Blogroll
Last week, Marty blogged about getting rid of his blogroll. His reasoning was pretty innocuous. He decided since he no longer uses other people’s blogrolls, then people probably weren’t using his. He confirmed his theory with a quick check of his page stats. And decided to remove his blogroll page.
It got me thinking about the reasons why I deleted my blogroll, which are a little more complicated than that.
When I first started blogging, I had no idea what a feed reader was. So, I started a blogroll to keep track of the blogs I liked reading. I’d follow the links of my blogroll each day to see what they’d written. It wasn’t necessarily an effective use of my time, because I often wound up visiting blogs that had not been updated since the last time I checked.
During that time, I didn’t really know of that many other bloggers. I was still trying to figure out what kind of blogger I wanted to be. It helped to read a bunch of different blogs. To learn about style. And content. And layout. And voice. So, I’d use other people’s blogrolls to explore different kinds of blogs.
Until I discovered Google Reader. Where I could ship all my favorite blogs to one location. No checking in to see if blogs had anything new. No wondering when bloggers would publish their next post. It all came to me. It was beautiful.
I kept my blogroll for a while after that. I figured it was a nice way to highlight bloggers I really liked. I frequently updated it with new blogs I was reading. And I wasn’t shy about removing blogs I’d stopped reading.
But, then I began to notice some potentially ugly things about blogrolls. What if people noticed I removed their blog from my blogroll? I’m sure they felt it was a slap in the face. Sometimes I removed blogs because I was tired of their content. Other times, I removed blogs because I noticed I was changing as a blogger and the newer version of me didn’t match up with some blogs. Whatever my own reasons, it was never meant to be malicious. Yet, I somehow felt it’d be interpreted as being malicious.
And what about the bloggers who have lovely blogs that never made my blogroll? Does that make them any less worthy of a blogger? Absolutely not. (Especially considering what a small-scale blogger I am.) And yet, there was the possibility that these bloggers could somehow be hurt by not seeing their links on my blog.
And finally, what if I never deleted a blog off my blogroll? What if I added links to every blog I’d ever read and halfway liked? Does that make for an accurate blogroll? A blogroll where my readers cannot differentiate between the blogs I religiously read and those I’ve read a few times or hardly at all? That didn’t seem like a fair answer, either.
I decided this was all a bunch of nonsense. And since I no longer had a personal need for the blogroll, there was really only one thing left to do. I removed it from my blog.
There was a time when I cared whether I made it onto other people’s blogrolls. I did feel sort of jilted when I thought I belonged, but wasn’t there. I hated when bloggers asked their readers to speak up if we didn’t see our names on their blogrolls, because, quite frankly, I didn’t want to have to ask to be on anyone’s blogroll. I wanted to be recognized for my words, not my whiny voice.
These days, I don’t check blogrolls very much. I think they mean different things to different people. Some people list every blog they’ve ever read on their blogroll. Other people break-up their blogrolls into bloggers they’ve met in real life and bloggers they’d like to meet (or they use other categorizations). And some people have very small, exclusive blogrolls.
Without an explanation regarding why a blog makes someone’s blogroll, I have no context to know whether it’s worth my time or not.
And that’s when a light went off in my head. To me, the key about linking to other blogs is not merely the link. I want to know what it is you find so fascinating about the blogger or a particular post. I think my Replay series started at some point around this time. I didn’t just want to direct you somewhere. I wanted to tell you why I value a particular blogger.
To this day, I think Kyla is one of the few bloggers who has a comprehensive blogroll. She has broken her favorite reads into Style and Lives. She denotes which bloggers she’s met in real life. And she writes an incredibly thoughtful paragraph about each blogger. Even if I wasn’t included in this list, I would still think highly of her for taking the time to share why we should be visiting some of her favorite blogs.
So, where does that leave me regarding blogrolls? Well, I doubt I’ll add one to my blog anytime soon (famous last words). I’m mostly indifferent to other people’s blogrolls (the reality is, I just don’t pay much attention to them anymore). And if I’m looking for new and interesting blogs to read, I’m more likely to find them tucked into the words of a thoughtful post than I am in some arbitrary list.
What are your thoughts on the topic? How do you utilize blogrolls on your own blog and how do you view blogrolls on other people’s blogs?
February 23rd, 2010 at 5:37 am
I have a blogroll. I use OPML to HTML parser to run everything out of my Google Reader into it which means whenever i update it i don’t have to spend hours changing blogroll links. All i do is take out the news sites i read because i’m sure you don’t want to know about those.
When i saw your post title pop-up in Reader my first thought was, oh good i will go and look at her blogroll and see who is on there i don’t read. I would only do that on people’s whose voice i love to hear and am interested in though -- because i figure by now i only really read people i am really interested in so if i like you, chances are i will like who else you read.
February 23rd, 2010 at 6:24 am
I sort of have a blogroll -- I did have a huge page of links but then I didn’t see the point of it. So now I have a random link generator in my sidebar that links to 6 blogs, and then changes when you refresh. I like that better really, but I have no idea why. When I first started blogging again late last year I wanted to be on blogrolls, because it felt like I was included in something but now it doesn’t bother me so much. I occasionally use other people’s blogrolls if I want a new blog to read, but normally I like to go searching for them myself because you can stumble on some hidden treasures :)
February 23rd, 2010 at 7:04 am
I do have one, but I don’t really use it or update it. I use Google Reader too and have so many more blogs there than are on my blogroll. It probably is pointless to have it there, it’s one of those things I saw everyone else had when I started blogging, and just kept it.
I do click on other people’s though, every now and then, to see if there are blogs I might like that I can add to my reader. Usually they end up in a ‘testing’ folder before I add them to another category. So I like it for that. I’m not very good at searching out blogs in other ways. Or I haven’t really tried.
February 23rd, 2010 at 7:23 am
I have one, but I don’t maintain it… Like you, I initially had it on there to keep track of the blogs I was reading before discovering the wonder that is Google Reader! I should probably take it down because it’s not reflective of what my favorite blogs are. And I don’t think people look at them all that often. Unless they are super new to blogging -- then they might, but I still doubt it. It would de-clutter my page which would be a good thing.
I love your replay series! It’s a great way to share great posts you encounter over the week & share them with us!
February 23rd, 2010 at 7:43 am
I understand what you are saying about the silly politics behind blogrolls, but I still use mine and look at others (when I have time). I categorize mine with the blogs I read daily, by category. Since it is in the sidebar, it doesn’t bother me much to have it sitting there. I don’t feel like it is a distraction, but people know where to go if the want to find it. I hear what you are saying about how you would rather find a blog through reading a paragraph about them, but I like to use the blogroll to highlight the blogs I read and don’t always write about.
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:13 am
My blogroll is horrifically out of date and my whole blog is due for an overhaul. As soon as I have some uniterrupted hours, thats my plan. I adore Kyla’s blog roll. I will probably have a blog roll of the blogs that inspire me as opposed to listing every blog I read. My reader is in desperate need of an overhaul too. Honestly though, I’m more likely to check out someone’s blog by discovering them in the comments section of some of my favorite bloggers rather than their blog roll.
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:13 am
interesting topic. i think that it can be silly to worry about blogrolls. whether you have them or not. it’s up to each blogger and i won’t get offended if i’m not on someones links.. i can understand the reasoning of taking a blog roll down. my blog roll list is exclusively with sites that focus on travel or adventurous creative people that i find are similar to myself (but not necessarily similar to my blog). i’m not sure what my blog direction is these days. is it travel blog, personal, i have no clue..
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:21 am
I don’t use anyone’s blogroll. I will click off comments on other bloggers pages, but not the blogroll. Mine is out of date and I might delete it soon.
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:36 am
I took mine off due to an accident but then decided to leave it off. If you go to my Google Profile you can see what blogs I follow so I figure people can see my interest there. And sometimes opinions changes so some have gone off the list. Others I don’t follow as closely as I used to it just depends.
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:47 am
I could take or leave blogrolls. Kyla’s is really thoughtfully composed though — I could see doing something like that. Like Mandy, I’ve realized that I find it more interesting to see who is actually commenting. That is how I found you.
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:51 am
Another favorite blogger of mine recently wrote about this topic as well!
My daily reads have stayed pretty much the same for the past year or more. I don’t mind listing them out on my homepage because they’re blogs I absolutely adore and have read for quite some time. My “Friends” page is getting out of control though. I hate that’s it just become a hodge-podge list with no rhyme, reason or explanation—and, frankly, I can’t bring myself to spend the hours it would take to organize and categorize it all. I love and admire what Kyla has done. It’s a great model to follow.
And, I worry, especially of late, with SO many new yoga/Bikram blogs popping up, that I’m not “supporting” all these new blogs by listing them on my friend’s page. I had always assumed blogrolls went with a blog like ketchup with fries. But, lately, I’ve begun to reconsider. And this post adds serious fuel to the fire…
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:05 am
Sometimes I glance at the blogroll to see what they like to read, if we have “friends,” in “common,” but by and large I don’t pay attention to it. My blogroll is much neglected… needs to be cleaned up and out (getting rid of bloggers that don’t blog, or deleted it, updating links and updating the people I do read vs those I don’t read!). Kyla’s is a beautiful example of what a blogroll should be… but really, if someone wants to know who I read and etc? They should just look at the comments left on my blog because that’s usually a good representation of the top blogs I read.
However, there are other bloggers who don’t comment or who are famous and have no idea I exist so they deserve a shoutout, I think. I guess I just need to decide the fate of my blogroll. Probably a rainy day project!
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:06 am
I have one. I just put blog I subscribe to on it. I haven’t thought that much about it and I think it’s nice when others add me to their blogrolls, but I don’t get my feelings hurt over it.
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:09 am
Aw!! I’m so glad that you like mine! It was definitely a labour of love and the response to it has been outstanding. I feel like, generally, people don’t maintain theirs in a meaningful way and a better way to get a sense of their community is just to see who is commenting on their blogs. I wanted to have no blogroll at all, or one that really reflected how passionate I am about the people whose blogs I read every day.
My next step is going to be making something that I think is called a “bundle” where you can upload all the bookmarks in my blogroll it to your google reader in one move to test them out. Like your replay series, I think that finding meaningful ways to share what you love is something people will always respond to. And thank goodness for that! =)
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:15 am
When I first starting reading blogs, I found a lot of people through blogrolls. However, that is pretty time consuming, clicking on links all over the place and checking a blog to see if you like it. Since then, I’ve found that comments are a better way for me to find blogs I enjoy. If someone leaves a good comment, I’ll check out their blog faster than if I saw their link in a sidebar.
As Miss Internet Paranoia, blogrolls make me a little bit nervous because bloggers rarely contact someone and say “I really enjoy reading your blog and would like to list you in my blogroll, is it OK if I link to you on my site?” I know that information you put on the internet isn’t hidden, it’s just out there for anyone to see, but it’s nice to have some sort of idea about who is promoting your blog.
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:26 am
I am bad at updating my blog roll, there are a few blogs that I used to read but, are no longer blogging. There are a lot of new ones that I follow that are not there. I have been bad at maintaining my blog’s admin work.
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:53 am
Come to think of it…I don’t look at people’s blogrolls anymore and mine is really outdated. I resisted google reader for a long time but now if a blog does not have a feed? I actually don’t read it. Not because it is not good but because who has the time to click through all those blogs?? I certainly do not.
Does that make me sound snotty?
February 23rd, 2010 at 11:22 am
i hardly look at other people’s blogrolls, definitely not as much as i used to when i first started blogging. and i cant remember the last time i updated mine. i’m willing to bet that a handful of my favorite bloggers, aren’t even on there. who knows, i haven’t checked in ages. i should probably update it, but i just dont have the time or energy really. i visit who i like to read on the regular, from finding their posts in google reader.
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Your Replay Fridays are great because they meaningfully highlight interesting blogs that you like for others to find. I do think there is a place for blogrolls in this community though. Sure, it would be great if they were sorted and described in a helpful way, but we all know that is a lot of work. I (sort of) get around this by using the blogspot widget that allows me to include the first few lines from the last post on each blog. I think this is a simple way to showcase a bit of the content and style of other blogs without me having to do any work (sue me! I’m lazy). I also think they are really helpful for new bloggers. Most of us benefitted from them and I think it helps new bloggers get their feet wet and find other blogs. And finally, I do see some traffic using my blogroll and I know people find me through blogrolls so I definitely still see the utility of it.
As for the politics of it all, I try not to think about it.
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:06 pm
When I was just starting out blogging, I found a lot of the blogs I love through others’ blogrolls. I don’t do that anymore because I think my Google Reader is at capacity. But I keep mine around (though it is woefully out of date) in case it ever is useful to someone else. I figure I already built it, so why get rid of that resource?
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:22 pm
I tend to be a bit ruthless about my blogroll too. I forget about it most of the time, but keep it because it’s an easy way for me to show other readers which blogs I having a liking for and would pass along. Simple as that. I’ve noticed too that my blogroll does get a semi-regular perusal from readers too.
Lke you, when my tastes change or a blogger stops posting regularly, I tend to remove them. I try to update my blogroll every other month or so and probably need to do so right now actually as I’ve recently begun reading a number of really amazing blogs.
I completely agree with you about Kyla’s blogroll approach. Best I’ve seen!
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:58 pm
I just updated mine and while I was doing it, I had the thought that perhaps I just wanted to delete it. I’m letting the thought marinate.
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:24 pm
I love Kyla’s blogroll :)
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:28 pm
I’m with you--I have no Blogroll because I a) use Google Reader and b) see no reason to have a popularity list on my site. Shrug.
xox
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:39 pm
I click on links in blogrolls sometimes just out of convenience -- but not usually because I’m exploring a new blog. I just click the ones I know I want to check. I’m too lazy to remove my blogroll…maybe if I ever get around to redesigning my blog, I’ll do something about it. Until then, I’ll file this away with “I still own a cassette player” and “My phone doesn’t have a full alphabetic keyboard on it.”
February 23rd, 2010 at 2:16 pm
You’re reminding me that I should probably just take mine down as I haven’t updated it in ages. These days I can barely keep up with the blogs in my reader, so I don’t often click through to other blogs via blogrolls and tend to be drawn more by clever comments.
February 23rd, 2010 at 2:27 pm
I hadn’t given the purpose of a blogroll a ton of thought until Kyla revamped hers with the awesome, thoughtful descriptions of each blogger. I definitely agree with a bunch of people here who have said that the better indication is the comments on my blog, as well as the comments I’m leaving on others’ blogs. But I’ve kept my blogroll around, if only due to a slight indifference/laziness about it… I have been considering doing something like what Kyla did (or even like your Replay), but then I think, “Does that make me a copy-cat?” Oh, the circles I can run in my own head.
February 23rd, 2010 at 2:28 pm
I remember how important blogrolls were to me when I was a new blogger. When someone joins the community and is looking to build connections, they can be very useful. I keep mine out of nostalgia for that time, although I don’t guarantee it’s always going to be up-to-date.
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:12 pm
You know? Come to think of it, blogrolls used to be a very big deal to me, but not so much anymore. I never look at them anymore.
I wanted to get rid of mine, but I thought it would hurt people’s feelings, so I kept it.
Maybe I should just do away with it and just whatever.
Yes. Thanks for giving me permission to do that.
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:13 pm
You know, because you’re always so polite and thoughtful and careful of people’s feelings. If you do it, it must be okay.
RIGHT?
February 23rd, 2010 at 4:40 pm
I sort of imitated Kyla’s because I LOVE IT, but then I feel like I’ve forgotten people…another in real life friend who blogs occasionally was offended that I didn’t include her…sometimes it feels like a total hassle. That said, I DO love reading who others read. Wish there was a better way though, you know?
February 23rd, 2010 at 5:24 pm
I admit it -- I like it when I see my blog on other people’s blogroll. However, I am guilty of not updating my own often and find myself losing interest in blogs I once loved. Like you, it is not personal. When I find myself being caught up in “who like who more”, I remind myself why I began blogging (an outlet for my brain) and write what feels good and read what I like.
February 23rd, 2010 at 5:26 pm
ugh, my blog roll is very out of date -- VERY.
i see pros to it though, like the ones you mentioned in the beginning. but i have found that my friends and family who aren’t as internet savvy as us crazy bloggers use my blog roll a lot -- cause they have zero clue what a reader is.
February 23rd, 2010 at 5:44 pm
I don’t really look at anyone’s blogroll anymore to be honest. I usually go through the comments to find other bloggers to read. As for my own, I removed it a couple of years back as I was always a bit crap at updating it.
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:30 pm
so funny, i just tried to clean up my blogroll and add some new ones that i read often and was intending to ask readers in my next post to let me know if they don’t see theirs on there. i still might, but i agree i wouldn’t want to have to “speak up” if i wasn’t on somebody’s. oh blog roll politics! i don’t get offended if i dont make the cut, i mostly peruse other people’s to find blogs that i’ve never seen before. god bless google reader, such a time saver!
February 24th, 2010 at 12:09 am
I have a blogroll but it doesn’t hold a fraction of the blogs I read regularly, like yours. I started it in the beginning, when my blog was new, but now leave it as it is. Funny, isn’t it? I think, like you did, that I might insult people I like to read if I eliminate my blogroll.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:34 am
agreed agreed AGREED. i used to have a blogroll. in fact i had it all the way up until i moved to wordpress. finally i moved to google reader and i got rid of my blogroll. i didn’t use it for other people…i used it for me. once i had google reader i didn’t have a need for it. i like your idea of a replay much better.
February 24th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
When I first started I did the same thing -- I’d copy the URL of a blog into a new tab and when I had like 20 of them I decided that that must be what blogrolls are for -- and I made one, and checked every link daily. Huge waste of time! I still don’t have Google Reader, but I use iGoogle as my home page and it’s pretty much the same thing, I think. Amazingly efficient!
February 25th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
i don’t feel like i need to say anything more than “exactly.”
February 26th, 2010 at 8:02 am
I keep my blogroll both so Katie has easy access to people’s blogs to read them (she doesn’t have Google Reader nor any desire or need to use it) and so people who are readers of my site can see what I consider to be a good blog worth reading. I can’t see your Google Reader subscriptions (although what you share can also be shared, but that doesn’t include a general list of what you subscribe to) so, basically, it looks to me like you don’t have blogs you consider worth sharing. I don’t mean that as an insult, but that’s just how it could be perceived. Know what I mean?
February 26th, 2010 at 8:05 am
Sorry to make this a second comment, but what people don’t get is that blogrolls are supposed to be for your readers, not for you. They display what you as a blogger like to read and allows you to share that list with others. Sure, early in the days of blogging before feed readers, blogrolls also helped you keep track of what you enjoyed reading, but now they’re for your fans. You can use Google Reader for yourself and keep maintaining a blogroll for everyone else. If it were just for you, then it would be a bookmark list in your browser, don’t you think?
March 5th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
Great post, Nilsa. And you covered what I was thinking of doing, which is your Reply posts. They mention other blogs and give some that weekly spotlight. I plan on doing a regular “blogs I’m reading” post, just to give people a shout out.
Also, one thing I wanted to add… From people’s comments, some use the CommentLuv WordPress plugin, which shows the last post from that person. I will click on those if I see a blogger I’ve not seen before. A nice way to find new blogs to read.