How Do I Find Blogs I Want To Read?

Common How To's Online / How to Find People Online / Social Media

Blogs – frequently updated websites that can be from a personal or professional perspective – are some of the most interesting sources of content on the Web. Many people enjoy finding blogs that rotate around interests that they might have; for example, parenting, sports, fitness, crafts, entrepreneurship, etc.

Common terms to know about blogs

We now have several words – including the word blog – that have entered our common lexicon.

For example, the term “blogosphere”, a word used to describe the millions of interconnected blogs on the Internet, is a characterization that came directly from the blogging phenomenon as it got started in the early part of the decade. This particular term was first used in late 1999 as a joke and continued to be used sporadically as a humorous term for the next few years, and then came into rotation – along with the word “blog” – as the practice became more mainstream.

Blogs that are worthwhile to follow usually have frequent posts, or published material. The term post in the context of the Web is either a noun or a verb, depending on how it’s used. If someone says that they’ve “posted something” on the Web, this means that they’ve published some sort of content (a story, a blog post, a video, a photo, etc.). If someone says that they’re “reading a post”, this usually means that they are reading text that someone has posted via a blog or Web site.

Examples: “I just published a post about my cat, Fluffy.”

or

“I’m posting about my cat, Fluffy, today.”

When someone is looking for blogs they are interested in, most likely they are looking to “follow” this blog.  In the context of the Web, a follower is a person who follows another person’s updates on social networking sites or blogs.

For example, if someone is on Twitter, and someone “follows” someone else, they are now receiving any updates this person posts in their Twitter news feed. They have become a “follower” of this content. The same principle applies to blogs.

How to find blogs around your interests

Blogs are all about personal, customized content, on nearly any subject you can possibly think of, from knitting to skiing to how to barbeque.So how do you find the blogs you might be interested in? Here are a few different methods you can try.

Find blogs related to the ones you already are following

If you use a feed reader, you can use the More Like This feature. Click on one of your subscriptions, then click “Feed Settings”. The “More Like This” link will show up with blogs similar to the ones you are already subscribed to. Usually, these are arranged by category. For example, if you want to explore more blogs in the Technology category, you are shown a revolving list of the most popular blogs in that category.



Use the related: search query. In Google, simply type in related:www.example.comor whatever URL you are looking for, and Google will bring back a list of similar sites and blogs.

Search through blog directories for more content

Use blog platforms.There are several blogging platforms – content managements systems – that offer free space for anyone who wants to start a blog. Blogger is a free blogging platform that offers millions of blogs on every conceivable subject. Once you’ve signed in for a free account, on your profile homepage, you can browse “Blogs of Note”, a constantly revolving buffet of interesting content.

Use Tumblr to find blogs you want to follow

You’ll also want to check out Tumblr, a platform that provides users with a quickly customized online journal from which to share favorite links and content on the Web with other people.

It’s an easy to use blogging platform that gets users up and running with a minimum of fuss. It’s especially popular for people who want something they can customize with little to no programming experience, and it’s great for sharing all sorts of multimedia, fast. There are some pretty amazing people on Tumblr, and you can find some incredibly interesting content there.

But how do you find the people who are sharing the stuff you’re interested in? There are a couple of ways to go about this. In order to get the most out of these tips, you’ll need to be signed into Tumblr (registration and accounts are free); that way, you can get the “inside look” at how the search functions operate.

Use your Tumblr Dashboard. Within your dashboard are two immediate ways to browse other Tumblr blogs: “Explore Tumblr”, which gives you a rotating list of people you might be interested in, and “Search Tags”; which brings back posts tagged with whatever you’re looking for.

Use the Spotlight. The Spotlight features interesting people from a very long list of categories, ranging from Architecture to Writers.

Use a Google site search. You can search all of Tumblr simply by using this search string:site:tumblr.com “my search”.

Use the Following search bar. Check out the Following dashboard, and you can search by URL, username, or email address.

Use a blogger recommendation for more content

Use a blogroll. Blogrolls are simply collections of links placed on a blog that the blogger enjoys and wants to recommend to you. If you have a favorite website, and that website is updated regularly by someone you follow, then chances are they have a list of blogs on that site that they would recommend to their readers. This is a great way to discover content that you might not have otherwise known about, and best of all, it’s recommended to you by someone you already follow and trust.

Read a community site. There are many sites that invite the contributions of the community; these include Digg, Reddit, Metafilter, etc. Browse through the content on these sites and you most likely will find blogs that strike your fancy.

Blogs – a great way to find content you’re interested in

No matter how you find blogs to follow online, the amazing variety and personalized focus of blogs makes them valuable to millions of people worldwide. Use the methods detailed out in this article to seek out content that you will enjoy.