Today, I thought we could talk about what you do when another blogger follows you. Do you follow back automatically, or are you more selective?
I’ve never been one to automatically follow back. A lot of sites that follow me are clearly spammy or not something that interests me at all, but aside from that, I usually go take a peek and see if their content looks like what I’d be interested in reading regularly.
I only follow blogs that I’m genuinely interested in reading. I do all my blog reading in the Reader, and I get pretty easily overwhelmed, so I don’t like to have my feed cluttered with a lot of blogs I’m not reading very often.
Since mental health is my niche, I’ll follow back pretty much any mental health bloggers, although sometimes a new blog will follow me and I won’t notice it in the sea of spammy new follows. With non-mental health blogs, I’ll sometimes wait a bit before making a decision on following back. If people are genuinely engaging with my blog and I’m interested in what they have to say, then I’ll often like to read their blog even if it falls outside of my usual reading preferences. I’m sometimes a little slow on the uptake with this, though; it takes a while for brain cells to connect in my head.
Then there’s the question of like-for-like. Do you ever like bloggers’ posts that don’t interest you in the slightest simply because they’ve liked yours?
I’m big on genuineness when it comes to blogging. I like community and mutual engagement; that’s what makes blogging a wonderful thing. But the artificialness of the follow-for-follow and like-for-like game isn’t my thing, and I don’t do it. It does seem to be a popular strategy, though.
So, now it’s over to you. Do you follow back? Or automatically like back? Why or why not?
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It’s an interesting question. I started my mental health blog a few years back and felt a sort of lone journey on this. What I started realizing is that I could gain insight and collaboration with others who might look at a subject from a different view. So I would say I’m leaning towards being less selective, but I’m still new at this!
I’ve definitely learned a lot from the things that others have shared on their blogs.
Same! I check to see if the blog is something I am interested in before I follow back, however there are so many interesting blogs out there and 9 times out of 10, I generally end up loving their site so I follow back!
There are definitely a lot of cool blogs out there.
I will check out their site, but I only follow if it interests me. I do follow most mental health blogs that follow. I like when I actually like posts.
Sounds like we have much the same approach.
🙂 I do not follow every blogger that follows me. Like you, I am very selective; I only follow the blogs of bloggers that I am genuinely interested in.
I wonder if bloggers who have been around for a while are more likely to take that approach than newbie bloggers.
🤔 My educated guess would be those bloggers who have been around for a while.
I agree.
I don’t always follow. I used to be more generous in following, but that was years ago when I was unemployed and had more time. I do periodically look in my followers list and check out new followers and see if they interest me, but I don’t automatically follow back. I’m more likely to follow people with similar interests; less likely to follow those with poor spelling and grammar and those who talk a lot about politics (whatever politics; I just don’t like my reading list filling up with arguments). I feel my time is precious now and I’m trying to read less online, so I’m probably less willing to follow than I used to be.
That makes sense. I have just as much time but less mental energy, and I’ve gotten less willing to follow because of that.
I most definitely try to
Nice!
I just follow blogs I am interested in.
I think that’s a good approach.
I don’t automatically follow or like back. But, like you, I always look to see if it’s something I’m interested in.
I also love the community formed from blogging, and I feel like you can’t really get that genuineness from blindly liking and following everyone that you see.
I totally agree.
Similar to you, I will check out bloggers that seem genuine. No I definitely do not follow every like or follow. (Perhaps that’s why my audience is so low haha.) but for me I don’t write for likes or follows. I write because I hope that what I post may resonate with 1 person and make them feel seen.
That’s what truly matters.
I don’t automatically follow, but I do try to read. If it’s not at all likeable, I move on. I use reader, too. If someone is hogging that space, I’m likely to unfollow.
I also tend to unfollow blogs when it starts feeling like they’ve hijacked my Reader feed.
I do pretty much as you. I do follow a lot of blogs (obviously have more time than you do). A lot of them I just follow for the photos because they bring color (especially sunshine, nature, and pets) to my day and they are more real than most Instagram photos. I like if I like. I will unfollow if a blogger starts going off on politics, religion, or the like. I don’t mind if it is mentioned for a particular reason but when it is just a rant aimed at anyone and everyone with an opposing opinion, then it is – goodbye!
That’s a very good reason to unfollow.
Nope! I will fb only personal blogs, not biz sites, which sadly lately most new followers are…
Most of my new followers are biz sites too.
Nope and Nope. I take the LIKE button seriously (silly me!) – even blogs I follow – if I don’t like a particular post, I don’t hit the button. I don’t follow back people who aren’t real people – if you know what I mean. And now that I know you can delete followers – well, I’m doing that every day – it is SO fun. I do love my delete key!
I take the like button as well. And deleting all kinds of things sure can be fun!
You said it… genuineness… that’s the ticket!
Yes!
I’m very selective with which blogs I follow now, mainly due to not having enough spare time to catch up if I followed hundreds of blogs. I made the mistake of following a lot of disability bloggers simply because they were the same niche,.
I used to do that, and found I was reading a whole bunch of mental health blogs that were never interacting with my own, so I decided more streamlining was needed.