Sunday, February 24, 2013

Cleaning Up Blogger: Theory Into Practice

A few weeks ago, I published a explanation of how I cleaned up my Pinterest boards.  While there are a lot of great posts on the theory of pinning and blogging responsibly when it comes to proper sourcing and appropriate crediting, I was totally overwhelmed by the thought of putting it all into practice.  I am by no means an expert in any sphere of social media, but I thought that it might be helpful to you all to see how a normal blogger took the plunge and got it done.  From your comments, it looks like I may have been right!

Similarly, there's been a lot of talk on the interwebs about putting less pressure on ourselves as bloggers - we've finally realized that we simply can't keep up the pace we've set for curating, creating, and staying current with our peers.  (My favorite posts about changing the prevailing attitudes are here, here, and here.)  Again, though, it sounds good - but how do you put it into practice?  Back in November, I guest-posted on Whitney's blog about On:Off Relationships, and I suggested that the bottom line is we're all consumers when it comes to the internet: "It takes great force of will to walk away from the bloggers and/or tweeters that you don’t like or agree with.  But the thing that makes our online relationships different from our adult real life relationships is that we choose to spend our time on them."

That's easier said than done even when you're decidedly not friends with the bloggers that you're thinking about removing from your feed.  What happens when you are friends with them - or friendly, at least, online - and you still feel overwhelmed by the number of blogs you follow?  Here's how I put the theory into practice and started simplifying my Blogger dashboard...


The first and easiest thing I did was unfollow almost every blog I had ever found through a giveaway.  If I started following a blog just for an extra entry but I never visited the blog again, I removed it from my feed.  I also made myself promise that I wouldn't follow any blog anymore just because I wanted to win a free design or a discount to an Etsy store or even straight up money, but that's probably a topic for another post...

I had also been following blogs that I didn't know well because I liked the first post I read - I'd found them via link-ups on other blogs or through the tweetvine, usually, but I'd been too busy to get stuck in and just clicked that blue GFC button as a way to save the blogs for later.  The thing was, though, that I almost never went back to those blogs.  They just clogged up my dashboard and stressed me out because they contributed to the exponentially increasing number of unread posts that stared accusingly at me every day.  So I set aside a whole evening and went through each blog.  If, after reading through the archives, I still wanted to follow one, I did; if I didn't, I unfollowed.  Then I made myself promise, again, that I'd think before adding a new blog.  If I didn't have time to explore it, I'd bookmark the address for later rather than following blindly.

Next, I went through and unfollowed most of the "professional" blogs I had subscribed to.  (I'm putting the word in quotes because I'm sure that everyone has a different definition for it, but to me it means a blog written by someone for whom being a blogger is major part of their full-time business.  Examples here are Design For Mankind and Seventeenth & Irving.)  I love them and read them voraciously, but it's hard to keep up with their posts in real time, so I moved them to a special bookmarked folder in my browser.  That way I can check in every week and catch up when I have the freedom to devour them without feeling like I need to skim to make the most of my time.  There are a few blogs that I'd put in this professional category that I do still follow because I've developed relationships with the bloggers - like Kate from Katelyn Brooke and Lisa at elembee - but otherwise I'm going to treat these blogs the same way I do wedding sites.

Finally, and hardest of all, I faced the blogs that I really do like, often because I feel a connection to the blogger, but just don't feel compelled to read often.  Again, they stressed me out every time I skipped over them when scrolling down my dashboard, and at the end of the day I really don't need that kind of pressure.  So I removed the blogs completely - I unfollowed them without saving the addresses anywhere - but I made sure to follow the blogger on Twitter.  That way I could see what they were up to spontaneously, which was usually what I wanted a peek of anyway, and I could click on any links they shared that intrigued me without really committing.


I'm delighted to say that I'm down to 88 blogs on my Blogger dashboard.  It sounds like a lot when you count them up, but it's nearly half of the number I'd been following a few weeks ago.  The number will go up and down, of course, as I continue discovering new blogs and as blogs I've read for a while continue to evolve in ways that, to be honest, I may not always be interested in being part of, but I feel much better now that I've identified a strategy.  The only caveat I'd give to my method is that I never use Google reader, so it could be that none of this will work for you if you do.  I feel like I don't actually get to know every dimension of a blog when seeing it in the reader, which would both stress me out more and make it harder for me to figure out which blogs I really did want to be following.  Maybe the caveat leads to this suggestion: rely less on Google reader and more on your dashboard, if you use Blogger, to help you focus!

Do let me know if you have other suggestions or if you've tried anything similar!  I'd love to hear what has helped you.  It's a work in progress for all of us, I think, so please do share how you've started putting these theories into practice.  And I hope you're having a wonderful weekend, dear readers - if you're in the DC area, get outside into spring!

46 comments:

  1. i handle my subscriptions a bit differently. if i come across a blog i'm interested in, i'll go ahead & follow it via GFC [this also goes for, as you said, the blogs i end up following strictly through giveaways and such]. i keep my must reads in a bookmarks folder that is toggled at the top of my browser, titled 'favorite bloggers.' right next to that folder is one titled 'get to know,' which are blogs that have really grabbed my attention, that i'd, well... like to get to know. ;)

    since i don't keep up with any of my favorite blogs though google reader or the blogger dashboard, i'm ok with having a bit of a backlog in there... because i like being able to come back to that big list & skim though it, to see if there are any blogs there i find interesting, that need to be added to the 'get to know' folder.

    it may not be the most efficient way to do it, but it works for me! i'm interested to hear how others handle this, too. great post!

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  2. I'm like you - I keep my 'main reads' in my blogger dashboard. Every once in awhile, I reevaluate and clean it up. There are some blogs that I notice I skim over in my reader every, single time so I'll often take those off. I never follow a blog for giveaways but sometimes I'll click follow after reading 1 post then realise later that the rest of the blog just isn't for me. I do try and keep everyone on twitter though as most people will announce new posts there and if I feel like popping over, I will.

    I also have a "Blogs" folder in my bookmarks. If someone doesn't have GFC then I'll add them to there as well as others that I like to check out from time to time but maybe not follow post by post.



    I'm not sure if I'm doing it the best way possible - sometimes I think about utilizing Bloglovin but for now, this works.

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  3. This came at a great time. I want to unfollow a bunch, too! Half I skip through for the same reason you do.... Needs to be done this week...... Ugh!

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  4. I've recently started having "levels" of following. My favorites (and any that aren't on other platforms) are on my Blogger dashboard, then I'll follow others through Facebook or Twitter if I mostly want to not forget they exist, but they're less of a priority. I'll also skip some in my dashboard and just catch up the next time I see a post from them, but that depends more on how much time/patience I have at the moment. I'll be honest, I've (of course) had my "followers" number go up and down, and when it goes down there's a momentary "aw, sad!" but I figure if someone isn't interested I'd rather they forget about me than keep scrolling past me in their dashboard and roll their eyes!!

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  5. I recently cleaned out my reader too. I used to go through them periodically using the same methods as you, but I always had a hard time deleting people. So this time I followed Lisa's advice and just deleted everyone from my reader. Then I went back and added the blogs I could remember. If I couldn't remember them, they didn't get added. Every once and awhile I come across someone on Twitter who I forgot to follow and I'll just add them. So far it's been working out really well. I'm down to 81 blogs, which was previously at around 250!

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  6. for a while after I first started blogging, I just read everything through the Blogger dashboard, but I felt like it was limited in its abilities - plus, for whatever reason, I had a lot of issues with GFC and it wouldn't display half the blogs I tried to follow! at some point I made the switch over to using Bloglovin' as my reader, although I still followed blogs through GFC as well. so Blogger turned into that random collection of blogs that I read + blogs that I followed for giveaways + blogs that I wanted to read but forgot about, whereas Bloglovin' was only for blogs that I actively read. I like the fact in a reader like Bloglovin' the posts you've already read disappear from your feed, so that you're left with a list of only new, unread posts. I also appreciate the fact that clicking on a post takes me to its location on the actual blog instead of being displayed in the reader.


    I've been working on whittling down my following list in both Blogger and in Bloglovin' - there are just so many that I'm tired of or that I don't actually read or that I just don't feel connected to, and there's no reason for me to keep pretending to follow these bloggers.

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  7. I feel the same way, it becomes overwhelming! I feel like half the blogs I follow on google reader I just skip over when I see them and have finally started unfollowing many of them! Most of them were design blogs, or fashion blogs, or ones like that, so I figure I can check in randomly if I want to!

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  8. Not being a Blogger blog, I don't use Google reader for anything. But I feel this same way about Bloglovin, which is my chosen way of following blogs. I hate to say this, but if I enter a giveaway (which, for the record, has never come to any fruition whatsoever), I usually unfollow all of the entries as soon as the giveaway is over. THE SHAME! OH!!!!! But, hey, I don't want to muddy up my blog life with things I don't care about.

    Now, another word on GFC from a non-Blogger blog. I think it's ridiculous that all of these GFC blogs have their follower count right there in their sidebars (no offense, Betsy). There are blogs with 2,000 followers that I just can't see the reason why, and then there are blogs with 20, 50, 100, 300 followers that I relate to and I think are deserving of much higher numbers. But, see? The only reason we even HAVE this number talk is because they are posted, right there on the sidebar for the whole world to judge. Ugh.

    That being said, I've participated in giveaways in the past and even hosted one or two (two, I think) but it's because I care about the giveaway I'm participating in and less about the new followers. Sure, you say. But I fully expect any new "follow" on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or wherever to disappear after the giveaway. If they stick around, well, good for them. But in my experience, most bloggers are like you and me, and they just delete you when they have a spare moment. Fine by me. I'd rather have a TRUE account of my readers, rather than this exaggerated number posted right there on my sidebar.



    (thanks for letting me rant!)

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  9. Thanks so much for the shout out!

    Allyssa already mentioned this, but yes, I unsubscribed all from my reader when I got home from Alt. A lot of people said that was too drastic for them, but honestly, I think we have to stop being so afraid of missing out on something. Starting fresh meant that I knew which blogs I really loved because I had to manually add them back to my reader, and also which blogs I was already following through Twitter and other means. If I ever get overwhelmed with my reader again, I'm repeating, otherwise, I just plan to go through my subscriptions every month or so to make sure I'm only subscribed to ones blogs I enjoy.

    Now, my reader is only for blogs I want to read, as I call it, magazine style — they are the blogs I sit down on the couch with my iPad and enjoy at the end of the day. I use Feedly or Flipboard to make it more of a magazine type experience. For the rest of the blogs I like, I'm either subscribed to their newsletters, or I see their links on Twitter and take a quick break during the day to read.

    I refuse to enter a giveaway that requires me to follow a blog (unless I'm already following) — I think it's ok to have it as an additional entry, but technically, the only requirement you can legally have on a giveaway is something that everyone has the means to participate in, like leaving a comment. Not everyone has GFC, Bloglovin', Twitter, Facebook, etc. Honestly, it frustrates me to no end to see so many people on Blogger putting so much into GFC — no one outside of Blogger can use it (at least not for their own blogs, in which case, what's the point?). I won't be surprised when Google decides to stop supporting it, as they've already done so for other platforms.



    I would apologize for the essay, but I keep leaving them, so you should probably be used to it by now haha.

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  10. I agree - the numbers in the sidebar GFC don't really mean much. I wonder if there's a way to remove the tally yet keep the option for those who follow through google reader?

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  11. I think the blog marketing pressure gets to all of us over time. We want more followers, more interactions, more views...for what? Unless we're blogging for a living, does it really matter how many people are following our blogs and how many views we're getting? Are we going to get more quality interactions just because we have higher numbers? Maybe, but chances are, probably not.


    We can't forget the value of the interactions we get - comments and discussions with people who have valuable insights on all the stuff we put up for the world to read are worth a lot more than someone who just clicks a follow button and might hide or delete subsequent posts, or someone who just joined because you offered them free stuff.


    Just my thoughts :)

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  12. This is a great message, and keeping it simple is the way to go. We need to focus on what's really important and value our time better to what really matters to us. Thanks for the reminder. Shauna {www.shaunawyrick.com}

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  13. I think using BlogLovin' is what has helped me most and kept me organized. It lists each blog on each side with a number of unread posts to the side and if it gets over 3, I'll probably unfollow it. Thanks for the shoutout! :)

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  14. I just did it! I found the tutorial here - http://missedesign.blogspot.com/2012/07/follow-buttontext.html but I'd love to find a way to customize it (or at least make it bigger) so let me know if you discover the secret!

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  15. I totally get that for the giveaways... I just always forget to unfollow and it ends up being more of a faff than it's worth!

    I am not only not offended about the follower count thing, I so totally agree that I just got rid of my tally over there. This is probably ALSO part of a longer post, but it's been something I've been thinking about for a while and you put me over the edge - all of my "but... well..." arguments died in the face of the facts. so thank YOU :)

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  16. ah I like the idea of folders! I had that with my old laptop - the folder called "TOP SECRET" was my pre-engagement wedding blog folder - but haven't updated this one! now maybe I will :)

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  17. you know you can add non-Blogger blogs to your Blogger dashboard, right? you do it right in your dashboard with the "add" button, though it hasn't worked a few random times for me...

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  18. haha glad to motivate you - now you can motivate me for my race in two weeks!

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  19. so basically what you're saying is that you don't feel pressured by unread blogs? you are stronger than I am :)

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  20. you guys were SERIOUS about this - good for you! 250 is INSANE.

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  21. how do you guys not feel like the unread blogs are haunting you! is this just me being totally weird?

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  22. okay, you're going to have to give me a BlogLovin' tutorial... I barely use it so I don't know how to use it so it scares me. (am I overthinking this?)

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  23. YES. exactly. and most of the arguments in my head to NOT get rid of my follower count in my sidebar came back to the blog marketing pressure thing which, if what I say about why I blog is true, doesn't match. I would much rather have 5 comments on every post and have those commenters be 10% of my followers than 1% of my followers. it really should be about the engagement, you're right - which is why I got rid of the number, thanks to you all!

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  24. (duh)

    yeah, I think the trick to not need to be so drastic is consistent maintenance. but wait can you explain a bit more about the giveaway legalities? maybe not here, but somewhere else or if you know of somewhere it's written up in layman's terms? because I didn't know that.

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  25. okay, yes, ditto, SOMEONE EXPLAIN BLOGLOVIN' TO ME PLEASE?


    but also I always read posts on the original blog - the Blogger dashboard only gives me a little snippet!

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  26. Oh, man. I need to do this for all these reasons! Excellent points.

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  27. Okay--- now I really need to purge my reader. ha. I have some work to do. So great seeing you today love!

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  28. I actually kind of like Google Reader. Of course, it doesn't help when someone says "like my new layout?!" because I don't see it unless I click into a post to leave a comment. And I also don't really care. I do have a method to my madness:

    I subscribe to a lot of stuff. Ever day, when I get to work, I have about 300 posts that came in over the last 18 hours. I would say half are dog and/or corgi tumblr picture blogs. So I scroll through those really fast. The rest, if interested in the topic of the post, I'll "star" and when I am done scrolling through everything, go back and read what I star. It's a system that works really well for me and sometimes, if enough time has past, I'll just quickly unstar it, and that's all.

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  29. I'm thinking of doing the exact same thing. It's out of control on my Reader. I've also stopped following blogs for Rafflecopter giveaways. Sure it's less likely I'll win something, but I rarely read the blogs I follow just because of a giveaway. Glad I'm not alone in this! Oh and I'll clearly still read yours once I do my "sweep" :)

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  30. Helena from SweeterCPA wrote a great post about hosting legal giveaways: http://www.sweetercpa.com/2012/07/18/how-to-host-a-legal-giveaway/.

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  31. Yah - I'd like it bigger too - I don't even mind the little photos, I think I'd just prefer it without the number! Will have to do some searching.

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  32. No, I didn't know that! Thanks! Most of them aren't 'daily reads' for me so it's just easier to click over every once in awhile but I might do some!

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  33. there's a way to make the text of the number white - I've seen it on other blogs, though I've never tried it myself. it might do to "hide" the number for now?

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  34. oh man - you must have a longer attention span than I do! except when it comes to dog pictures, which I could smoosh over for hours...

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  35. Google Reader (and possibly other platforms?) often just display the content of a post within the reader instead of taking you to the actual blog. that annoys me.


    Bloglovin' is super super simple! often times you have to manually add the blogs you want to follow if the blogger doesn't offer a "follow me on bloglovin'" type button on their page somewhere, but that's easily done. within the reader, everything gets displayed in a manner similar to the Blogger dashboard, but then you have options to mark posts as read (so they disappear) and to favorite posts if you want to easily find them again later. plus you can sort your followed blogs into categories! I think that's nifty.

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  36. I know exactly how you feel. Like Whitney, I use bloglovin' to organize everything. But I seriously need to go through a delete people from giveaways. I did that on my twitter account but blogs is the next step!

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  37. I can be so overwhelming, can't it?! When I find a blog that I like, I usually follow on Twitter as a way of bookmarking, and then if after reading the blog for a week or two, I may decide to follow. Having so many blogs in my reader freaks me out. That said, there are loads of blogs that I read, that I don't actually follow.

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  38. I meant, "It can be so overwhelming..." not "I" #blameitontheflu

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  39. I have been doing this more and more recently too! I had over 400 blogs on my google reader! and had to be ruthless at narrowing it down! I've also started eradicating people that make you click through to their website to see the blog post because I find the easiest way for me to stay on top of my google reader is checking it on the bus on the way to and from work and my phone doesn't cope so well with loading big websites so for me I got rid of those people...which was a shame as there were some blogs I really loved in there! but I just prefer to scroll down and see everything at once and not have to keep clicking through to other sites!

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  40. I can't believe that I'm just now finding this post! Thanks for the shout-out, Betsy! I was just clicking "Mark All As Read" in my Google Reader when I saw the title of your post and had to click on it :) I love how you broke down the different categories.

    I love what you said about following bloggers who you have a connection with on Twitter. It's only been in the last few months that I've realized that I don't HAVE to follow people on every avenue possible- I can pick and choose what works for me. I've recently started following a lot more "big bloggers" on Instagram only because I think they're most interesting there, but there are a lot of people like you describes who I prefer to follow on Twitter, and because I do I rarely haven't read there posts by the time I check my GR. Thanks for writing this- it's always interesting to read about how others keep track!

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  42. oh my God 400 I'm tired just reading that! but YES true about the anti-scrolling... I want it to be easy and fun to read the blogs I follow :)

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  43. of course! you are one of my gurus about these things :)

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  44. This is such a great post. There are some days when I have all the time in the world (like today...) to read blog posts, and the ones I follow just don't have enough new posts for me to read. But other days (before I decluttered) would be so overwhelming with all the unread posts I had to read!



    I never follow just for a giveaway entry, so that's helped. When I am entering a giveaway of a blogger I already follow, this is what I do. 1) I read through all the summaries and pick 3-5 that look interesting. 2) I go to their blogs 3) I read the "About" section 4) I read the latest post 5) I read some of their favorite posts or the most popular posts 6) I follow 1-3 of them. This method is possibly why I have yet to win a giveaway...


    I have to regularly cull my twitter feed. That's more difficult than maintaining my blogs. I try to follow less than 300 people.


    Blogging/tweeting should be fun, not work. If you try to do too much, it becomes overwhelming! I'd rather have good relationships with a handful of strangers-turned-friends online than shallow connections with hundreds of strangers online.

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  45. I've not entered any giveaways if I didn't already follow the blogger since I wrote this, but maybe it's time to relax along your guidelines! Twitter... now that's where I follow indiscriminately :)

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I love reading your thoughts and suggestions! Please do leave a comment so we can get to know each other better.