I'm not a great one to answer since my google reader is huge too. But when I read a post and it leaves me feeling either tense/argumentive, mildly dissatisfied with myself or just meh, I scroll through the last couple posts to see if they're all like that and then delete.
But then one day I'll feel like patting myself on the back for deleting a bunch and that same day I'll add 5 more.
And don't feel bad about your number, I'm sure there are a lot of old blogs that have been switched over or people that don't post anymore in that 356. :)
That's a hard one. I, too, follow a ton of blogs. And lately I've been adding more due to PL posts. I figure if I get to a point with a blog where I'm not identifying with the posts consistently then I unsubscribe. I'm also ok with not reading every post, though. For example, I subscribe to some party blogs (Amy Atlas-type blogs) and usually scan the list of new posts and only click on the ones that sound interesting. Then I mark all the rest as read. I don't know if that helps, but just remember that you shouldn't feel like your blogs are another thing on your to do list. If you do, it means it's time to purge, which I do occasionally.
I recently cleaned out my reader and just deleted every blog I didnt immediately recognize the name for. I felt like if I didnt know the blog it wasnt capturing my attention anyway. It just got to the point where my unread posts were overwhelming.
If I keep going to or coming across a blog, then I will subscribe. I purge when once a year or I start feeling it is a chore. If I start getting bored with a blog or it becomes only about giveaways and product reviews, then I definitely unsubscribe. I actually read my reader instead of magazines now. I look at blogs for my inspiration and techniques, so I don' keep track of how many are in my reader.
jules, I read them instead of mags, too. Especially now that I have an iPad. It's my before-bed reading material :) I have the app Reeder and it will sync all your new posts so that you can read them when you're offline (my iPad is wi-fi only).
Now I'm curious. Allison, how can you tell how many blogs are in your reader?
I do what tienky does. I don't read all of them that are in my google reader either but if it is something that I know I want to reference at some point I will leave it in my reader. I scan a couple times a day the new posts, read the ones I want to and mark the rest as read. I think this keeps it easy to manage. Blog reading should be fun, not something that feels like a chore, so don't be afraid to mark all as read when they pile up.
i use to use google reader too but it got overwhelming; plus I really like actually visiting people's blogs. i'm trying to get better at commenting rather than just doing a 'read-by'.
the blogs i read all vary too, from scrappy to more personal. i really like the combination of both.
I can't find out I found out the number now! It was in organize feeds or something (I use google reader) I like using google reader because there ARE a lot of blogs I love to read, however if I am busy over a weekend or a couple days during the week I'll log on and have 100-200 unread it just gets to be too much. I know I can just mark them as read but I don't want to miss the ones I love!
I don't know if it's a chore as much as I just spend too much time on it :P
Caz - google.com/reader :) It displays all the blogs you subscribe to in one place.
wow, I love google reader! I love that I don't have to open each blog to see if someone posted or not.
I don't have a huge list though. I only have like 15 blogs on my reader and then every few days I will come here and check out the "bloggers" thread. Honestly if I don't know you in real life I only need so much inspiration. I get plenty between the blogs I follow and stopping by here.
Cool trick on Google Reader if you want to actually go to a blog...
go to your reader settings, click on the "goodies" tab and install "put reader in a bookmark". Then you just click the "next" button on your bookmark bar and it takes you to a post in the actual blog that is unread. Kind of fun...
I had tons in my favorites, and we had a major computer meltdown and lost our hard drive. That was one of my first thoughts.... "oh no! My FAVORITE BLOGS!" I have to say, it was actually freeing. lol.
I'm with agomally. I have a blog just so i can have a sidebar of blog. On there I have maybe 30 blogs. Anything more and I'd get completely overwhelmed. I also look at galleries so that's enough inspiration for me.
I use Google Reader too, and follow a lot of blogs! My absolute favourite Bloggers have their own folder, then all my other blogs are organised into categories like Project Life, Art Journalling, Cooking Blogs. But like someone above mentioned, if after a few months of reading them I still don't know who the blogger is, then I delete them. I need to get better at commenting too, I get disheartened when I see people have visited my blog but not commented, but I know I'm guilty of doing the same!
I used to bookmark them but then I had to open all of them to see if they updated that day or not. My mac freaks out when I open that many so I switched to google reader. I love that I can scroll through each day and see the updates. I know where I last left off so once I get to that point I know I've seen everything that was updated that day.
Also, it makes it easier when I'm on the road to check. I don't keep that list on my ipad so when I'm away from home I just hit my blogger dashboard and they're all there at the bottom of the page.
Since I generally read through the "new posts" section, I usually don't notice if I haven't been following posts as much at a given time. I also find that the blogs i love to read ebb and flow depending on what's going on in my life. If I think I may want to read the blog again in the future, I'd rather keep it on the list, because some of the random ones are super hard to find again!
in your blog reader? I thought I had weeded through mine but I just went to organize and there are 356 blogs I'm subscribed to. Yikes!
How do you choose which ones you subscribe to or do you like to have a lot?
I feel like I'll miss something important if I take any of them off ;)
I'm not a great one to answer since my google reader is huge too. But when I read a post and it leaves me feeling either tense/argumentive, mildly dissatisfied with myself or just meh, I scroll through the last couple posts to see if they're all like that and then delete.
But then one day I'll feel like patting myself on the back for deleting a bunch and that same day I'll add 5 more.
And don't feel bad about your number, I'm sure there are a lot of old blogs that have been switched over or people that don't post anymore in that 356. :)
That's a hard one. I, too, follow a ton of blogs. And lately I've been adding more due to PL posts. I figure if I get to a point with a blog where I'm not identifying with the posts consistently then I unsubscribe. I'm also ok with not reading every post, though. For example, I subscribe to some party blogs (Amy Atlas-type blogs) and usually scan the list of new posts and only click on the ones that sound interesting. Then I mark all the rest as read. I don't know if that helps, but just remember that you shouldn't feel like your blogs are another thing on your to do list. If you do, it means it's time to purge, which I do occasionally.
I recently cleaned out my reader and just deleted every blog I didnt immediately recognize the name for. I felt like if I didnt know the blog it wasnt capturing my attention anyway. It just got to the point where my unread posts were overwhelming.
I can't even use Google/blog readers, it overwhelms me too much (mostly because I add too much stuff to it...). I just bookmark my absolute faves!
im bad at using google reader. i have a few RSS feeds check everday. but i like the blogs that get sent by email.
If I keep going to or coming across a blog, then I will subscribe. I purge when once a year or I start feeling it is a chore. If I start getting bored with a blog or it becomes only about giveaways and product reviews, then I definitely unsubscribe. I actually read my reader instead of magazines now. I look at blogs for my inspiration and techniques, so I don' keep track of how many are in my reader.
jules, I read them instead of mags, too. Especially now that I have an iPad. It's my before-bed reading material :) I have the app Reeder and it will sync all your new posts so that you can read them when you're offline (my iPad is wi-fi only).
Now I'm curious. Allison, how can you tell how many blogs are in your reader?
Wendy
I'm with Jen - I bookmark them. I get overwhelmed easily.
I follow a LOT of blogs, i don't read every post from every blog though, just ones that catch my eyes as i scroll through
I do have blogs i read all the time though like Lizzy K etc
i only follow about a dozen thru reader. i use the flipboard app which makes it much easier to keep up i think!
I do what tienky does. I don't read all of them that are in my google reader either but if it is something that I know I want to reference at some point I will leave it in my reader. I scan a couple times a day the new posts, read the ones I want to and mark the rest as read. I think this keeps it easy to manage. Blog reading should be fun, not something that feels like a chore, so don't be afraid to mark all as read when they pile up.
what is google reader, i just follow on blogger
i use to use google reader too but it got overwhelming; plus I really like actually visiting people's blogs. i'm trying to get better at commenting rather than just doing a 'read-by'.
the blogs i read all vary too, from scrappy to more personal. i really like the combination of both.
I can't find out I found out the number now! It was in organize feeds or something (I use google reader) I like using google reader because there ARE a lot of blogs I love to read, however if I am busy over a weekend or a couple days during the week I'll log on and have 100-200 unread it just gets to be too much. I know I can just mark them as read but I don't want to miss the ones I love!
I don't know if it's a chore as much as I just spend too much time on it :P
Caz - google.com/reader :) It displays all the blogs you subscribe to in one place.
I use Bloglovin'. I don't read all of them.
wow, I love google reader! I love that I don't have to open each blog to see if someone posted or not.
I don't have a huge list though. I only have like 15 blogs on my reader and then every few days I will come here and check out the "bloggers" thread. Honestly if I don't know you in real life I only need so much inspiration. I get plenty between the blogs I follow and stopping by here.
Cool trick on Google Reader if you want to actually go to a blog...
go to your reader settings, click on the "goodies" tab and install "put reader in a bookmark". Then you just click the "next" button on your bookmark bar and it takes you to a post in the actual blog that is unread. Kind of fun...
Wendy
I'm a bookmarker too
I had tons in my favorites, and we had a major computer meltdown and lost our hard drive. That was one of my first thoughts.... "oh no! My FAVORITE BLOGS!" I have to say, it was actually freeing. lol.
I just keep my faves on the sidebar of my blog or I bookmark them. I think I'd become too overwhelmed if I went the reader route...
I'm with agomally. I have a blog just so i can have a sidebar of blog. On there I have maybe 30 blogs. Anything more and I'd get completely overwhelmed. I also look at galleries so that's enough inspiration for me.
I use Google Reader too, and follow a lot of blogs! My absolute favourite Bloggers have their own folder, then all my other blogs are organised into categories like Project Life, Art Journalling, Cooking Blogs. But like someone above mentioned, if after a few months of reading them I still don't know who the blogger is, then I delete them. I need to get better at commenting too, I get disheartened when I see people have visited my blog but not commented, but I know I'm guilty of doing the same!
I used to bookmark them but then I had to open all of them to see if they updated that day or not. My mac freaks out when I open that many so I switched to google reader. I love that I can scroll through each day and see the updates. I know where I last left off so once I get to that point I know I've seen everything that was updated that day.
Also, it makes it easier when I'm on the road to check. I don't keep that list on my ipad so when I'm away from home I just hit my blogger dashboard and they're all there at the bottom of the page.
Since I generally read through the "new posts" section, I usually don't notice if I haven't been following posts as much at a given time. I also find that the blogs i love to read ebb and flow depending on what's going on in my life. If I think I may want to read the blog again in the future, I'd rather keep it on the list, because some of the random ones are super hard to find again!