Something has been on my mind a lot since a Top Ten Tuesday category a while back, and it got brought around to the forefront again when I found out about a meme called Throwback Thursday. Don’t ask me who hosts it; I didn’t look into it. I wanted to, though. But there was a problem.
See, in my Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Tips for New Book Bloggers post, I mentioned the danger of participating in too many memes. In the
Seriously, do you blame me? Look at my week, starting on Tuesday and ending on a Wednesday.
perfect example of someone forgetting their own advice, I got irrationally excited about my number of pages views last week. Three weeks in a row, my Top Ten Tuesdays and Waiting on Wednesdays consistently broke records for my busiest day. While staring at my blog stats, I couldn’t help but think, “WELL I SHOULD DO MORE OF THESE!”
My mouse was literally hovering over the link. But then I thought about it. And I thought about the calendar I use to keep track of my blog. And then the sirens went off in my head.
No matter how awesome memes are, I had to hold myself back. Why, you ask, when I don’t usually blog on Thursdays? Because I already 
participate in Top Ten Tuesday by The Broke and the Bookish, Waiting on Wednesday by Breaking the Spine, and Feature and Follow Friday by Parajunkee’s View. That only leaves Monday and Thursdays free for reviews and my own ramblings (like this post). (I don’t blog on Saturdays and Sundays usually because I have work, don’t judge me. Why do I not blog on Thursdays? Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. Depends on how much reading I’ve actually gotten done. Stop asking hard questions.) That means that, already, over half my week of blogging is memes. No matter how much I want to, personally I don’t think it’s a good idea. I’m already worried I participate in too many.
So what do you guys think? Do you like memes? Participating is one thing, but how about READING them? After all, the point of a blog is to have someone READ it, and do readers get tired of memes? When do you know if enough is enough? Tell me in the comments!
My Life is a Notebook 
I have the highest page views on meme days as well…I participate in Top Ten Tuesdays and WoW. I know there are other memes out there, but I don’t want activity on my blog JUST to have activity. I’m blogging to have fun, review books, hopefully reach out to authors, and meet new people. I like the 2 memes I’m in now because I can visit other participants to add more books to my “TBR” pile, meet new people, and get new ideas for my own blog…but I don’t think I could handle more than two. My review days are Mondays and Fridays with TTT on Tues and WoW on Wed.
I almost see memes as those fun extracurricular classes you take in college…too many “bowling, sailing, photography” classes you take…the more it distracts from YOUR blog. That’s just my opinion though. 🙂
Thanks so much for the reply! Opinions are EXACTLY what I’m looking for. I’m really curious to see what other people think about them!
Memes are great in principle, in practise unless the topic interests me or I’m also taking part in the meme I tend to skip posts that include them. Personally I participate in Top Ten Tuesday (though not this week) and Waiting on Wednesday and I do In My Mailbox whenever I get new books. I wouldn’t want to participate in any more because paricipating in a meme takes a lot of time IMHO. In TTT, for exampe, you have to think about what you want to include in your top ten and find pics and stuff. I find it eats a lot of the time where I could be reading or spending time with my family, so I try not to do too many.
Also, sorry that this has turned into a long ramble. Hopefully I answered your questions… I’m not making any promises though 😉
Rambling is GOOD. It’s what I wanted! Thanks for your input! I agree; they take a lot of time. I almost didn’t know what to do with myself this morning when I didn’t have all that visiting to do!
My own personal rule of thumb (which I admit that I have broken a bit when times get hectic) is One Meme = Two Reviews. This means for every single Meme or Guest Post that I have on my blog, I HAVE to have two or more reviews up that week. Three Memes = Six Reviews, that sort of thing. That’s my own personal way of forcing myself to keep my blog focused on reviews rather than a bunch of otherness 🙂 I used to participate in Waiting On Wednesday and Feature&Follow Friday but honestly I’ve had SO MANY guest posts recently that I can’t do those AND memes
I hear you on the stats though — unless I’m reviewing a Big Name New Release, my reviews do tend to get fewer views in the short term than my meme/guest posts.
You bring up a very good point! Reviews don’t always generate the reviews THAT DAY, but they have a longer “shelf life” that’ll bring in more viewers then memes. I never thought of it that way, that’s very interesting!
I agree with what’s already been said. I have cut back on my memes to 1 or 2 max a week, and just participate in them when I feel I can add something to the topic. For instance, I probably won’t participate in TTT for the month of May because I’ve either done a similar list or I can’t come up with 10 books for the topic. That is my favorite meme though and I do like visiting blogs and commenting on the Tuesday posts.
It’s hard finding the right balance of blog content and I really like this discussion. The Romanceaholic’s formula of 1 meme = 2 reviews is a good idea.
I kind of tried to branch out and do a whole bunch of memes at the beginning, but now I’m pretty limited to just TTT and WoW. I’ve even (for the most part) dropped my TV Roundups on Mondays because a.) they don’t get that many views and b.) Mondays are way too busy for me to blog. I find it works much better for me to do TTT and WoW, then stick to reviews and essays outside of that.
The post that I actually have the MOST views on almost didn’t make it to the blogosphere because I was trying to do too many memes. It’s my “Love Letter to Clockwork Prince” which I penned on the fly and posted on a whim. Now, it’s been retweeted by Cassie Clare and just recently was translated into Spanish by another blogger. So yeah, I definitely think that too many memes=less blog traffic, not more, because memes are limiting in their very nature. Most people who read blogs (I find) are looking for unique perspectives and opinions, not a page full of every meme imaginable.
Whew, that was long! Guess I had more to say than I thought. 🙂