Foodie Question of the Day

October 5, 2008 at 11:02 am 38 comments

Well… Its more foodie-related.

What do you prefer? Summary or full feed for readers?

I have to admit I am not a summary fan b/c I am a lazy blogger and to be blunt, I am all about instant gratification (my infomercial fetish makes sense now right? HAHA) so I don’t wanna click over to your blog to get the full post. I want to read it now… in my google reader. ::stomping feet::

But I love blogging and if I can make a little money on something I love, all the better right?

I’ve been a foodbuzz publisher for a few months now. Foodbuzz pays per 1000 views (at least thats how my contract is set up) but it doesn’t count toward your views if readers “view” your blog via a reader. Heck I didn’t know that! Since I am a science nerd, I started formulating an experiment. I was thinking I’d change my blog to summary for a month and see if there is a significant monetary difference. If not then I’d switch back to full read b/c thats what I prefer.

After I shared my hypothesis with fellow foodie, Nikki, she immediately explained that she’s not a fan of summary feeds for the same reasons as me and she thinks you actually lose readers when you do that.

Well that sucks. The last thing I want to do is lose readership. One of the biggest reasons I love blogging is interacting with readers. I’ve met some amazing people that way. I love my readers.

So what do you think? Do you agree with Nikki?

Would a summary feed make you delete someone from your reader? why or why not?

Entry filed under: Foodie Question of the Day.

Saturday @ Farmer’s Market Bunday Monday

38 Comments Add your own

1. zebe912 | October 5, 2008 at 11:19 am

I never knew there was a money related reason that some people have the summary feeds! Actually I didn’t realize it was an actual setting at all. I’m blog-incompetent. Anyway, I hate the summaries. I don’t like having to open up a million windows just to see if I could even eat the recipe. I actually do skip quite a few full reads, because I just don’t feel like messing with extra tabs & windows. So I vote you keep it the way you have it :-)
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2. Caitlin | October 5, 2008 at 11:20 am

I don’t tend to delete people from my reader for choosing to use the summary feed option, but I do expect more of a “hook” in the first couple sentences (or the title). If I don’t even know what will be in the post, I’m a bit less likely to click over to it. Given that I’m an analytical engineer type though, I fully condone your experiment. Experiments are fun :)
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3. Nikki | October 5, 2008 at 11:29 am

Damn the man … or the wo-man in this case. I delete every single blog that has short feeds because my time is too valuable to waste on people who want to make my life difficult. If you switch I don’t know what I’ll do … because I’ll want to delete you but you’re my favoritest person in the world.. You’re putting me in a difficult situation
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4. Jen | October 5, 2008 at 11:46 am

I don’t delete them from the GR, but I rarely click through. Sometimes, if there’s a picture and it peaks my interest, I’ll click through, but other than that I just scroll right past it.
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5. CB | October 5, 2008 at 11:50 am

ZEBE, I am not sure if all summary feed bloggers do it for monetary reasons but I can understand it more if that was the reason. I am not above doing it for money. With this economy, extra money is always nice. Appreciate your “vote” of confidence ;)

CAITLIN, I totally knew you’d understand my science nerd-ness. ::high five for the nerds of the blogospher:: I wouldn’t say I delete blogs either but I rarely click through to read more unless its a blog that consistently writes about things I wanna read.

NIKKI, but but but… you’d do it for me right? ::giving best sad puppy dog face::

JEN, Same here. I don’t delete but I tend to be a rapid scroller too.
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6. food librarain | October 5, 2008 at 11:56 am

Yeah. Damn the man – I didn’t know all this blog data stuff either.

I hate the summaries, but if I do like a feed, I put it in a folder called “read all” and then I force myself to click through. I would do that for you but not everyone…..Since you know all about this blog stuff, can you explain why people say they switch to summary because their blog has been “scraped” or “scrapped”? Why would switching to summary avoid this? I’m blog ignorant.
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7. beth | October 5, 2008 at 12:00 pm

When I first got hooked into blogs, I added every blogs I came across to my reader. So, when my reader got out of control I have to admit, the first ones on the chopping block were the summary blogs.
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8. CB | October 5, 2008 at 12:27 pm

FOODLIBRARIAN, aawwww you’d do it for me?? You’re too sweet. I didn’t know what blog scraping (at least the terminology) was until you mentioned it but now that I know the terminology I understand. It tends to happen on my cupcake blog more than my food blog but basically its an automated program that copies the full content of what you wrote in your blog and posts on a generic blog. They do link you but all the content on the blog is just random posts from generated copies all over the blogosphere based on key words etc etc. If you use a summary feed, maybe they can’t copy the full post as easily? Thats my guess. PS. Did you see the UCLA game last night?? AWESOMENESS.

BETH, I was totally the same way but I have to admit, I’ve cut the blogs down in my reader to a more manageable number. I am OCD and I was getting anxiety if I couldn’t clear out my reader by the end of the day. I know. I am crazy.
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9. Rachel | October 5, 2008 at 12:31 pm

I don’t know what you are talking about. what’s a summary feed?
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10. CB | October 5, 2008 at 12:32 pm

RACHEL, HAHA! You so funny! Summary feed is a truncated version of your post in a feeder (ie google reader, bloglines etc). You can see in the sample picture I posted that each “blog” only has one line. If you want to read the whole post you’d have to click on the actual blog. Does that make sense?
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11. Joeli | October 5, 2008 at 1:25 pm

I really dislike short summary feeds. If there is a photo in the summary feed that will entice me over by giving me a good idea of what the post is about then that’s fine. But to be honest, even with a full feed, I don’t fully read every post. I’d say that in both cases I’ll click over to your site for any good post in order to bookmark it. The only way you could lose “clicks” would be to have such a short summary that I don’t know how good of a post I’m missing out on.
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12. Cheryl | October 5, 2008 at 1:35 pm

I very rarely click through summary feeds. They bug me. There has to be something really compelling to make me click through, as I have 100s of blogs in my GR. Sorry…
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13. CB | October 5, 2008 at 1:48 pm

JOELI, See… a picture would be different for me too. I am a visual person so if I see a picture I would be more likely to click and read the full post but most summary feeds don’t have pictures. Maybe I should email that suggestion to WP huh? ;)

CHERYL, No “sorry” necessary. I concur. hehe
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14. Nikki | October 5, 2008 at 2:17 pm

So have enough people said they hate summary feeds as much as you do for you to just keep it like it is so I don’t have to be tortured by your blog? :P
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15. Gretchen Noelle | October 5, 2008 at 2:58 pm

I will echo what many have said. I don’t necessarily delete feeds if they are summaries, but I can tell you it is hard to get me to click through. I just don’t have time or energy to do that with all of the summary feeds.
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16. Michele | October 5, 2008 at 3:01 pm

I don’t like summary feeds at all. I try to comment on most every post of my favorite sites. For that I go directly to the web page. That way if they are involved in a pay by hit program they are getting paid for my visit.
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17. Tara | October 5, 2008 at 3:22 pm

It is true, I do like reading blogs *in* my reader. However, I don’t mind what “Skip to My Lou” does…she allows us to see the first 8 sentences and then have to switch over to her blog. Not my *favorite* way to read…but totally not a big deal with a tabbed browser. And I like her blog so much, I don’t mind a bit:) I like yours that much too!
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18. bbkiddo | October 5, 2008 at 5:02 pm

I do 90% of my reading from my phone or google/ig home page so I don’t care much for sums. The actual pages just take so much longer to load on my phone and are harder to read that way. I do still subscribe to two blogs that switch to sumarry but unless the first sentnce gets me super interested I “mark as read” and move on. Sorry :/
But I can also tell you that your titles and first paragraphs are some of the best I read so you’d have a good shot at getting a few extra clicks outta me :)
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19. CB | October 5, 2008 at 9:26 pm

NIKKI, HAHA. Maybe… I think I need a few more comments. ;)

GRETCHEN, True true. Who has the time? I need more than 24/7 for all the things I wish I could do.

MICHELE, I try to comment on all my favorite blogs too. I admit that I am somewhat of a comment whore. HAHA. Its awesome that you try to support them by accomodating their pay/hit program.

TARA, ooohhh I might have to check out “Skip to my Lou” on your rec. I love finding new blogs to read! I am glad you like my blog as much as hers :)

BBKIDDO, No worries at all chica! I understand esp if you are reading blogs on your phone. My desktop already frustrates me so I can imagine that your cell is even more frustrating to wait for multiple pages to load. I forgot about that! Thanks for your love about my titles and paragraphs. HAHA.
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20. Tanya | October 6, 2008 at 12:31 am

Count me amongst those who hate summary feeds. There’s a reason I subscribe to a blog’s RSS feed in my reader, and that is to read blog posts – in their entirety – in one place. There are several blogs I read with just a summary and very rarely will I click through to their blog unless I think the post is very interesting. I will also only click through if I want to leave a comment. I’m not sure if there is a way to leave a comment through a reader (I use Google), but I don’t think there is.
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21. steph | October 6, 2008 at 6:06 am

i’m not a google reader fan at all, to me that takes too much time to have to scroll through all the full stories (plus it’s not as pretty as looking on the actual blogs…). I like to add snippets to my google homepage, then I can glance quick to see if its sounds like something I want to read or not, if it is I do Cnt click to open it in a new tab and read it when I have time :) Plus I like to support all my ladies by clicking on them everyday just to help out the ad income if possible :)

PS I gave you some ‘buzz’ on foodbuzz :)
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22. Courtney | October 6, 2008 at 7:56 am

hmm…I never thought of it that way! I finally started my blog last month and I saw some with summaries and I thought they looked ‘tidy’… And since I am A.D.D. and like to look at all the pictures first on the person blog to see their work, I like the summary for that reason. However, I agree I don’t really care for clicking to continue reading. This is good info to know! Since I am STILL fumbling around tring to figure out how to do this blog thing myself!
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23. CB | October 6, 2008 at 8:30 am

TANYA, I am not sure there’s a way to leave a comment via readers either. If there is, that would streamline commenting for me. Maybe I’ll have to look into that.

STEPH, No love for the google reader huh? Hmmm… I am not sure we can be friends anymore. I kid I kid! To each their own right? I do agree that seeing everyone’s blogs does make reading their posts fun. Thanks for the “buzz”. Uh… question? What does that mean? I know it has to do with foodbuzz but I don’t understand what “buzz” does?

COURTNEY, Congrats on starting your blog! Its fun isn’t it? I guess if I saw a picture in the summary I’d be more inclined to click over to the blog but usually its just title, 1-2 sentences or a small paragraph. I don’t usually see pictures in the summaries. There’s no right or wrong. I think it depends on what you prefer.
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24. colleen | October 6, 2008 at 11:27 am

I don’t really like summary feeds – unless I can tell from the first few sentences that it is something I will LOVE, then I usually don’t click through. But I can definitely see the rationale with using them with the hope that they are a “teaser” and get people to click through to your blog more than the other way.
I didn’t realize though that viewing it via GR doesn’t count for clicks – that stinks, too! I wish that Reader allowed the whole blog snapshot on there and that way the ads would show up as well and those views would count for something.
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25. CB | October 6, 2008 at 11:36 am

COLLEEN, Same here. It has to have a catchy title or something to make me make that extra effort to click over. It rarely happens unless I know the blogger’s style of writing as a favorite. I didn’t realize that a reader wasn’t a “view” either. I was a little indignant about it b/c I love my GR and all this time I wasn’t helping my fellow bloggers. Sucky.
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26. Courtney | October 6, 2008 at 11:45 am

Yea! I do love blogging…Im just trying to figure out how it all works at the moment. Now if I could just quit my day job and focus on this that would be great! ;) But this is a great poll you are doing b/c I am sure its a question we all wonder! Thanks!
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27. Alanna | October 6, 2008 at 2:31 pm

I HATE summary feeds. I won’t even read them. If I can’t read the whole post, what’s the point? I read blogs when I have a few spare minutes, and I don’t have time to be clicking from page to page. I always wondered why some people had summarys and others didn’t. I have unsubscribed from blogs because they use the summarys. I think it quite interesting that the John McCain posted items show up as a summary, and the Barack Obama posted items show up in their entirety. Coincidence? I think not… ;)
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28. Alanna | October 6, 2008 at 2:39 pm

BTW, even if you switched to summary, I wouldn’t delete you from my Reader because I lurve you. <3
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29. CB | October 6, 2008 at 2:55 pm

ALANNA, WHEW! Glad you came back with that follow up comment or I’d be so sad. Its good to be loved. ♥♥♥
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30. kamaile | October 6, 2008 at 6:48 pm

I, like you, am a lazy blog reader. I prefer full feed (and I feel like an idiot cause I didn’t know that was an option so I looked and I had summary checked :P ) over summary. I have a handful of blogs in my reader that do summary and I will click over to read the full post if it looks interesting or I want to see pictures. If they title is a dud or the first few sentences are humdrum, it’s not happening.
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31. CB | October 6, 2008 at 7:03 pm

KAMAILE, HAHA! Ooops! Sometimes I wonder if other bloggers don’t realize their feed is a summary too. Glad you switched it to full feed. Full feed makes me happy. :)
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32. steph | October 7, 2008 at 6:14 am

hehe buzz is the way of “voting” your foodbuzz friends up. If you click on someones profile and then click on “buzz ’em” you give them some buzz which goes to raising your overall score that’s below your profile name… hahaha ok I sound like a total nerd now :D
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33. steph | October 7, 2008 at 6:14 am

oh and PS thanks for being so understanding and letting me stay your friend ;)
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34. CB | October 7, 2008 at 7:29 am

STEPH, LOL @ friend comment. All us nerds gotta stick together right?
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35. Sugar Betty | October 7, 2008 at 11:37 am

Dude, it’s all about keeping it nice and simple with plenty of pictures! And you have kept my interest . . . so don’t bog it down with summaries! *yawns* Dang, I love that pic with the sugar caramel drops in time blocks. You certainly have patience! Great looking cake. Great job. Great blog. What more can I say.
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36. CB | October 7, 2008 at 11:40 am

SUGARBETTY, haha ok ok. No summaries. I don’t want any yawning!
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37. Wandering Chopsticks | October 8, 2008 at 4:31 pm

I switched to full feeds a year ago after reading a Feedburner post about how that increases readership and subscribers. You can add ads to Feedburner feeds now btw.

Not sure how much of it had to do with switching to full feeds or just increases in my blog in general, but my readership and subscribers are both up.

There’s two types of feed readers. The passive ones who won’t interact with you anyway so switching to summary will just lose them as a reader b/c they probably aren’t the type to comment to begin with. And then there’s regular readers who just prefer getting the info on feed, but will regularly click over to comment after reading.

Anyway, I’ll break this down more when I post about it when I discuss measures of “success.”
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38. CB | October 8, 2008 at 4:39 pm

WC, Thanks for your input! I’d say as a feed reader, I probably fall into the “other” category. I like reading full feeds and comment frequently on things that I read. CW works both ways right? ;) I look forward to your write up on your blog.
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