Why (fashion) bloggers should love Bloglovin'

I was checking some blogs the other day, as I am always on the lookout for blogs to read, and I noticed that they didn’t have a Bloglovin’ widget on them. That didn’t prohibit me from searching those blogs on Bloglovin’ (where you can search ANY blog, provided that it has an RSS feed), but again, it is nice to see a Bloglovin’ widget, which you click on and ta-dah, you are re-directed to the Bloglovin’ page, where you can “Follow” this blog. The purpose of this post however is not to show you how to use bloglovin, rather than to urge you to use bloglovin! Yet, I can share with you a “tutorial” I found on The Quietest Rebel blog about placing a Bloglovin icon to your blog and customizing it (for WordPress blogs). So now, here’s my take on Bloglovin’.

Pros

Signing up is easy – all you need is your email and a password (see picture above)

Feed page – You get to see all the newest posts from the blogs you follow in one page. What I particularly like is that from each post you see the title, the first paragraph (almost) and the first picture. And you know that one picture equals a thousand words. You have the option of marking the post as read and Like it. The posts with the more “Likes” appear on the Popular page. So go ahead and Like the posts of your favorite bloggers!

Organizing followed blogs – Opening bloglovin and finding dozens of new posts can be overwhelming. But by organizing your blogs into groups you can prioritize your reading and make your life simpler! In the above picture you see who you can organize your blogs.

Find new blogs – Bloglovin’ isn’t only about fashion blogs, it’s about all kind of blogs: Art, Lifestyle, Food&Drink, Interior Design, Beauty, Humor. So “narrowing” down your subject and location (as shown in the pictures above and below), you can find interesting blogs. You can always search the whole list also.

iPhone app – Now you can read your favorite blogs on the go. I have to admit that I am tempted in the morning, while riding the bus to log on and see the latest blog posts, but let’s be honest, I prefer my computer screen. But then again, if I really want to check them out while I’m away from a computer, I can!!

Plus: you can like your favorite post or marking it as read, if you don’t find it particular interesting.

In comparison with Facebook and Twitter, Bloglovin’ is different because it is exclusive for blog reading. I am not against following a blogger in Facebook or Twitter, but in Facebook’s news feed sometimes you can miss a blog post, whereas Twitter lacks the existence of pictures when tweeting a blog post. The other downside of Twitter and Facebook, is the times zone issue, which can lead to “losing” blog posts. But Bloglovin’ will be there, waiting for you to open and read your favorite posts. I personally use Twitter too (and Facebook to a lesser extent), but it’s mainly for keeping in touch with and talk with other bloggers.

Now…I’d be lying if I said that there aren’t downsides to Bloglovin’ (as a blog following medium that is), so here are the cons.

Cons

Your followers are anonymous – that means you don’t know who follows you from Bloglovin’.

There isn’t an easy way to find new blogs – The “tab” options that Bloglovin has are: Popular (=most liked posts), New posts (from the blogs you follow) and Blogs. In this last “tab” you can find not only the most popular blogs, but also up and coming blogs and you can also filter blogs by region and theme (fashion, art etc). Yet I’d love it if there was a “New” tab, for all blogs on Bloglovin’, where you could see in real-time all new posts from around the world in real-time (and not only the popular ones), but I guess there must be some technical obstacles in the realization of such tab.

The “like” widget is only available for Blogger – You can like a blog post right from your feed, but there is also a widget (found under My account/widgets) saying “Like on bloglovin”. This widget is unfortunately available only for Blogger blogs.

So, what’s your take on Bloglovin’? Is it a tool you like to use in order to follow your favorite blogs?

 

 

 

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