Discussions

It is good to have so many friends...

Posted by soulMerlin • 4/08/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: blogcatalog friends, friends

...on blogcatalog that is. Some bloggers have literally 1,000's of "friends".

I find it difficult to read and keep up with a handful of writers...how do they keep up with everyone?

henry

User Comments

4/08/08

ThriftShopRomantic

Oh, I'm fairly certain they don't. They think of it as networking, but as a networking style, it's hard to say how effective that is.

It's a bit like looking in the Classifieds and applying for every job there hoping to get ONE.

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4/08/08

Shiley

Admittedly, If you add me as a friend I add you as a friend. If I have to see your broadcasts you gotta see mine. That and I think I'm a people pleaser which annoys me a little makes me a little too busy.

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4/08/08

footiam

Oh, this is a virtual world. So, I think it's okay to have so many virtual friends. Don't give much thought to it after that unless the friend is a regular visitor.

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4/08/08

jafabrit

For me it is a form of bookmarking so I am able to go back and revisit the blogs I like now and again. I may not get to all of them on a frequent basis, but it is nice to have the list.

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1. 4/08/08
  
  asithi
  
  Along the same thought for me. When I have nothing else to read, then I check out what one of my friends on BC is doing.
2. 4/08/08
  
  rainforestrobin
  
  I like this way of looking at it because it made me realize that I have added people as friends who's blogs I might not comment on regularly or ever, but they have either some interesting information or photos or writing I might like to go back and look at.
3. 4/11/08
  
  wholeliving
  
  This is how I use the friends feature as well...
4/08/08

rainforestrobin

I love your honesty and sincerity in this question. I ask myself how will I keep up with all this and still have time for my life in the REAL world. "Real" for me is my time hiking, composing music, creating art, writing, nature photography, time with friends and family...and time alone. No amount of internet could ever replace that for me...no matter how fantastic. Although I have met some amazingly kind and deeply thoughtful people, such as yourself, on BlogCatalog. People who have enriched my life. Bless you, Henry, for bestowing upon me such an earnest and real voice. I thank you.

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4/08/08

kevingoodman

This discuession has made a few rounds - I wonder how strong of an affect the need to recipricate the add is.

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4/08/08

soulMerlin

Thank you all for your really helpful opinions. I've only been blogging for a while and I initially started to drum up readership, by signing up with a couple of traffic exchanges - you know, the sort you have to click through a rotation of websites and blogs, in order to earn credits so that your blog can be shown to people who then click through as many as they can, in order to get credits so that they.....and so on.

I don't mind too much about the quantity of traffic I get...it's the quality that matters to me. I cannot see the point of visiting a blog and leaving a stereotype of a "That's great" comment, (after skip-reading it...or not even bothering), simply to drum up traffic-quantity. I just can't see the point of people logging-on and "(not)looking" at my site, just so they have a chance (and I always will) of me logging on to their site, just to give them one more click.

However, I do see the point that Robin, Asithi and Jafabrit make about bookmarking and I think I'll relax my (I've got to know everything about this person) attitude and open up to more friends that I know I will only occasionally be able to visit.

But I think that I'll let it grow slowly, as I have the large total of eight friends and they take up nearly all my reading time!

(but then I'm very old and slow)

thanks to you all for the input

henry

[reply]
1. 4/12/08
  
  nardeeisms
  
  For all it's worth: I read your blog and enjoyed it. I am one of the people who "hit and run"; guilty of not always leaving a comment. - Nards
4/11/08

filmasia

It's impossible to keep in touch with 1000 friends let alone 100.

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4/11/08

soulMerlin

I think its so they can broadcast (spam) to as many people as possible.
Yesterday, I got 2 friend notifications, both had over 1000 "friends" and they only joined....wait for it.....April 2008.

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4/11/08

brainteaser

Hello!

Adding friends and joining neighborhoods is a great way of creating a social network.

What I do is read some posts in a blog before adding someone as friend/or joining a neighborhood. As I read, I decide if I would want to go back to that blog again in the future. The blog I liked, I've linked in my blog so I can go back to them when I have time to read. Others, I've favorited. There are some blogs I really enjoy going back to, which I stumbled upon in the blogcatalog. Robin's is one.

About comments: Usually I don't leave a comment when I don't appreciate what I've read. I don't know if that's not nice, but well, that's just me. [So maybe, I'm not nice? Waaaa!] There are times when I want the person to know I've been to his/her blog, so I just say hi and hello, but I can't get myself to say his/her post is good if I really don't think it is.

There are quality blogs out there... you can find them if you are patient. And when you find them, you will just feel compelled to leave a comment, even if you think you're too busy to think of one.

Have a good day! :-)

—Sherma
www.brainteaser.wordpress.com
www.dwickedangel.blogspot.com

[reply]
1. 4/11/08
  
  soulMerlin
  
  and if i may say, you seem very organised about it all. so i guess i have no argument with that. perhaps it was my experiences with traffic exchanges that alerted me to spray-shots of friend additions (over 1000 friends in around two weeks) so that they will be added by around 60% of the people contacted.
  when broadcast time comes, that individual will have a readership to rival any small business.
  
  am i being harsh when i say that this is the cyber-version of junk mail?
  i personally treat blogcatalog like a library and i would want to add only the writers that touch me the most; intellectual, emotional, factual, romantic...and the rare one...laughter.
4/11/08

brainteaser

There are also times when I find good posts which I like to comment to, but I feel inadequate, or for some reason, I cannot weave the words. Has it happened to you?

It happened to me many times.

[This is a part of my post above. :-)]

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1. 4/12/08
  
  soulMerlin
  
  no,i'm too stupid to see i'm inadequate. :0
4/12/08

diggnfordiamonds

hehehe...Are we supposed to read those broadcasts? Damn, I always just delete them. Sorry friends

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4/12/08

BassDem

I don't. I try to limit myself to accepting people who have blogs with similar themes. I'll also accept people that sound like they're fairly on the level or who run blogs on topics I am particularly interested in.

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4/14/08

soulMerlin

I've just been made a friend by someone who has nearly 5000 friends - I hope they have time to read my blog

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4/14/08

soulMerlin

just had another one with over 4000 friends. Am I missing some point?

So far I've got 7 - and I'm already neglecting a couple of them.

henry

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4/24/08

Donlewis

Guess I take the middle position Henry. I've got a big stack of people who've added me. I go take a look at their blogs, but I don't find what they are doing to be of interest to me. So I don't add them back. On the other hand I have pretty near 200 friends on my list. And I'm sure I'll add more. I realize that I'm not likely to read most of them in any given week, but I like to surf around. So sooner or later I'll get to most every one of them. But like friends and best friends, I get to some a lot more often

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4/24/08

SomewhereElse

I have a note on my profile saying that if you dont say hello, I wont add you back. Plus, statcounter shows me if someone has come to the site via here, so I know. And they never get added. Having thousands of friends does nothing at all in my opinion.

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4/24/08

dotartdude

BlogCatalog does have a limit on the number of friends - at which point no more friends can be added.

I would err on the side of having too many rather than too few. I'm all for encouraging good will around here.

As for interacting with these friends . . . Part of being a member of BlogCatalog is participating in the Discussions here and the Group Discussions. It's a great way to get to know the various personalities and exchange ideas.

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4/27/08

soulMerlin

Well ~ I guess I align more with filmasia than with the big community ravers!! :).

Still ~ I think I'm up to maximum, unless I go social (i've always been a loner)...because I'm up to 10.

I'm going to nurture my 10 (plus the 3 from the 'other site' - you know, the one with the good stats :O - until I can look up towards a "social interactive horizon" (social interactive jargon yuuk!)

Whatever - (as J-Lo would say)...: I've only been blogging for a year and I'm loving it.

(if I add you as a friend at least you'll know I think you're something v. special!) :-)

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