This morning I’ve been working on / pondering / trying not to panic about my session with Lysa at SheSpeaks this weekend, and I have three questions for you, internets:
1) When you read a blog, are you looking for a super-professional presentation (design, photography, writing, etc.), or are you looking for something that might not look as professional but feels really relational? Or some combination of the two?
2) Do you tend to think of bloggers as friends? I mean, not your closest friends or anything – but do you feel like you have a little bit of a relationship with the bloggers you read?
3) Do you use Twitter or Facebook?
That is all.
Thank you ever so much for your wisdom.
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I like blogs that feel professional but not so much that you feel like you’ve just come across a business. Just a happy medium. I like to see the different ways people display their blogs and blogs have come along way since it all started so its nice to see the new things people are using to spice things up.
I also do think of them as friends. Some I have developed great peer relationships with and will call on them just as I would a regular friend.
And yes, I do use facebook and twitter.
1. Yes, professional is a must. I suppose it’s more clean, than professional. Too cluttered in design and my eyes start to cross.
And if paragraphs are too long and the grammar and spelling stinks, I’m outta there. It just gets too hard to read.
Relational has a lot to do with a writer’s voice for me. I like reading people who sound like who they are rather than a recording.
2. Totally. So many are real-life friends even if I’ve not met them face to face. I figure we’ll all live next door to each other on a big culdesac in heaven someday.
3. Twitter and Facebook are my BFFs.
1) Combo of the two
2) Yes, friends.
3) no Facebook or Twitter.
1) A relational-type blog is more important in the long-run, but a more professional-looking design definitely helps catch my eye. That said, a good story is what usually what draws me in.
2) I like to think I have blog-friends, even if they don’t know it! ;)
3) I use both facebook & twitter. Most of my irl friends are on facebook, though.
1)I like a blog that looks professional, but doesn’t act it! It needs to feel relational.
2)I do think of many of my fellow bloggers as friends and have been able to meet some in real life.
3) I do Facebook, signed up for Twitter but never got into it.
1. I am impressed by professional looking blogs and usually get a bit jealous too! But I, too, use GoogleReader so I rarely am on an actual blog site anymore to see the designs. Relational is a MUST. It’s all about the voice/the story/etc.
Also, sometimes I’m a bit intimidated by a blog that looks too professional – as though the blogger becomes more of an online journalist in my mind and no longer an honest person sharing an honest perspective.
2. I do think of them as friends in that I look forward to hearing about their lives and love when I read something that I can relate to personally.
3. I have a Facebook account, no status updates though. And no to Twitter.
1. It doesn’t have to be professional, but it can’t be a sloppy mess. The colors need to be soothing and not something I want to rip my eyeballs out over.
2. I do think of them as friends and sometimes I talk to my husband about them as friends and he wonders where I met these people. When I tell them they aren’t real friends, but internet friends, he kinda rolls his eyes and goes on.
3. I do Facebook
I use Google Reader also. A nicely-designed web page may tempt me to get “hooked” but once I subscribe to a blog the content becomes more important. I dislike blogs with foul language and errors in grammar, but if the content is interesting I may make exceptions.
Too soon to say if friendship will develop. I’m so new at this – I’ve just started reading blogs this summer!
I do Facebook, mostly because of my 40th high school reunion this year. I go days at at time without checking Twitter.
1) I use Google Reader, so I really don’t care what the website looks like. If I find you and read a few times, and like you, I’ll just subscribe. The story is what I’m a sucker for. And how I relate to you.
2) I’m not a stalker, but all the bloggers I read are my friends. If I ever see you in real life, I will either gush to you about how much I like you…or just run and hide out of embarrassment.
3) Facebook addict. Twitter addict, although people who update twitter 500 times a day annoy me.
Who thinks about all that stuff? I’m just trying to distract myself from the endless pile of laundry that needs to be done…
1. I read blogs for the “relational” aspect, but I do appreciate a nice blog layout and pictures. I am more likely to keep reading if I there are pictures, not too many typos (although I’m definitely guilty of grammatical sins!), and a clear layout without too much clutter.
2. I do consider bloggers as friends of a sort–I have checked blogs for status updates on baby deliveries and surgeries, and actually cried over one blog mom’s failed adoption attempts. My favorite blogs are those of other mothers I identify with and whose sense of humor I appreciate–I think I’d be friends with them in real life, too!
3. I do use Facebook–great for keeping track of friends from high school, college, and med school all in one place. I don’t Twitter–my life is just interesting enough for the occasional blog post. I don’t think my own mom would appreciate minute-by-minute updates, let alone my friends or the world in general!
1) Relational, but the design is an added bonus!
2) Yes, they arefriends!! Some have become very dear to me. I may have appeared stalker-like to some…oops, sorry. Normal person here! Well mostly…
3) I just started on FB–found a friend from childhood who led me to Christ–we moved away when I was 10. She and I talked about it today on FB–How cool is that??
…and Llama Mama is ABSOLUTELY right on.
1. Relational relational relational. I don’t care so much for “professional” but polished is always good- you know, spell checked, etc.
2. I do consider some of my blog relations friends- matter of fact- leslie from Diary of a Southern Drama Queen is coming tomorrow to spend a night and we’re going to see the sights in Nashville- our first “in real life” meeting, but we’ve been e-mailing and commenting for months. I’ve also developed a fun relationship with Melissa at “A Long Way from the Theta House” – it’s been a lot of fun, and even though they aren’t face to face friends- I value their opinions, enjoy their stories, and feel like if we were closer we’d be fast friends.
3. Yes- I use facebook and twitter- I also use Networked blogs on facebook and have gotten quite a bit of traffic from it.
1) I will say that the presentation is important, because that is really what catches your eye and either lures you in to read or “X” out. However, a super fancy blog with no substance is about as useful as a pig in a dress. A combination of both is key, but appearance draws me in; substance keeps me in.
2) I definitely feel like they’re “friends.” You have a relationship and they’re letting you into a part of their lives, and vice versa.
3) Facebook only.
Yo’ wail-come.
1. I like a little bit of both. I do judge a book by it’s cover( shame on me). If it’s a cute blog with a catchy title then I feel that I can really like the person.
2. I do think of bloggers as my friends. Call me sketchy but if any of the bloggers wanted to meet up, I totally would.
3. Yes, i do use Facebook and Twitter. More so Facebook though.
1. I like a presentation that speaks to me – that reaches out and grabs hold of my attention. Whether that is by relational means or powerpoint, I need to be engaged.
2. I do think of bloggers as friends/acquaintances and if any happened by Durham and wanted to meet up I would. We are privy to so many random and sometime intimate aspects of each others lives, it’s hard not to feel close to them in some way.
3. I don’t twitter, but I am a huge facebook fan.
1. I definitely look for relational. Pretty may enhance, but it’s not what draws me to a blog.
2. I do think of bloggers as friends.
3. I do only Facebook.
1.) I like to read blogs that are REAL. It’s nice to have a pretty blog and I think it’s overwhelming if the blog design is not aesthetically pleasing, but the content is what I’m about and I like real, transparent writers that are down-to-earth and care about their readers!
2.) Yes. I enjoy reading blogs of people with whom I would want to be drinking coffee.
3) Do you use Twitter or Facebook?
I use facebook. I started Tweeting but I then I realized that there are very few people in the world that care whether I eat chocolate ice cream sandwich on Ice Cream Sandwich Day (august 2–trust me) or bowl a 26 with the gutter blockers.
you’re welcome very much.
1. Combination
2. ABSOLUTELY
3. Facebook
1. Combination.
2. I often find myself saying, “My friend on the computer…” or “I know a person who…” only to secretly realize that this “friend” does not know me at all. But they feel like friends
3. Facebook only.
1. Whether I like it or not, I judge a blog first by its appearance. More important though is content. Are they blogging about something that I find I connect with in a way that is interesting to read?
2. Yes!
3. Twitter more than Facebook but yes, both.
1) I’m not looking for super-professionalism. I prefer warm, homey, and relational. But I do want there to be correct spelling, breaks in paragraphs rather than one long stream of consciousness, ease of navigation, lack of clutter, etc. So I guess a combination, leaning more toward relational than professional.
2) Some of the bloggers I read have become friends. With others there is still more distance. The difference is usually in their response. There are several blogs I have commented on several times and have gotten NO response, either on their blogs, in an e-mail, or in a visit back to my blog. So I eventually stopped commenting there, even though I still read. It’s not tit for tat, but rather because I feel more like a groupie or a “fan” than a friend. I know some of the “bigger” blogs gets tons of responses and can’t keep up, so I guess I’m not adding any more to their burden. I still see blogging as more interactive than other sites.
3) I use Facebook: I don’t use Twitter. I don’t need yet one more thing to keep up with, especially with keeping up with some of the same people in 2 or 3 different places.
Interesting questions-
1. I look for relational content that applies to my little world.
2. I consider them fascinating acquaintances since we’ve never really met, but I would love to meet.
3. NO to both. I’m a holdout. Even stopped blogging as it’s just too much.
Well…
1> I do love the look of a professional blog. I like blogging myself but don’t have a lot of traffic except for friends so I really appreciate someone who has a very professional looking blog. But…I do love to read a relational blog..that’s what keeps me coming back!
2>So along those lines…yes, I feel some sort of connection with those whose blogs I read. Maybe not necessarily a friend but more like a Twitter that I follow or a Facebook friend. I enjoy actually communicating in person with people who are my friends not just reading about them. ;0)
3> I use Twitter and Facebook for two different reasons…Twitter helps me stay up to date with “famous” people that I probably wouldn’t hear from any other way (but yes, I do have real friends on there too!) and then Facebook is for those “real” people that I know. So for me, I love Tweetdeck because I can keep up with both there and update both at the same time there.
Thanks for letting me share! Love your blog!
1. When I first find a blog, the design is a major draw (or not) for me. Professional, clean and cute are good. Compelling and clear are also very good. If I can’t navigate my way around your “home,” I am a whole lot less likely to feel comfortable. However, once I have you in my Reader, I pretty much almost kinda forget what your blog looks like. I’d love to say I comment on every single blog I read every day, but um, no, I don’t.
2. If I read a blog but don’t interact, I don’t think of the author as my friend. If, however, that person emails me in response to comments or sends me messages on Twitter or Facebook, then yeah, I start to think of them as friends.
3. I do Facebook and Twitter. I have a love/hate relationship with Twitter, though. Or, a get it/can’t stand it relationship. Or, a this is fun/why doesn’t anyone tweet me relationship. You get the picture, I am sure.
I am so excited for She Speaks, and I just can’t wait to meet you!
1. Relational. I usually read the blogs that I follow via Google Reader, so I typically miss the blog design altogether.
2. Definitely yes. Like I’m certain if I ran into some of the bloggers I read on the street, we’d spend a couple of hours catching up over Diet Coke in the nearest coffee shop.
3. Facebook. No twitter for me.
1. I tend to gravitate towards blogs that I feel I can connect with and relate to. Don’t really base it on presentation but the writing material and the character of the person whose blog I’m reading.
2. There are a handful of bloggers I have really come to know and enjoy and have become great friends with through the blog world and so yes I’d consider them friends!
3. I facebook and twitter.
1) I appreciate a pulled-together design, but more important than that is the writing style. Maybe I’m a snob, but I have a very difficult time reading blogs that have serious grammatical or other writing mistakes.
2) I do kind of think of bloggers as my friends, especially the ones that comment on my blog or communicate with me on Twitter.
3) Yes, both, probably too much!
1. My favorites are blogs which combine both options and do it in a literate, humorous way. yours is an excellenyt example!
2. Though I only read a handful of blogs daily, I do start to think of the bloggers as friends and look forward to reading them each day.
3. I have not yet tweeted, but I do love Facebook, especially to creep on my college student daughter. Sshhhh.
1. Not the look at all, mainly the writing/stories/recipes, etc. by the blogger.
2. I do feel a closeness to many of the bloggers I read.
It was very interesting to me when I met the one and only blogger in person (so far), that her response to meeting bloggers in person was everyone she (Marla T.) had met in person were EXACTLY what she anticipated.
3. No tweeting or facebooking….just too darn old……
Blessings and praying your comments are helpful to your research.
Take care,
Kaye
Oh, heavens, after I spouted on literacy I butchered words. Please forgive – I am working with a cracked computer screen and am giving myself carpal tunnel trying to move the windows around to see them!
i’m going to end up reading in a reader so ultimately the design doesn’t matter, however, that is what usually draws me and commits me to a certain blog. photos, a clean design, few distractions all make me think i want to spend some time there.
but mostly, i make connections with bloggers based on what they have to say, or what they saw to me in my comments.
1) I look for someone who makes me laugh, or is interesting, or is knowledgeable about something I want to learn. I don’t care what the actual webpage looks at because I read everything through a feed reader.
2) I do think of bloggers as friends, even though it doesn’t always go both ways :)
3) I’m on FB a LOT, not so much Twitter
Both
Yes
and Twitter (facebook for real friends)
1. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but it does have to make me laugh, cry, giggle, or emote in some way, shape, or form.
2. They are friends, and friends come in many different forms. Some have become such good friends that they live outside my computer and on my phone. And others were such good friends they became IRL ones.
3. I am a Twit and a FB’er.
1. I don’t like it to feel professional, but I like correct spelling and basic grammer neatness. I like it to feel “homey” if that’s even possible for a website!
2. I don’t think of bloggers as friends, per say. But, I do enjoy keeping up with them and am quite sad if they stop blogging (no matter how good the reasons). I do feel that I know the blogger and feel emotionally attached (sad when you’re sad, etc.)
3. I use Facebook. I have a Twitter account, but have never used it. I have an old cellphone. And I’m technologically behind. Because I choose to be. And, I have no money!
1. I do enjoy a well designed page, but most importantly, one with a large enough font that’s easy to read. Also, do not like blogs that take soooo long to load because of the music on them, etc.
2. I feel like they could be my friend because I it feels like I know them so well.
3. I’m on Facebook constantly and Twitter occasionally (more often when I’m checking in on Stellan @ Mckmama’s)
1) I LOVE the look of The Pioneer Woman and Posie Gets Cozy but if they weren’t funny or informational (which they both are) I probably wouldn’t keep going back. I’ll take funny over professional any day of the week, my friend.
2) I sometimes think I’m a little weird about feeling so connected to women I’ve never met other than through their words on my computer screen. But I really do feel connected to this “community” of bloggy women.
3) Facebook. I still haven’t even looked into the whole Twitter thing. Right now I figure I’ve got enough to keep up with between 4 kids, fb, blogs, house, hubby, etc., etc.. I’m not adding even 1 more single solitary thing into my “to do list.”
1. Design doesn’t matter much to me at all because I read all blogs in Google Reader.
2. I think of them as closer to me than a stranger, but it’s a stretch to call them a friend. If I’m talking about something I read on a blog, I typically refer to it as ‘well I was reading this blog and…’
That being said, I definitely related to some bloggers moreso than I do others…
3. I’m on both!
1) No, I don’t look because I typically only use Google Reader, so I don’t see the blog layout a lot. But I do like to see the more professional blog when I do look at them.
2) Sometimes. I am generally a lurker blog reader so I rarely comment, thus not really making room for relationship. I do, however, talk to my friend, who reads most of the same blogs about what’s going on in the blogs we read. So between us, we talk like you all are IRL friends!
3) Definitely Facebook. I’m signed in to Twitter, but only follow 3-4 people (like MckMama) but do not Twitter myself (yet)…
Sandra
1) relational is primary, and the only look I have issue with is cluttered.
2) yes, I see my readers as friends, and I see some of those I read as friends
3) yes, both FB and Twitter, but I’m a REALLY pathetic tweet
1) Definitely a combination of the two. I love when bloggers have professional backgrounds, nothing fancy but I love a header that really describes that person- like Chic Runner.
2) Definitely! And I always get a little excited when my favorite bloggers have new posts in my reader. I don’t comment much, but I love to follow people like MckMama, PW, Kelly’s Korner and of course, you!
3) Facebook. With a little lurking on twitter, but I find it too hard to follow.
1. relational, I like things to be pretty, but not too slick.
2. I definitely think of my bloggers as friends and refer to them that way in the real world.
3. I facebook and twitter.
1) When I read a blog, I’m looking for content. Design alone cannot lure me to a blog (if it could, I’d read only professional writers) but bad design (animation, music, changing to cursor to a butterfly) can turn me off so completely that I can’t manage to stick around long enough to find the content. (The only exception to my “no music” rule is Bring The Rain, and I’d prefer it if that music was optional.)
2) I have no closer relationship with a blogger than with any writer I like. That’s not quite precise – I feel that I know more about bloggers than most authors, but I do realize that’s an illusion. Most of the time. I’ve never met a blogger face to face; if I did, I’d probably be too shy to make contact, as I’d be with a writer.
3) I use Facebook for people I actually know – that is, people who would recognize me and say “Hello.” I use Twitter for people I find interesting – people on a board I read, bloggers, celebrities. I post on Facebook occasionally; I almost never post on Twitter. It all became much simpler once I made that distinction.
1. Both – I have some blogs I read because they are “purdy” and OK content and others I read because they are very relational. 2. I do have a few bloggers who are also friends – we exchange “off blog” notes and packages. I relate more to women bloggers – ’cause I are one.
3. No Twitter and quit Facebook – life is too short to spend so much time trying to “relate” when I have real live human beings within touching distance I can “relate” with – or just eat peanut butter and jelly on crackers with!
1. Primarily relational. Hate blogs with a gillion ads.
2. Yes. I’ve made some great friends.
3. No to both.
I am lurker.But thought what the hay I’ll let you know. But have read you for sometime . Love your humor and your wisdom.
Don’t care much for the design aspect of things. I am looking for the relation.
As a matter of fact I do consider you a friend. And when I repeat things that you write I say”my friend said” ha (is that wierd).
NO Twitter No Facebook (and no cell on the weekend) band that in our house over 3 months now and you just wouldn’t believe the torcher you can add to teens lives. Love it Love it
1. So sad I won’t be at She Speaks this year. You’ll be awesome.
2. I love blues and greens.
3. And giraffes.
4. Oh, are there specific questions I’m supposed to be answering?
5. I use fb and twitter both. People rarely respond to my tweets on twitter, but my updates are linked to fb, and all my sweet friends comment there.
6. I count you as a dear, dear friend. :) For reals.
1. Relational, definitely. I appreciate a blog whose layout is coded well so that things are hanging outside margins or covering up the text, but that’s about the extent of professional for me.
2. I do feel like I kinda “know” the folks I read and am really upset that I don’t live near enough any to get together with them. I am convinced we’d all have new friends if this was the case.
3. Facebook!!! Tried Twittering but it really annoyed my husband. Facebook is enough competition for him.
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