Bloggers read blogs on a very regular basis. Bloggers read the words of other bloggers almost every day, as a matter of fact.
Blog writers are among the most frequent visitors to other blogs. Blog owners are also very likely to subscribe to RSS feeds from other blogs. Without a doubt bloggers are blog readers as well as being blog writers. In fact, bloggers are often the main reading audience for some bloggers. It could even be said that many bloggers simply write for other bloggers.
Questions often arise about how often a blogger should read other blogs and how many blogs should be read. There are also questions about whether blog writers should take a break away from reading blogs. Of course, I would never suggest not reading blogs; merely that you consider other forms of entertainment and knowledge building. Books spring to mind, for example.
Bloggers use other blogs as informational sources, as well as material for their own blog posts. If you are short of a blog posting idea, another blog will often a post to inspire your creative juices. If the post doesn't inspire creativity, at least it will give you something to comment upon, solving the blank blog space problem. That said, th question remains whether a blogger should take some time off from reading blogs.
I have been away from the computer most of the day for the last week. During that time period, I have read very few of my favourite blogs. At the same time, I haven't checked blog post links, or even posted many blog comments. My own posts were written, and then I was away from the computer. Other aspects of life were calling, and blogs and blogging became secondary.
During that time, life on the blogs moved along at its usual breakneck blogging speed. Posts were written, read by many, and scrolled down their respective home pages, and off to the blog archives. As we all know, once a post arrives in the blog archives, it's often forgotten. At least the search engines keep track of them, sending new visitors to read them, even if the regular readership has missed them entirely.
I haven't really missed the posts as much, as I have missed the people who write the blogs. Bloggers become your friends, and they are missed. Of course, friends don't mind if you don't visit them every day. That's true with blogs online, as it's true in the offline 3-D world.
You don't have to visit or read other blogs every day.
I would suggest taking some time away from blog reading each week. Take at least two days per week as non-blog days, when you read no other blogs. You can post your thoughts and ideas on your own blog, but limit your outside blog reading during that time. Use the time normally spent reading blogs on other activities.
You don't have to read every blog on your blogroll or RSS feed subscriptions every single day. Take a blog reading break, and examine other pursuits, both online and in the offline world.
Don't let that stop you from visiting this blog every day, however.
I won't tell anyone that you visited on your day off from blog reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment