In 2019 I saw several of the blogs I followed pretty much go into a death spiral. In several cases, Life simply happened and they didn’t have the oomph to keep up with one more hobby. Others faded away for no apparent reason. For me, once a blog stops posting for a month with no warning, I stop following them. I also have an optimized number that works for me in regards to how many people I can follow intelligently and not get overwhelmed. I have to admit, I was hoping that several of the blogs would make a come back but it is March and it hasn’t happened.
I assume that you all have to deal with the same problem of blogs just disappearing over time and that you replenish your supply. How do YOU do that?
I am NOT looking for ways to entice people to follow me. I have enough followers and feel very comfortable with the numbers I get each month, so I’m not looking to expand my blog’s audience. I could just use another 5-10 people to follow who post several times a month in the SFF area and hopefully mostly about books. If you have any thoughts, let me know.
“The Churn”, which is what I call the falling off of bloggers, is just getting to me at the moment.
Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road 
This is good question. It made me think how many I’m following and how many blogs I screen read. I might be following more than 400 blogs and I see regular posts from around 100 blogs and I might be reading those that are actually interesting. It sure get overwhelming. In keeping up with read numbers, I hardly follow back new blogger. I should reconsider who to unfollow and give new bloggers chance they deserve.
LikeLiked by 2 people
My optimal number of blogs is between 40-60. I found that any more than 60 and I just start skimming. Which defeats the whole purpose of following them in the first place 😀
Cleaning out who you follow is a good thing. Helps you prioritize who you REALLY want to follow.
Thanks for commenting.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’m happy with the following I have though I would like two or three more people who love horror and apocalypse! I’ve tried following countless people over the last five years and commenting on their blogs but never got a response back from them so I gave up. Or a few would comment for a week or two and then stop despite my continued comments back and visits to their blog. That annoyed me! Now I’m just sticking with the people I know unless someone new stumbles across my blog!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is basically what I’m doing, except my pool has shrunk and I need to expand. It doesn’t help that I’m so picky 🙂
LikeLike
Recently I’ve been finding new blogs by looking at who likes the same posts as me, and clicking their name to see if they have a blog, and if it’s one I want to follow. The hit rate is certainly less than 100% but I’ve found a few new and interesting blogs this way.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thanks. I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll have to see if I can find any likely candidates that way 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
I try to check out blogs of all the new followers of Re-E, and if anly something catches my eye, I follow. That, and often, when one of the bloggers I follow mentions something new, I check it out. Apart from that… I used to be on Reddit, a bit, and a few times I discovered that author of a cool Goodreads review has a blog…
I’m sadly over the limit right now and cannot even keep up with Ola writing new posts, not to mention pay enough attention to all the blogs I follow… but I can still manage more than once a month, I hope 😉
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks. I’ve actually got reddit blocked in my browser so I can’t even go there. I’ve only ever managed to stick it out with 2 authors (Correia and Wright), all the others have been cut off by me in one of my usual fits of pique.
I’ve noticed you’ve been absent, so I hope things are going ok. Best of luck 😀
LikeLiked by 2 people
Things are going great, thanks, there are just so many of them 😉
LikeLiked by 2 people
I usually look at the comments people leave on blogs and if they catch my attention, I check out the commenter’s blog. Or sometimes when I’m looking for someone to capture my mood, I’ll search something really specific on Google with “blog” added to it and a relevant blog or two usually pop up.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I like that google idea! I’ve used the wordpress search bar to look for people who have reviewed books I like, but google has a much bigger reach. Thanks.
I think part of my problem is that I am wicked picky and will stop following someone at the drop of a hat too. Kind of like a big baby 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t know. This is so individual. I already feel like I’m not following my faithful bloggers properly, and I follow a lot fewer than 60. That sounds like it would be a FT job for me.
What’s with the butter churns?
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is definitely VERY individual. Which is why I’m asking everyone, as I want as many different opinions and options as possible to figure out what is going to work for me. I like to have a minimum of 40 people I follow, as I do have the time to commit to this hobby of blogging 🙂 Not having kids lends itself towards that.
The butter churns are to represent “The Churn” of blogger turnover 😦
LikeLike
I hop into the followed blogs of people I enjoy following. Often I find great ones there!
And since I’m active on twitter I found a couple of people with similar interests who also run wordpress blogs over there
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I tend to go into hiding from time to time but when I come back I am sure I make up that extra 1 person hehehe… I am also going on a purge some time soon and clearing some people I do not feel cater to my liking. Sad, but all the better for me in the end.
LikeLiked by 1 person
In regards to purging, our tastes change, so who we follow should change as well. And also, some people who follow you then never interact with likes or comments, phhhhh, who do they think they are? 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
I do the same thing that davekay said above.
Have to say I was relived to see that you have a limit to how many people you follow. I’ve been feeling bad that I don’t follow more people, but there really is a limit to the amount I can meaningfully follow and interact with before I feel my mind slacken off.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I was able to find my limit during my time at Booklikes. I found my upper limit then and I’ve stuck to it when I migrated over here to WP 😀
Honestly, I think we’ve all been brainwashed into believing that more is better, all the time,no matter what. So knowing your own limit is a great way to spit in the face of a lying culture!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like that! There is definitely a more more more thing going on that I think it can be easy to get swept away with.
For our own sanity I think it’s up to each of us to decide for ourselves.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I follow a good bunch of blogs faithfully, then there’s a group I visit from time to time. I think I’m already near my limit 😉
I usually check the comments under the blogs I already follow and check their authors’ blogs – and when I like them, I follow. But you’re right, many blogs I used to follow seem to have disappeared over the last few months or a year.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Not to denigrate anyone who I currently follow, but some really good bloggers have just vanished over the years. And I haven’t tried to replace them, as it has just been a lot of work to find them. I’m tired…
Thank you for the suggestion. I’ll probably start trying that.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yeah, I know what you mean. Still, I’m pretty happy with the blogs I follow now – but then, I don’t feel a need to find many more than I already follow because I’d be hard pressed to find the time for all of them. But yes,I to think it just sucks when you start to create a meaningful connection to some other blogger and they suddenly disappear.
Don’t give up, spring is just around the corner! 😀
LikeLiked by 2 people
I do a couple of book blogger MEMEs on a regular (or semi-regular) basis. Top Ten Tuesday, #6degrees, that kind of thing. So when I’m low on blogs I follow, I tend to pay closer attention to the other blogs linked on the MEME pages, and pick new blogs to follow based on what I find there.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hmmm, I hadn’t thought of checking out other Meme blogs. I guess I should go check out the 6degree tag 😀
LikeLike
I always found this sad, especially when we both know how rare it is to find bloggers who are genuine with themselves and the content they make. Since I barely have time to do what I do right now on the blog (with the blog hopping and reading), I don’t go hunting down new friends to have and let them find me over time. It’s actually something I too have also recently thought of and was going to do a post about it hahah
I can only recommend using the reader and searching popular tags like “bookworm”, “book blogger”, etc. or even search for reviews of certain books you love and see if you find ACTIVE reviewers who are ALSO looking to bond…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Now that the job is settling down (somewhat), I find I have more “mental” time and so could use more people to follow. I do think it is important for everyone to know their limits, like you’ve indicated.
If you do decide to do a post on this, I’d be interested in your longer thoughts. The subject of followers is one I’m always interested in.
I’m thinking about trying to search for the 6degrees tag and see if I can find anyone who is into SFF, even somewhat 😀 I don’t care if they follow me back, as long as they don’t kick me off 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hmm I’ve been really bad lately about checking out new bloggers, so I’d have to think. But yeah I’ve seen a lot of bloggers come and go- it’s always a real shame.
LikeLiked by 1 person
In some ways blogging reminds me of dating. It starts out fun and exciting but then, it can turn into this neverending parade of new people.
I prefer the steady married life myself 😀
LikeLike