I’ve been reading blogs for five years now, and I’ve gone through such phases! From typing in the URL of those I loved, to moving to Google Reader (and getting mightily overwhelmed), then to Feedly, and finally to Bloglovin. Even the types of blogs I read have changed. I first started with The Pioneer Woman, scrolling through Tumblr, and reading mummyblogs when I wasn’t yet a mum. Nowadays, my tastes run to food (always food!), fun DIY, personal, homeschooling (wtf? I can’t explain why I can’t stop reading them although I don’t intend to homeschool), blogs of people whose kids glue gumnuts together (those ones always seem so earthy and natural and gentle and unsweary, everything I’m not!), and people who post pictures of their fancy home interiors. I never feel intimidated or inadequate when reading those, they just make me want to vacuum.
I tend to read blogs on weekend mornings, when it’s my turn to wake up with the kids. I sort them out with some toast and cartoons, and I rug up on the couch next to them with the iPad and a cup of tea. I try to ignore Bloglovin putting my list of loves into alphabetical order, and I read my favourites first. Each Saturday I usually get through Attic 24, Design Mom, Duchess Kate, Nesting Place, and Traveling Mama. Then a rush to get through as many as I can until it’s time to go out and play. The ones I go to the most are usually the ones I have in my sidebar blogroll here. All make me HAPPY.
I tend to only scroll through the food category when I don’t have time to sit down and fully read, and I’ll “like” the posts I want to save for later. If I’m on the laptop, I’ll Pin the recipes straight up that I want to keep.
Some blogs have quite detailed info that I feel as though I need to be in the right head space to absorb, so I read them when I am home alone. Blogs like Planning With Kids, The Nutrition Guru and the Chef, A Mother Far From Home, etc.
I will also click over to read a post that someone has put on Facebook if I’m ever scrolling through Facebook. Which admittedly, isn’t often!
Some blogs are in my reader purely for eye candy, and I’ll scroll through the Bloglovin feed of them, clicking over if something looks particularly interesting. But I don’t usually read the whole post.
I try to get to the blogs of people who comment here on Veggie Mama, and comment on theirs if I can. I have been known to lurk though, I’m sorry! I’m getting better. I do find it hard to comment when I’m on the iPad on Blogger blogs – the comments never show up. And I suck royally at Captcha! I’ve been making time to comment when I’m on the laptop, although I’m usually on the laptop to work, and not for fun 🙁
And I’ll also read blogs if I’ve been searching Pinterest for something specific, and find a blog with the info on it. Then I see who their favourites are, and read those. And then I get stuck down a rabbit hole of interesting blogs I’ll never have the time to read!
So how do you read? When do you read? Whom do you read? Tell all!
I read on the big computer where I spend most of my working days, at home, in the kitchen/lounge/dining room! It has a big screen and I can write/read easily! I haven’t to to Pinterest yet, not enough hours in the day! I’ve been reading you for ages, like most of the awesome biggies but only felt I should comment in the past few months, silly I know 🙂
I’m a skimmer, if a topic jumps out at me I read it word for word, but usually I skim through to see if it’s what I need right then and there (which can vary wildly with my mood:)) xo
I have my favorites I read through blogger, but I also get lost in rabbit holes through Pinterest. Ps – why are you advertising tuna on your blog? Genuine question 🙂
Where’s the tuna? That’s hilarious. All I see are ads for Uni courses. Maybe it’s based on what you’ve recently searched for? Why have you been googling fish? 😉
Thanks for the mention, friend! I use feedly and cant stop reading about homeschooling either! Ha. I usually catch up each morning before the kids wake up or on weekends for detailed photography like blogs. It is so true what you said about not feeling bad looking at these other pretty houses, but just enjoying being inspired!
Oh the pain of commenting on blogger from an iPad! So here’s what I do if I want to comment: I go into the google app, make sure I’m signed into google, type in the blog name and go to the site, then entry – then it allows me to comment. It’s still temperamental, though, and I have to know what I’m going to say because I can’t go back and delete stuff and add spelling corrections (etc) easily. If you want to do this, you have to click away from the comments field, then back into your comment. I sure hope blogger bloggers know how much effort I go to, haha… 😉
Oh, and read in a number of ways: some through feedly or bloglovin (I really should consolidate), some come via email, some through facebook.
Oh my it is very time consuming but I love it. I have a reading list in my sidebar that changes with additions and deletions all the time. I have 10 or so favs that I have a scroll through most mornings right after brekkie when the kids are happy and just before the dishes start calling to be washed. I always have a look, a read and often add to the reading list of those who comment and say Hello over at mine which is really nice and I have found some lovely blogs to follow and be inspired by that way too. Parenting, vintage inspired and gardening blogs and there plenty of funny ladies out there who think and see the world with a great sense of humour. I also love blogs with great photography. Lots to aspire too out there I tell ya. If the evenings permit and if I can see that hubby doesn’t mind my head in this notebook, I like to have a look through my instagram, twitter and FB. Facey is a great way to see quickly the latest posts, shares and updates on whats happening on all of the above. I have also freed up a bit of the sidebar reading list by using blogloving a bit more and that is great for quick scrolling. I nearly need a timetable on when I am allowed to do social media so everything else can get done. So addictive. I love your blog too by the way and its in my reading list.
Thank you for the kind words! I do love an aspirational blog, it makes me feel so motivated.
I used to read them first thing when I got into work (cough, cough) via Google Reader. When I left work on maternity leave I kind of stopped reading blogs and fell more in love with instagram. I now subscribe via email to a few of my favourite blogs (including yours) as well as checking out pages/posts on facebook.
Yeah isn’t it weird how your blog consumption changes? I felt like for a while there I just couldn’t get to anybody.
I subscribe to my faves so they arrive in my inbox and are never missed and the rest I potter off to usually from the sidebar of one of the ones I subscribe too 🙂
We’ve got similar tastes!
I read mainly food an political blogs. For the food blogs I have a Bloglovin’ feed (though sometimes blogs I’m following will mysteriously drop off) and the political stuff all goes on my Twitter Feed, I’ve just started to crochet so I was following a few crochet blogs (Attic 24 etc) but now that what I use for crochet stuff is Pinterest. I’ve got a Facebook account but I kind of hate Facebook so my page is a bit neglected and sad. I follow quite a lot of blogs but if I had to name 3 desert island food blogs they’d be Wednesday Chef, Orangette and Nourish Me.
HOW good is twitter for politics! I follow lots on there too. Pinterest is great for crochet, it’s always the first place I look when I need a pattern. I’ve pinned SO much cute stuff.
I have literally just set up Hootsuite (if you know of a better alternative, I’m all ears) to have my business and personal stuff on there, all organised. How annoying that the don’t have email streams, urgh. Anyway, I had JUST finished loading in your blog to the RSS feed and saw this post!
You have no idea how glad I am to hear that I’m not the only childless, mummy blog addict.
No, I quite like hootsuite!
My favs I either subscribe to directly or add to my bloglovin list (why I do both I have no idea, it makes no sense) but then I actually read the posts on their website when I get the email. Others I follow on twitter/facebook and check in when I see they have a new post. It’s a bit haphazard though, I keep meaning to come up with a better system!
I used to do both, inbox for my super-favourites. But then my inbox got MENTAL and I had to cull and move them all to bloglovin 🙁
I rely on Facebook, email subs and my old skool bookmark with folders! I ought to get on that Bloglovin situation though. I read blogs in a hurry, whilst doing three other things then get the shits that I can’t comment because I’ll burn the toast. If I really want to say something I go back late at night and take my time. Otherwise I get stuck “liking” or using an emoticon to show I care.
Ha I’m guilty of that too 🙂
I think that stupid “prove you’re not a robot thing” should be banned, if I get it wrong, I just close the page without bothering to try again!
As for reading, I use Feedly, I actually posted a couple of tips (see link at the bottom of this comment) as I like to sort them (to my preference) & have figured out a way to prompt me to comment more often!
http://www.craftyrie.com/2014/05/a-number-question-handy-tip.html
I LOVED feedly when I had it. I probably had it for a year? Only recently moved to Bloglovin, as it seemed to be where most of my readers were.
I mix it up by reading on my laptop and iPad. I don’t like commenting with the iPad because sometimes the auto correct changes my comment if I’ve misspelled a word or my comment disappears and it’s a pain in the butt to retype it!
Haha there was a period there when I couldn’t go back and fix one word, and it would drive me absolutely nuts! Everything would just freeze.
Oh yes I know that rabbit hole! I like bloglovin, and I know I should go through it more often and delete the blogs I thought I would enjoy following, but now dont. I often find interesting new blogs from comments others have posted.
It is lovely to feel so organised when I do that!
Bloglovin’ for me too.
I scroll though my feed, taking note of who posted what, marking my eye candy blogs as read, and then I go back and read my favourites!
I always like parenting, food, and unachievable interiors and lately I have been into wellness blogs too.
How nice does it feel to “mark as read”
I use Bloglovin. I used to subscribe but my inbox was mental!!
I’m kind of deleting blogs right now. Some I’ve read for ages but my taste has changed over the past few months….
I realised recently that pretty much every blog I read ( bar Attic 24 & Posy gets Cosy) are Aussie blogs. Most are family/food/parenting with a few crafty & lifestyle blogs thrown in. Some ( like yours) I read every single post but lots I just skim.
I need some new ones to read so I’ll check out some you’ve mentioned 🙂
I do that fairly regularly, if I find myself skipping over their posts in bloglovin a lot, I realise it’s time for them to go. Tastes DO change, huh! Mine sure have over the last 4-5 years. I think we read lots of the same blogs 🙂
Thats cause we’re awesome!
I tend to use bloglovin too. I’m quite new to the world of blogs, and my list keeps growing. Sooo many interesting people out there huh! Thanks for popping by my site the other day. I know blogger sites are a pain on the iPad – I’m just in the process of sorting out my self hosted wordpress site (with disqus) which will hopefully make it easier for people to comment. I find there are some blogs who always have something I want to read, and others which I just skim read. Then there are more again which have loads of links to other new blogs I haven’t seen before and I get a little carried away…
It is SO easy to get carried away! I love it so much. so many awesome new-to-me blogs out there.
I’m so interested in how other people peruse the internet, a bit creepy I know. I pretty much followed the same process as you. Started typing in the address (mostly PW!) and then I moved onto Google Reader, which I really liked. Now I use Feedly but I’m not a fan. I’ve recently set up a Bloglovin’ account but I haven’t been in the mind frame to work it all out yet! I read blogs for years before I finally bit the bullet earlier this year and started writing my own. I still find it daunting and a little embarrassing. I pretty much read food blogs exclusively, a bit boring huh? I try to read each post thoroughly but if I’m tired I tend to skim. I try to comment on most of the things I read but sometimes life has other ideas!
I liked google reader too, I could have a “news” feed, and a blog one. Waaaaah
I love blog lists on peoples blogs and I use blog lovin. I was a huge fan of google reader and blog lovin is the only one I use now.
Blog lists don’t exist like they used to, but some blogs I visit not to read the post so much but to check the blog roll. Too lazy to get my own sorted out.
Oh I’m the same, there were a few blogs for a while there that I used as my own personal reader!
Most of the time it’s because I see the tweet with a new post. I do have bloglovin but I rarely sign in. I think it is the best option out there though.
I think I’ve fallen off the twitter wagon. I did love it so much!
Bloglovin on the lap top for me – or on my phone sitting at sports 😉 x
Ah yes, I’ve got years of that in my future!
Bloglovin is fantastic and I subscribe directly to my inbox for my faves. Loving you blog too, I’m a new fan thanks to Sonia (life Love and Hiccups)
Yvette
x
ooh hello and welcome! I’d be a bit lost without Bloglovin 🙂
Thanks for the mention Stacey! I use feedly and read predominantly on my phone, but for articles that I really want to take in, I will mark them and read them later. I am a terrible commentor these days 🙁 – so much harder to leave a comment when you are on the iPhone. I do try to share on my social networks as much as possible.
I love Feedly! Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn’t have switched… but Bloglovin’ seems to work pretty well.
Bloglovin’, on my lap top <3