Thursday, January 8, 2009

Blog Behavior

I'm curious... what is your blog behavior? When you find a new blog, how do you decide if you like it, want to "follow" it? How far back in the archives do you go? Do you start with the recent and go backwards? Do you scan the first page and make the ultimate decision right then? Do you save it in your favorites and go back to a few times? If you've found a blog you really like, do you go back and read everything? Do you comment on old posts that reach out to you? What catches your eye? What turns you off?

11 comments:

KPCL Girl said...

If I find a blog I like, and I'm somewhat new to blogs (and having enough time to actually read what I've found interesting), I immediately sign on as a follower. That sort of bookmarking helps me to get back to it easily. Some of the blogs I've discovered are relatively new and I've been able to go back and read the old posts. Yours, and Artsy Mom's go back way too far, but I have occasionally read one that has an interesting title. And yes, I've commented on old posts.

If the blog proves to be not quite as interesting as I had thought it might be, I 'un-follow'.

What catches my eye are people I can relate to, people I know, and...people that make me think.

What turns me off is self-indulgent vanity writing and teenage angst (thus sayeth the former reigning Queen of Teenage Angst 1976-1979). :-)

mimbles said...

When I find a blog that seems interesting I bookmark it (I use firefox live bookmarks). If I continue to enjoy reading it I'll often go back and read earlier posts, sometimes starting from the beginning and other times randomly clicking on post titles that catch my eye. I mostly don't comment on very old posts, I prefer to try and join in on more current conversations as it were.

Whenever someone new comments on my blog I make sure I go and bookmark and read their blog and leave a comment in return. Not having a huge readership helps on this front! I also like to put the blogs of my regular commenters on my blogroll but I'm sometimes a bit slow getting that updated.

I'm not really in the habit of using the new "Follow" function much yet, I don't use dashboard to do my reading and many of the blogs I read are not on Blogger.

Lately I've been thinking I really should switch to using Google Reader because I now have so many blogs bookmarked that it's getting a bit cumbersome. The main reason I haven't switched though is that I really like actually visiting the blog proper, to me the blog design, the sidebar extras and all the comments are integral to the fun of blogging and you miss out on all of that if you use a feed reader.

Things I like: good writing, I'll read just about anything if it's well written; a clean design that doesn't obscure the text, good choice of text vs. background colour is much appreciated; photos are nice; good use of linking - to references, things of interest, other bloggers.

The one thing I can't stand is poor grammar and spelling. If the content is interesting I'll persevere for a while with a blog that has the occasional typo or is clearly written by someone who is trying their best, but when it's clear that the writer either doesn't care, can't be bothered or is making a stylistic choice, without any apparent artistic merit, to flout normal conventions* then I'm gone never to return. (What's with the never using capitalisation thing? Have you come across that? I find it unreadable.)

*Completely off topic: Has anyone read Ian M. Banks' book Feersum Endjinn? Damn that was hard going, but it worked. It's written in the first person by a character with no formal schooling - phonetic spelling for the entire novel.

Garret said...

I find blogs based on:
1- What others follow
2- Blog award leaders
3- Random blog search

I read a few post and decide if it interests me. I then subscribe. I have read blogs from the beginning to catch up, but not as much lately.

I see other blog titles that look interesting but I'm scared I'll like it and end up subscribing to another blog. Too many.

Candy said...

I usually gravitate from someone else's blogroll or comment, peruse it a bit, and if it "fits" I follow. I always visit and most often comment on those who leave comments. To me, it's like not saying not saying "hello" when someone greets you. That being said...don't feel obligated because I'm not offended and my followers do not define me :)

God's blessings!

mimbles said...

Oooh sorry! That comment was way longer than I realised.

Mary Ellen said...

I find most blogs either through comments on my blog or comments on some of the other blogs I really love. Before I blogged myself, I read five blogs religiously, but since I started my own blog, I have about 45 that I read regularly. Thank heaven I'm a fast reader!

When I first visit a blog, I read the current post, and go back to read at least four or five more. Then, if I really love it, or if there's a great story there and I have to know how it began, I will go back and read the whole thing.

My favorite blogs are funny, informative, compelling storytellers or totally off the wall. This, by the way, is a great question! I'd love to know how people found my blog, and what made them stick with me.

Joanie said...

When I first started blogging, several months ago, I was reading my daughter's blog (with permission, of course) and I clicked on one of her favorites, Cake Wrecks, to be exact. From there I read others and if they made me laugh, I started following.

The only blogs I read from the beginning to present was Rv'ing with Jim and Garret and Mary Ellen's adoption blog. Other's I've gone back a ways. I check out what other bloggers are reading and sometimes start to follow them!
I'm afraid it's becoming an addiction!

Wonderful World of Weiners said...

Very good question but not a great answer do I have. Blogs just "speak" to me. I have no idea what makes them do that but I pretty much know within 2 minuted whether I'll come back to read again.

Hallie :)

Gail said...

I read bloggers with whom I share a common interest -- homeschooling, knitting, sewing, online community/forum, and, in the case of KPCL Girl, the years 1976 to 1979 when we were all angst-y together in a Really Small Town. I tend to add them to my blog reader pretty much immediately, then delete them if I realize I'm not reading them. Or not. Did you know Bloglines will let you have about 200 unread posts in a blog you're following? It gets sort of pissy after that, though, and randomly refuses to connect to the blog.

I rarely look at the old stuff. Sometime I find some of MY old stuff online -- posts I made to Mothering.com in 2002 or somesuch -- yikes, it's really weird to find something like that. Sometimes someone will dredge up an old forum discussion, and it's hard to be interested after all these years.

Mrs4444 said...

With 88 blogs in my Google Reader (doesn't count those I'm following), I'm pretty descriminating and will not Follow "just to be nice." I decide who I like from whatever is on the home page. All it takes is one post to hook me, though. Every now and then, if I add a blog to my reader, I choose one to delete. I ask myself, "Is this blog making my life richer, or is it an obligation to read it?" If a blog is really great, I'll still keep it, even if the blogger never comes to mine.

Amy's Blah, Blah, Blogging said...

I usually find blogs based on comments left on my blog or other blogs. I usually go and scan the blog and what will usually stand out to me are the pictures or the first couple of posts. If they are not interesting I won't read anymore. Yeah, not too scientific, but that's my way. :)