This question popped into my mind while I was talking to another blogger friend. We both blog a lot – in fact, she maintains several blogs at the same. However, when we started talking about other blogs that we read, she gave me an almost blank look. Her unspoken question was “Do you really read other people’s blogs a lot?â€
I think that this is one very important aspect of blogging. One of the basic principles of blogs is the free exchange of information. More than this, blogs exist because people want to read about the real thoughts of real people. So why can’t one continue blogging without reading other blogs? Well I suppose that you can BUT how can you remain in touch with what the rest of the blogging community if you remain cocooned in your own world? Sooner or later, you would have to get an influx of ideas and inspiration from the blogs of other people. You would also need to build your own network of friends and acquaintances in order to build traffic to your blog.
So how often do you read other blogs? You probably have a blog roll, right? Do you regularly visit the links you have on there or are they simply for display? I think that you do not really have to visit each and every blog on your list every single day. Pick the ones which you really find useful and make it a point to browse daily. The others, maybe once or twice a week. The point is to make and maintain contacts.
Originally posted on June 21, 2008 @ 8:33 am