Keeping up with blogs and not getting overrun with the blogosphere!
Sunday, March 27, 2005
I was reading a discussion among the art quilters on Fiber and Thread where Teri and some of the art quilters (read the comments) are discussing getting "overrun" with keeping up with blogs. So, I thought I'd share some of my opinions on this "issue".
First, I REALLY have to not let myself surf blogs all the time. It can be very addictive, especially once you find a variety of rings and directories, and then there will be other "favorite blogs" on each of the blogs I read....UGH! too much! However, I also find some buried in there that are fantastic (like when Loobylu went through and highlighted all of her favorites!).
Second, as much as I hate to highlight a product, I will suggest downloading Firefox. The reason it's fantastic for blogs is that it has "tabs" (you'll know when you download it what these are - the are little tabs across the top of your window for each window you've opened).
So, here's my approach - make a folder under "your favorites" called "daily blogs" and "blogs to watch" (or some more clever titles). Then I bookmark them by the ones who update daily and the ones who update less frequently. The good news is that this gives me a MUCH shorter list to check once a day and the others I check every 3-4 days (or when I'm avoiding work!!). The tabs on Firefox are really cool because you can load the whole list (just go get your morning coffee or tea while it's loading) and then I click the tabs closed if they haven't updated.
Ocassionally I go through and move blogs from "daily" to "watch"...depending on people being out of town, etc. And also VERY ocassionally I delete them. I add them all the time, mostly to the "watch" catagory. I read blogs with my morning coffee and sometimes I surf for new stuff at night or on the weekends. The HARDEST part about them is that it's a GREAT excuse NOT to work (especially when you work at home) and so I am forbidden from reading them during the day (yeah RIGHT! - but I do try!).
Anyway, love to hear back from all of you if you have tips or information about how to tackle a LOT of blogs - I know most of the best bloggers ready HEAPS of them...there must be more techniques!
First, I REALLY have to not let myself surf blogs all the time. It can be very addictive, especially once you find a variety of rings and directories, and then there will be other "favorite blogs" on each of the blogs I read....UGH! too much! However, I also find some buried in there that are fantastic (like when Loobylu went through and highlighted all of her favorites!).
Second, as much as I hate to highlight a product, I will suggest downloading Firefox. The reason it's fantastic for blogs is that it has "tabs" (you'll know when you download it what these are - the are little tabs across the top of your window for each window you've opened).
So, here's my approach - make a folder under "your favorites" called "daily blogs" and "blogs to watch" (or some more clever titles). Then I bookmark them by the ones who update daily and the ones who update less frequently. The good news is that this gives me a MUCH shorter list to check once a day and the others I check every 3-4 days (or when I'm avoiding work!!). The tabs on Firefox are really cool because you can load the whole list (just go get your morning coffee or tea while it's loading) and then I click the tabs closed if they haven't updated.
Ocassionally I go through and move blogs from "daily" to "watch"...depending on people being out of town, etc. And also VERY ocassionally I delete them. I add them all the time, mostly to the "watch" catagory. I read blogs with my morning coffee and sometimes I surf for new stuff at night or on the weekends. The HARDEST part about them is that it's a GREAT excuse NOT to work (especially when you work at home) and so I am forbidden from reading them during the day (yeah RIGHT! - but I do try!).
Anyway, love to hear back from all of you if you have tips or information about how to tackle a LOT of blogs - I know most of the best bloggers ready HEAPS of them...there must be more techniques!
7 Comments:
commented by
sharonb, March 27, 2005 8:24 PM
sharonb, March 27, 2005 8:24 PM
I've given up trying to keep apace of all of them-i stick to my favourites because of content or style, those of people i now consider friends and don't bother anymore with the few who rarely update even if they are fascinating and those who, for whatever the reason, delete my comments (?!?)
I've given up trying to keep apace of all of them-i stick to my favourites because of content or style, those of people i now consider friends and don't bother anymore with the few who rarely update even if they are fascinating and those who, for whatever the reason, delete my comments (?!?)
Oh, god... a new thing to try. I do not have Firefox, but I do have netscape (with tabs). Now I'm gonna have to figure out how to do use tabs (I haven't liked them so far) to help run through my favorite blogs.
Hi Marie-France, like Sharon I use Bloglines , it's very useful: it tells you whenever a blog is updated (so you don't need to do the surfing yourself to check who posted new entries). I has saved me a lot of time! Like you I tended to get swamped in the mass of blogs I found interesting... ;)
Thanks so much for your kind words on my blog - and you're so right! The cat we finally adopted is the most adorable cat I've ever known - and yet I've known a lot in the past! :-D
Thanks so much for your kind words on my blog - and you're so right! The cat we finally adopted is the most adorable cat I've ever known - and yet I've known a lot in the past! :-D
Lots of good ideas here. I think I'll try your tab method. I don't know why but I'm always reluctant to sign up for yet another thing so I've put off going to Bloglines or Blogarithmic, etc.
My biggest problem with bloglines is it takes too long for things to show up...I'm way too impatient!
Thanks everyone for the ideas...this is always a challenge isn't it?
Thanks everyone for the ideas...this is always a challenge isn't it?














I use bloglines.com as an aggregator to pull everything new into one spot - it aves time