As an addendum to the earlier post (read it first for context), I’ve begun re-evaluating my reading habits. I’ve cut down from 350 blogs I’m reading to nearly 200.
I’ve begun asking myself what actual value each blog brings me.
I put “value” in 3 categories:
1. Professional value (finding out about items of professional interest)
2. Personal value (finding out about friends)
3. General value (comics, interesting tidbits, hobbies, etc)
This has meant that I’ve unsubscribed from some blogs I’ve read since I started blogging, some good friends’ blogs and some blogs that are industry leaders.
It’s actually tearing me up. But, I know it’s healthy. Spending 2-4 hours a day reading blogs is a Bad Thing(tm).
This post is part of a bunch of thoughts on finding balance in blogging, and ultimately on breaking the blogging addiction.
August 1st, 2005 at 2:16 pm
I’ve started doing the same. I slightly agree with your comments on A-listers. I unsub’d from Doc and Dave a while back. Somewhere down the line I’ll see someone link to them 4 times anyway. Anyway, my point is, with the overwhelming amount of content out there, I too have had to start cutting down on the number of blogs. It really can be a waste of time after reading so much and then reflecting “shit, what did I just absorb? anything?”…
August 1st, 2005 at 2:28 pm
If I don’t read at least one post on a feed in a month, or if I find myself clicking “Mark All Read” too frequently, I unsub. That’s the beauty of aggregators; my unsubscribing isn’t noticed by anyone; it’s anonymous (well, mostly).
August 2nd, 2005 at 11:00 am
I have three blog lists – one for my blog, one for miscellaneous blogs that I want to keep an eye on (this one changes a lot) and a private “valued” list.
The valued list is the one I use every day, the misc list I use once or twice a week, and the one on my blog I only check every month or so to make sure all the sites are still there.
I’m currently getting back into “surfing”. Rather than using one list to go back and forth to blogs that I already know, I’m hopping on the link express and finding loads of new sites. Including this one.
Back to the old skool methods for me!