Monday Musings Question of the Week: 09/10/12

[Carol]

Is it really Monday…already? Then it’s time for the question of the week to kick things off on a motivating note. Here we go with a two-parter this go-round:

Part A: How many bloggers do you actually follow (ballpark) and how many times a week do you comment on other people’s blogs?

Then as a part B to the above, how do you keep track of which blogs you want to follow and comment on? Do you have a Word document? Excel spreadsheet? RSS feed reminders?

[Carol]

@Bonnie, what is your blog?

[Caren]

OMG…at least 150 (if not more) and it makes me a nervous wreck lol. I comment every day of the week to at least most of the posts I receive. I will be honest, if a topic doesn’t interest me for that day I move on. I don’t comment just to comment.

I greatly prefer to follow via email subscriptions. Going to Google reader or a blog roll takes too huge of a time chunk out of my day. I read email MOST of the day which makes it convenient for me. If a blog post is in my email I HAVE to see it. If someone relies on google or a blog roll they are losing folks like me who just won’t go there 🙂

[Carol]

These are very interesting replies so far. For me, I am reciprocal but I also visit blogs or titles that catch my eye. Commenting and being a reciprocal blogger is one key to being a successful blogger. However, I also comment on Twitter and Facebook to people as well as on forums, like this one, to which I belong. I never view it as “if you don’t comment on mine, I don’t comment on yours.”

I have an Excel spreadsheet of blogs that catch my eye… and it evolves nearly daily. I find blogs – in the pet and non-pet sector – I want to follow. I may not comment daily but I do keep in touch and let someone know if their post hit a nerve – good, bad, or indifferent. Diversity makes the world go round, yes? 😉

[Amy Shojai, CABC]

Wow, I have no idea. About a dozen come to my “in-box” and others I follow via FB posts. I also follow via the Triberr “Tribes” function where I can see at a glance topics, new posts, and go read and/or comment and share. I tend to “like” bunches of them but only comment when I truly have something worthy (or pithy…*s*) to say, perhaps two or three times a day. Most of my blog reading happens late at night after the regular writer-icity schtuff has been done.

[Carol]

@Bonnie I just liked you on FB and follow you now. I am not a cat mom but have many cat friends and love to keep up.

Bonnie, owned by Cheysuli said:

I’m at The Cat Post Intelligencer. We’re going on 7 years blogging over at mysiamese.com

I’m laughing at Caren–I have so much email already that I can’t imagine having all my blog subscriptions come there. I have about three that don’t seem to have RSS feeds and only do subscriptions by email and I really really hate those although I have a couple I like enough to do it.  I like being able to see the important stuff in my email and then go to the blogs when I’m free.

[Kia]

I follow a lot of blogs…probably more than 50.  I keep track of them in Google Reader or others I have followed are through wordpress.com so I just use their reader.  Some also may come to my email. I comment on blogs whenever I find the post interesting or they have commented on my blog so I go visit theirs and also comment. 

I just bookmark blogs I really like and keep them all in a folder or their link is currently on my “blogroll” on my site.

[Kathy H Porter]

Sadly, I don’t have a system. There are 3-4 bloggers whose blogs I go to in the early hours of the day as inspiration to help get my day started; I do have a blog roll that is known to change from time to time and I add things to the Resources page on my blog – these last two could be considered my “how I keep track of” method, but, honestly, I don’t formal track….I’m beginning to re-do some of this given the “commenting on other blogs” concept…I’ll be sure to keep y’all posted. Am looking forward to hearing from those of you who are really organized about this….

[Caren]

Carol I couldn’t agree more. It sometimes saddens me that there are some (thankfully not many) who I read and comment on and they NEVER return the kindness/consideration. I can see that not every blog post may be someone’s “cup of tea” but it is nice to leave a comment every now and then because certainly ALL of us have a blog post that they would find to be entertaining or learn from. I believe as you do, “that commenting and being a reciprocal blogger” is one key to blogging success, My list also involves blogs out of the pet sector and I agree with you that it is nice to leave a comment at least every now and then to let someone know that their work is being appreciated! And YES ‘diversity DOES make the world go round!”

Carol Bryant said:

These are very interesting replies so far. For me, I am reciprocal but I also visit blogs or titles that catch my eye. Commenting and being a reciprocal blogger is one key to being a successful blogger. However, I also comment on Twitter and Facebook to people as well as on forums, like this one, to which I belong. I never view it as “if you don’t comment on mine, I don’t comment on yours.”

I have an Excel spreadsheet of blogs that catch my eye… and it evolves nearly daily. I find blogs – in the pet and non-pet sector – I want to follow. I may not comment daily but I do keep in touch and let someone know if their post hit a nerve – good, bad, or indifferent. Diversity makes the world go round, yes? 😉

[Carol]

I am so going to try this Google Reader out. I like my Excel links and may leave claw marks if I have to abandon it. LOL

Kia said:

I follow a lot of blogs…probably more than 50.  I keep track of them in Google Reader or others I have followed are through wordpress.com so I just use their reader.  Some also may come to my email. I comment on blogs whenever I find the post interesting or they have commented on my blog so I go visit theirs and also comment. 

I just bookmark blogs I really like and keep them all in a folder or their link is currently on my “blogroll” on my site.

[Caren]

Hi Kimberly!

Yep! There are some who only offer the follow option via Google Reader or RSS feeds. If that’s the case I am gone (I follow you via email). When I started following blogs almost 3 yrs ago I didn’t do it via email but as my list grew and my own blog(s) grew, my time became much more limited. The “follow by email” option to me is a must for all bloggers to offer in addition to the other ways to follow that are available.

Kimberly Gauthier said:

Caren – will you clarify what you mean?  Do you mean if a blogger only gives the option to subscribe via Google Reader and not via email?

Thanks!!!

Caren Osrin Gittleman said:

If someone relies on google or a blog roll they are losing folks like me who just won’t go there 🙂

[Kia]

LOL LOL. I think you’ll love Google reader if you try it 🙂

Carol Bryant said:

I am so going to try this Google Reader out. I like my Excel links and may leave claw marks if I have to abandon it. LOL

Kia said:

I follow a lot of blogs…probably more than 50.  I keep track of them in Google Reader or others I have followed are through wordpress.com so I just use their reader.  Some also may come to my email. I comment on blogs whenever I find the post interesting or they have commented on my blog so I go visit theirs and also comment. 

I just bookmark blogs I really like and keep them all in a folder or their link is currently on my “blogroll” on my site.

[Dominique Foreman]

Hm, I probably follow about 45-50 different pet-related blogs.Because I’m weird, I prefer to actually visit their individual blogs and see the posts how the author wanted them seen (format).

I tend to rely mainly on the Blogger dashboard, where I definitely visit each new post on a daily basis and will comment on those who’ve hit a heartstring. Because I follow other blog formats as well, I’ll visit my Google reader subscriptions probably once a week, but I honestly don’t like the way that reader flows. 

I get too many emails in my inbox as is, so I know that email subscriptions would be totally lost on me and they would either end up in SPAM or in the deleted folder by accident. 🙂

[Dawn]

I subscribe to over 200 blogs(various subjects) through Google Reader. I use FeedDemon Lite to read them. I like FeedDemon because I can read them offline (I can’t access Internet at work) and I can scan post titles fast and delete what doesn’t look interesting to me without reading it (titles matter). With that number of blogs in my reader, there are quite a few I am not current on reading. I try to clear it out once a month.

I don’t have a system for keeping track of the blogs I comment on. I don’t really comment on blogs outside of the pet blogosphere unless the post is super interesting and I don’t comment as often as I’d like on pet blogs. Sometimes it depends on what free time I have.

[Kathy H Porter]

I have major catching up to do. I was knocked off of Blog Paws all day because of Go Daddy being “off the grid” – I have a feeling I’m going to learn a LOT.  lol

[Jennifer Costello]

I have a lot of work to do in this area. I follow at least 100 blogs and that list grows weekly. I read blogs through my blogger dashboard, email subscriptions, tribber and my facebook stream, all at various times of the week, it is very time consuming.  It would be nice if I could someday get them all grouped together.

[Karen Wardlaw]

could you check out bpawsitive.net and give me you opinion?

Kimberly Gauthier said:

I follow a lot of blogs; I’m not certain how many, but more than 20. I keep track of them in Google Reader (my life saver) and I comment on the ones that have a compelling title and subject. I follow blogs about blogging, photography, pets, and spiritual/positive stuff. I’m always looking for more.

If there’s a blog that I follow that doesn’t inspire me to want to read it; then I stop following it.

I also use CommentLuv and will try and read and comment on posts by people who comment on my blog.

Kimberly
http://www.keepthetailwagging.com

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