Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Common Courtesy of Blogging

I read a handful of blogs (okay, a good-sized handful) daily. I love blogs. I love getting a peek into the lives of other moms (because it's mostly mommy blogs that I read) who are dealing with similar stuff as me. It makes me feel better/connected to them.

The first few blogs I ever read were Julie and Julia who both had 100s, if not thousands, of readers by the time I came across them. I knew there was no way they could possibly read every single comment or reciprocate the reading of every reader's blog and I didn't expect them to (it would have been nice, but unrealistic). But then I started coming across quite a few smaller blogs - people who had few-to-no registered readers and/or few-to-no regular commenters. And you know, I know how that feels. So I always tried to comment on those blogs. And I tried to check in more regularly if I liked the first few posts I read. This has changed my reading habits a lot, and I no longer check Julie's blog 3 times a week to see if maybe she posted!

I don't really know how to grow my blog a lot. Partially because I'm not willing to open myself up to some talented Googling and let everyone in the world know that I have a blog. (This has more to do with the fact that I talk very frankly about my friends and family in my blog and I don't want to change that.) But I appreciate the courtesy of people reciprocating reading/comments when I am a regular commenter on their blogs. I think it's common blog courtesy, especially if you aren't a person who has 100+ readers or something. (I know that you don't have time to read 50 blogs per day, I get that).

But I have to tell you, I get a little miffed when I read and comment on a smaller blog EVERY DAY and then they comment (on their own blog) that they only read one or two blogs regularly and mine isn't one of them. That's darn frustrating. Because, seriously, how long does it take to read one of my posts? 2 minutes? And how long does it take to drop a 2 sentence comment? 30 seconds?

But then, I know that it can be hard to keep up with all the reading. There are days when I don't get to my blogs and then the next day, I feel so behind. And sometimes I feel guilty about it. Which is ridiculous, but still.

I don't know what my point is here - I guess that people should practice a little courtesy when reading/writing blogs. If you're a regular reader, say something in the comments. If you have regular readers, share the love and check their blogs out, too. It's just polite.

3 comments:

  1. I read your every post! :) I don't always comment because I usually read from my phone and it's a pain to comment from my phone. But I know what you mean, I wish some of my regular blogs cared as much about me as I care about them. And then, there's some real-life friends who don't even mention my blog when they are naming blogs they read ...

    Btw, your reading public would still like to see how Fuss's hair looks :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm with April - I often read posts on my phone, which makes it really hard to comment. I usually save the post for commenting at a later date, but they build up really fast! I used to try and comment every weekend (I leave my laptop at work during the week). Getting an iPad has REALLY helped my comment ratio and timeliness. (Is timeliness a word? It looks wrong to me.)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I don't think you have to comment on every post, but I do think it's polite that if someone comments several times a week (or on every post if you only post 1-2 times per week or whatever) that you should at least READ their blog.
    Both April and Jessica are my most faithful commenters! And I read their blogs every single time you post (maybe not the DAY you post, but I read every word!)
    (And yes, Jessica, timeliness is a word! lol)

    ReplyDelete