While I haven’t been that active in visiting other blogs and commenting on various posts and reviews in recent months, I have noticed certain trends that have me rolling my eyes, raising my eyebrows and in general wondering about the state of book blogging. I want to take some time to address each one and hopefully start a discussion about them. As I have a lot to say, this is going to be spread out over several weeks. Think of it as a modern-day expose on the world of book blogging. I’ve discussed readathons and giveaways. This week I tackle the idea of blog hops.
Blog hops – I confess these events just leave me baffled. I have no idea what they are and what purpose they serve. I can understand memes, readathons, and giveaways. I know why bloggers participate or host these events. I do not understand blog hops, and yet, there is at least one every single week. Why?
Are people hoping to just drive up traffic to their blogs? Are they hoping to gain more followers? From what I’ve seen, there is no opportunity to share who you are. It is more a “hi, thanks for stopping by and please check out the next person on the list” event. For those who participate, why? How does this help your blog? What are your reasons for participating?
I am not trying to malign these events. I seriously do not understand them. I do think they occur too often and offer very little in the way of rewards. How many lasting visitors can you get by having someone just stop by one or two times? Are those who do stop by through a blog hop really your target audience? Is the effort worth the results? I’ll admit I don’t see how it can be.
What does everyone else think? Blog hops – yay or nay? Have you participated in one? Was it worth it? Why do you think they are so popular these days? Let me know what you think!
Sandra, that's what I was really hoping to get – an explanation of what they are. I had a lot of people explain their purpose but nothing explaining how they were started or why they continue. I agree with your comment about followers. I'll admit that I've stayed away from talking about followers in this feature, but I suspect I can't ignore it much longer. 😉
Michelle – I think those are perfectly acceptable rules. I'm like you – I much prefer my Reader and barely have time for that these days.
I'll admit that I feel the same way when I see a blogger who participates in them often. I am beginning to detest the giveaway blog hops too. There are too many of them, and I just see a bunch of greedy bloggers who are only doing it for prizes and followers.
Does that bother you that they appear to be only for new bloggers? Shouldn't such events be more all-inclusive? Doesn't an event like this create strife by their very design?
I'm glad I'm not the only one!
I have no idea. I honestly feel that I am not meant to understand them.
Thanks for sharing your experiences! The weekly participation is probably the most baffling part for me. If there was a question or a sharing of bookish habits to help someone get to know you, this would be something completely different from what I've seen actually occurs. They are popular though, so obviously missing something.
I thought of Tuesday Tangents because I could have sworn that someone else has something similar. I meant nothing by it, I promise!
I guess I never got the idea of "visit the other participants" angle of memes either because I never did it. Usually, I did not have the time to do so, but I did make sure that I visited those who visited me. It was the best I could do. I do know that these blog hops work. Looking at the number of followers some brand new bloggers have versus my own number is somewhat disheartening.
As well you should! I'm not saying they are wrong; I just do not get some of them.
I really do not participate in any hops. I really just do not have the time and prefer to just read my Google Reader and comment on the blogs I follow/love. As far as the giveaway hops go, I'm in agreement with others who are not fond of having to be a follower to enter. I have started just entering the giveaways during the hops of blogs I already follow. I try to follow back every person that follows my blog (if they have their blog listed in their profile, that is). However, when I'm holding a giveaway and I give extra entries for following, a lot of times I do not follow back until I'm sure they didn't stop following as soon as the giveaway ended.
My recent post FRUSTRATED
I did the Friday one once, and now I say nay. I also didn't get it. Perhaps for brand new bloggers trying to get a feel for who is out there. Then maybe yay.
I don't really get the blog hops either.
Not going to lie, I really don't understand them either. Some of them you have to answer questions though so I suppose it is interesting to see what everyone else thinks?
A meme is like Wordless Wednesday or What's In your Mailbox? or other weekly events in which you are either prompted to answer a question or provide similar information each week. They are often an easy way to write a blog post and serve their purpose for new bloggers. Most people tend to gravitate away from them because they don't offer much in the way of original content. Mr. Linky is like a big list maker for certain community-wide events – check out the official website of Dewey's 24-hour Readathon for a great example of how it's used.
Oh, I do the same exact thing, but I do find its popularity baffling. Of course, I find most of the memes baffling these days. I don't care to see what people got in the mail last week because it always seems to me that they are bragging. I don't care about Teaser Tuesday or Tangent Tuesday, and the only reason why I like Wordless Wednesday is because they involve pretty pictures and require no time to review them. But Friday Blog Hops make me scratch my head in confusion as to why it still exists and how people can actually like it.
It's something new, and another sign that I seriously need to cull my feed reader. It is just that, a list of various blogs who signed up via some method where people can go visit each participating blog. It was a way to highlight new blogs and attract some attention, but it has become something different these days because most often, there is some form of giveaway or gimmick to try to attract followers. It goes hand-in-hand with the giveaways post from last week. Trust me, you aren't missing much, IMO.
I agree that in its inception, the Friday Blog Hop was a different beast and was more about getting to know new bloggers and that it has evolved into something completely different. You confirmed my idea that it is about self-promotion these days. If this is true, why do you think it remains so popular?
Dee – I think one of things about which I struggle the most with blog hops is the fact that they are such short visits. From what I've seen, they don't share more insight about who you are as a blogger but rather rely on what is on that first page to attract people. I am all about content, and to me, I'd rather have that every day versus a lot of short-lived visitors. But I'm just one person.
Meh.
Whatever.
That's my response to blog hops. To be honest, whenever I see those posts, I usually bag them along with most of the other meme-related posts. I only make a few exceptions such as The Sunday Salon, but that's mainly because I participate in it :).
My recent post Reading about redwoods- bones- doppelgängers- home and what you did last summer
I have to admit I have blog hopped…because I thought that is what bloggers did…and since my blog is relatively new…I thought that was what was done. It did allow me to find and follow blogs but probably because I felt overwhelmed by all of the blogs that were out there. And I wanted to follow all of them!!! I have to admit that I still don't know what a meme is…is that French for something? And who is Mr. Linky?
My recent post This Is What I Love About Blogging And A GiveawayA Signed Copy Of James LePores Book!!!
Okay, I have to admit, I have absolutely no idea what a blog hop is. I've never heard of it before. :S What is it?
My recent post There it goes …