|
As I've increased my participation in blogging communities, like Entrecard, I'm finding lots of new blogs to read. I use Google Reader to keep up with the blogs that interest me, and sometimes my reading list becomes unmanageable. So I've had to implement some "rules" to dictate what goes on my list, what stays there, and what gets the boot when I start to fall behind.
When I visit a new blog, the first thing I do is read the most recent entry that isn't a paid post or a meme. The first rule is put to the test right away: can I even find such a post without having to click for more entries more than once? If not, I won't give the blog a second look. I understand sponsored blogging, I do it too, but the blog had better have a purpose other than to make money. And the occasional meme is fine, even fun, but a blog that is all memes without any original thoughts gets a big thumbs down from me.
If that most recent post captures my attention and is on a topic that interests me, or gets me thinking, or makes me laugh out loud... basically as long as I don't find myself yawning, rolling my eyes, or skimming to the end, then I subscribe to the feed. The subscription stays at the bottom of my list, so I can remember I'm still deciding, until I come back to Google Reader to do my daily reading. At that time, I read all of the entries which appear on the feed... usually the last ten. If I end up skimming through or outright skipping more than half of them, then it comes right back off the list. If I like what I see, however, then I move the feed up to its permanent position in my alphabetical list. But if at any time, especially when I'm starting to drown in unread posts, I feel I'm losing interest in too many of the posts on any particular blog, then it has to go. Exceptions may be made, of course, for people I really, really like despite their interests not totally meshing with mine. 
A few more sub-rules which may determine whether a blog passes those initial tests:
- Don't just blog about blogging all the time. That's like writing a how-to manual on writing how-to manuals. Those who can, do; those who can't... tell everyone else how to do.
- If you had to sum up each one of your posts in one single sentence, would you be reusing the same sentence a lot? If so, your blog is likely to make me snore. After a while, we get the message. You really like x. You severely dislike y. Can we move on to something else now?
Over the next few weeks I'm going to try to fill up the "cool sites" category by highlighting some of the blogs that have passed my tests and withstood the test of time.
<< prev • home • next >>
|
![[photo of me]](/mypic.jpg)
![[album thumbnail]](/photos/seaworlddc2007/thumbnails/albumthumb.jpg)
