple that I follow out of some unwritten 'obligation'-they follow me, comment on almost every post, but their blogs don't necessarily meet the criteria.
I love the community aspect though. And I love you. You certainly don't fall into this category. Ever!
Thanks for including me. Probably because of item 2 . . .
OK, I realize I fall into #1 only. Thanks for loyalty. I originally thought to have a "serious" blog, but decided ... well, I can't decide. You have great humor. My sense of humor was left behind in one of our many moves, and I haven't backtracked to find it, so maybe I follow some blogs to vicariously find humor in life ... or maybe regain that which was misplaced.
I follow U because I am one of your biggest fans!!!;)I can always depend on U to give me a good laugh for the day, but also love how U are brutally honest about yourself and what U stand for.I always look forward to your comments you leave me, I feel like I have a friend in you, plus U are a very interesting kind of gal!!:)
I don't pay any attention to the followers thing. I'm sure that I'm missing out on some benefit that goes along with it. When I find a new blog that I like I save it to my favorites. Then after visiting a few times if there's a connection, I add them on my sidebar. Now some of them are there because we have the Texas/Oklahoma connection. Some are there because they make me laugh, some have decorating that speaks to me, some are just obviously really sweet girls that I'd like to hang out with! The blog list on my sidebar updates to the most recent posts. Did I say that right? So it doesn't take me long to visit everyone with a new post.
Stacey, it sounds to me like you use very similar "criteria" for choosing whom you will place on your side bar blog list and whom you will keep there.
However we do it, it seems we all must have SOME system for choosing blogs because it would be possible to have so many one couldn't really enjoy any of them.
I agree with all of your criteria. In fact, that's probably why I follow you. I agree with a lot of what you say. There's a connection there.
I do somehow feel obligated to follow folks who follow me; however, since blogger went to this new follower format, I sometimes have trouble finding blogs of my followers if they don't post a comment. Maybe I need a lesson in how to use the followers thingy, but I don't like the way it's done now.
I don't put all of the blogs on my sidebar that I actually follow, and I probably need to go in and clean up my sidebar some. One of my pet peeves is blogs that include so many gadgets they they just take forever to load. I mean, I do really like music and would probably put some on my own blog because I think the whole idea is neat, but then I remember how annoyed I get when I'm opening blogs from other blogs and get several different songs going at once. I usually have to just turn the volume down. Plus the music makes the blogs take longer to load.
It's not as much of a problem on my PC because it's faster, but it really slows my laptop down. (Have I mentioned that I reallllllly need a new laptop, but I'm trying to hold out for the next operating system. I really don't want Vista.
I'm with you on the pictures thing, but then sometimes there are too many pictures. On some of the meme things, some of the bloggers want to show every picture they took of a particular room, table or whatever, when only one or two would do.
One more thing. If I find out someone is from Arkansas or they are Razorback fans, I'll definitely follow them.
Well, this has been a pretty long comment, but that shows that I must have really enjoyed your post because it sparked all of these thoughts.
Happy weekend, Keetha.
2,3,and 4 are why I follow you!LOL But, there are other reasons I follow blogs. Sometimes I like the way a person lives/cooks/decorates/crafts/believes and I follow the blog so I can expand my mind and learn something. I may not, nor ever, have anything in common with the writer of the blog but I want to know more about what they do.
I don't care so much about posting frequency or pictures, those things are dictated by real-life sometimes and we all know how that goes! A blogger I know came across some hard times with health and family issues and didn't blog for many months but I kept checking, hoping she'd come back to it. And she did(yay).
So, is Moe's a great place to eat?? We have one going in here as well, where a local healthfood store used to be.
Molly
we lv yr blgs..wl kp comnts shrt
I Use Google reader, so that's how I follow my favorite blogs. I really like blogs that update on a regular basis and have a humor factor to them. Oh, I like photos, too LOL I agree with all of your points :)
I also really like craft blogs, decorating blogs, and other topic specific blogs. I put those in a different section of my reader, so when I want to read them (once a week or so) I just scroll through the blog and see what catches my eye.
I started reading your blog because you made funny/interesting comments on Leigh's blog and I finally got curious enough about you, that I started reading yours.
YOUR LIST WAS GREAT AND I AGREE WITH YOURS A LOT
BEING THAT I AM SO NEW AT THIS I WOULD CLICK NEXT BLOG ON THE PAGE AND IT WAS SO BORING LOOKING!
SO WHAT I DO NOW IS ON A FEW OF THE BLOGS I CLICK ON THE PICTURE OF A COMMENT LEFT AND READ THEIR BLOG AND I F I LIKE IT I WILL STAY
I LOVE WHEN I GET SOMEONE NEW TO LEAVE A COMMENT AND I ALWAYS GO TO THERE BLOG AND LEAVE THEM ON MY LIST
I MAKE SURE TO ALWAYS LEAVE A COMMENT IF I HAVE ONE BUT WILL STAY LOYAL TO THEM AS LONG AS THEY BLOG OFTEN AND RESPOND TO THEIR FOLLOWERS
I LOVE IT
I LOVE YOUR BLOG!
I agree with your list, with the addition of my personal most important criteria --- I follow whomever pays me to do so. Simple.
:-P
Cass
PS My hungry ghosts say Hi, and they ask you to send potato chips and onion dip, as the crunching of the chips might wake us at night and cause them no end of amusement.
LOL Cass about your ghosts. I think chips and dip is a lovely idea, will have to work on that.
By the way, I haven't gotten my "following bill" yet.
I found you through Cry. Like her I use to flip blogs. Now I click on blogs from comment section. Your list is great I will save it for when the masses discover the pearls of wisdom spewing forth on my blog.
Oh, I do hope I meet some of those criteria! But, I confess that I am not too computer savvy...so I'm not too good with the colors and fonts thing. But, I do try to provide a little humor to spice things up!
Have loved getting to know you through your blog!
Thanks for following me Keetha and being a loyal commenter!
I love your blog and I love that we "met" through blogging. I had no idea when I started blogging that I would "meet" people I now consider friends!
I'm trying to be more regular in posting-it's a goal of mine. (you know, since I don't scrapbook or have baby books for the kids-it's the only thing the kids will have to look back on. Hanging my head in shame!)
No no Julie, don't hang your head in shame!!! Just do what you can do and hold your head high!!! You are home LOVING your kids and that is the most important thing of all.
You handled this topic well. I started writing a similar post and it is parked in my drafts. I don't like reading a blog that has a tiny font - too much like directions. And I don't like a busy background behind the words.
Keetha, right now I am so behind on blog reading I feel a little... stressed. I agree that so much of blogging is the community - that's where the real blessing comes in. I enjoy your blog very much and you make me LOL often :)
All very true. Mine id dedication, my commenters who are regulars and lyal to me-like you Keetha- I feel a kinship and friendship with and like good neighbors wants to talk at the back fence daily and see what is new with them. Love that! Love you!
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