Posts
Everyone should use it!
I am encouraging this because it has allowed me to delete my side links to other people's blogs almost entirely. And I feel strangely happy that when people get to me, the blog stalking comes to an abrupt halt.
Now, I know that many people find great joy in blog stalking, but I have to admit to being a little weirded out that anyone could access my page just because someone they know (or someone they know that they know that they know) has a link to me in their side page.
Now, I don't mind friends passing my blog site on to other friends or linking things in my blog to people that they know. I just don't love that a link to my blog directly on their page makes it easy for any random person to access.
I know the links on the page is the way that many people check everyone's blogs, but I say that doing so is a pain in the butt. Who wants to click on ten+ links every day or week just to see who has updated their blog?
With Google reader, you don't have to click on every link! Just subscribe to each person's blog and anytime there is an update, it just shows up in google reader. I log in to google reader every day so that I can stay on top of everyone's posts.
And If you decide you want to access the actual blog you can just click on it from google reader.
So there you have it... a way that you can delete the link you have to my blog sitting over there in your side bar and still have an easy way to get to my blog.
Another cool thing- you can add any sites with an RSS feed to google reader and it will keep you up to date on them. You can also discover new blogs to subscribe to based on the blogs that you are currently subscribed to. I was able to find a whole slew of new crafty blogs! Yay!
Thanks for listening to Carrie's little internet safety/paranoia for the week. Don't use last names, specific locations, and don't make it easy for random general public that you don't know to have access to your personal site. And thank you for understanding my need for privacy!
Monday, March 31, 2008
google reader rocks
Posted by Carrie at 11:58 PM
4 Comments:
I use a similar service called Bloglines. It makes me happy! I have well over 100 blogs that I read regularly. Not having to check them individually is amazing! :)
Hey, do you want me to take your link off my blogroll?? Just let me know.
Well, this is going to expose my true nerdiness- but I want people to read my blog. I like to have high readership. I track it with Google Analytics and another thing. So I know how many people are checking each day, where they are, etc.
And I like people to link to me because of the aforementioned reason. I don't think I have you in my blogroll, and if I do, I will take you out if you want me to.
Also, the thing about using somebody's blogroll to access blogs (your own blogroll, perhaps) is that for people like me who can track the traffic, it skews the data. For example, I like to know that 75% of my traffic comes directly to me, that 10% come from my best friend who is REALLY into blogging and has hundreds of readers daily, etc. When somebody uses a link on a blog to get to me EVERY SINGLE time, it skews the data. I wonder if that makes sense. Right now, I have somebody using a a friend's blog to access mine, instead of just adding my blog as a favorite or using a reader. And so, that blog has sent a huge deal of traffic to me, but really, I'm pretty darn sure it is the same person over and over again! Makes me crazy.
Sorry for the rant. But I totally hear you. Readers are amazing!
And really, if you don't want me to link to you (in the blogroll or in blogs themselves) just let me know, and I will undo my link to you yesterday!
I'm so undecided on having people take my link off completely! I use sitemeter so that I can see where my traffic is coming from and for the most part, I don't mind that my friend's friends read. It's a cool way to figure out connections with people and for people who I would want to read my blog anyway to find me.
Maybe I just want people who read my blog to either tell me they are reading or comment so I know they are reading.
Obbviously, I am very torn on the issue.
I think a lot of the concern comes from both Jon and I participating in forums and have seen first hand how easy it is for people to find your blog and use it in a negative way.
I think for now I'm okay with people having me in their blogroll as long as no last name is mentioned.
And if you read my blog more than just in passing, comment or let me know you're reading! I'll try to do the same with yours!
This all seems very strange to me. Links on sites to my site increase my search ranking. I have gone to great lengths to include my name (last name included) on my site and others so that friends find me and so on. If you search Kenn North on google, my site comes up first. This has been helped by friends linking to my site. It's a big part of how a search engine determines that pages are valuable. So in my mind removing links is a disservice to friends not a service. Public blogs are meant to be found. Otherwise they shouldn't be public.
But what I really don't get is going through such great lengths to make your blog private and yet it's still a public blog, and on top of that you have posted all sorts of information about products you buy and pictures of your family and when you are vacation, and all sorts of other private information.
Post a Comment