I have to admit that I am having difficulties in visiting blogs and leaving comments.
First, I read really slow, I have to re-read a lot of times and I take a bit longer to think of comments worth leaving.
Then, I used to have only three blogs that I “stalked” daily, now as I have more and more friends, I need to visit all of them daily.
Lastly, I notice that I am spending more and more time in front of my laptop till my eyes sore. On bad days, more than 3 hours!
So I will need additional tips how to do all these better. To go blog hopping effectively and to leave comments quickly. Maybe I just need to change to a newer laptop that can do the job faster, or get a new left-side brain to access information faster.
How do you do it? How long do you spend each day on your blog and reading other people’s blogs? Please do share …
andie summerkiss 
I subscribe to 571 blog feeds and I try to read them daily, so I obviously do a very small ratio of comments/reads. I’m not one for leaving a comment unless I think I have something relevant to add to the conversation, although sometimes I’ll just say “hi” if I’m reading a new blog or it’s been a while.
you can subscribe to wp.com blogs via blog surfer; that way, you get to read the latest posts without having to visit the blog every day to check on updates.
for non wp.com blogs, you can subscribe to the rss feed. it works just like the blog surfer but you have to sign up to a feed reader, like google reader or bloglines.
Take each step at a time.. 🙂
Usually, I go on blog surfer or tag surfer to keep up. And I spend a lot more time than 3 hours in front of my computer… it’s more like all day. On my days off from school, I’d spend hours just sitting in bed reading blog after blog entry on Blogger. So don’t feel so bad about straining your eyes. I’m fairly sure I need glasses at this point lol.
If you feel you should leave a comment, do so. All of us know how great it feels knowing that someone actually reads what you write, so a short comment or a small hello is sufficient enough.
Good luck!
You know… I was about to make a similar post myself. I keep everybody in the blog reader but there are like a million posts in there within the hour…. So if you learn any tips, please please pass them along!!! 🙂
I have this same problem….and I spent nearly ALL DAY reading blogs. I don’t have much help to offer other than possibly subscribing to blogs you read often in a feed.
Andie, I agreed with Sulz. Actually you can subscribe to the rss feed, every blog usually has it, I have it.
On the right side there is “subscribe in a reader” you click on that then there will be guidance on how to subscribe mine. You can also subscribe through bloglines.
Yup, RSS is a great way to read many blogs without having to visit them one by one. You only need to visit that blog if you want to read more or leave a comment.
You can use Thunderbird for your RSS reader. the address is http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird
Average Jane,
Thank you for the tips. I guess I don’t have to feel bad if not leaving comments on every single post I read ..
Dear Sulz,
I tried blog surfer of WP. It took too long to load maybe I oversubscribed and my laptop just couldn’t handle it.
I am now using Google Reader. It is working quite well, I just thought maybe there’s another faster way to deal with it.
Dear LB,
Thank you. I will never ever do it as well as you do. 😛
Dear Lizelby,
Thank you for the tips. They sound like reasonable thing to do …
Dear Judith,
Hmm … all the tips involved in the RSS Reader thing. Good luck …
Dear Sandy,
ALL DAY? Lol. Ok, from now on I will post less than 200 words everyday so you can just “skim” through mine. 😛
Dear Ecky,
Thank you for the tip!
Adit,
Is it better than Google Reader?
I’m not sure if it’s any better than Google Reader, but with Thunderbird you don’t have to open your browser, which I think saves time.
Even at slow dial-up speed, this application still performs quite well (I tested it using Telkomnet Instant).
Thunderbird can also be used as your email application, this is very handy especially if you have gmail account. Again, because you don’t have to open your browser.
I spend way too much time 😛