Over the past couple of weeks, something that I’ve started to read blogs again.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been consuming a lot of blog content but, for the most part, it’s been within Google Reader where 150 or so RSS feeds lie in waiting every day.
The difference recently, however, is when I find an interesting blog post, I’m often clicking through to the blog itself. Not sure why this is happening but it may have to do with the fact that reading a blog somehow offers more of the writer’s personality or style. It’s kind of like the difference between reading a newspaper article online and reading the actual newspaper – same content, different experience.
I think part of the return to blogs has to do with seeing what blog authors are doing beyond writing posts. What kind of templates and designs are the using, what’s on their blogroll, what plugins have they embraced, etc. By visiting a blog, you get a better feel for how someone is blogging because what makes blogging so interesting is it’s much pumping out posts. If that’s all that was involved, everyone would use one-column templates dominated by text.
In some ways, GReader has become a blog bookmarking tool – sort of like del.icio.us for blogs. When I come across an interesting blog, it’s quickly added to GReader for future reference/reading.
This has caused the number of RSS feeds within GReader to increase but they now fall into categories: those read within GReader and those read outside. The ones read outside are usually posts that require some focus as opposed to giving them a quick scan before moving on to the next post.
This might not be most efficient way to read a lot of blogs but it does reflect how my approach to reading blogs continues to evolve. And for people who spend a lot of time nurturing the look and feel of their blogs, it offers some encouragement that all that work is still appreciated.
Note: The inspiration for this post came from StartupNorth, which wrote about two new WordPress plugins released into the wild by Joe Thornley. As well, here’s a good post on why a good blog design matters.
Technorati Tags: Blogs, Google Reader
Great post Mark. I’ve found I’m not even reading half the blogs I like anymore, I’ve become too “title-driven”.
Maybe a week without a feed reader would be an interesting experiment…
I personally care for the content, and the content only. I actually have nothing against “one-column templates dominated by text” – if the writing is interesting enough, I will read it.
The entire idea of spending so much time and energy on creating a good _looking_ site/blog confuses me. If I’m able to find what I’m looking for, then I’m happy, be it Times New Roman on white background or the snazziest design ever.
I love that people can and do get creative with customizing their blogs. I long to update the design of married-inc.com… I still get nice comments about its unique format, but I’m getting tired of it myself.
If you enjoy looking at people’s blogs, don’t forget to check out their customized Twitter pages too! I recently did a custom background on mine, as others are doing too. http://twitter.com/johnphilipgreen
Mark: I feel the same way about the difference between reading a blog’s content on the actual blog and reading it through a reader. I tried using google reader for a period of time, but I felt it was so impersonal. So I went back to using my reader to collect my rss feeds, then scroll through the feeds for titles that sounds interesting and click through to the site. Unless of course the site was designed very badly and made it difficult to read on their blog would I prefer reading it through a reader.
Thanks for the link by the way.