So it appears weâre in one of those booklr renaissance modes. Donât get me wrong, I do love when these kinds of discussions happen because thatâs how I found a lot of my tumblr friends, but it all seems so very cyclical and Iâm frustrated by it.
And I feel this way largely because I have found my crew. When people say they feel like booklr is dead, I shake my head because I struggle to keep up with my friends and their content. If they are so alive, how can booklr be dead?
True, some of this despondent sentiment comes from bloggers who have been here for years who very legitimately feel sad that many of their old friends have left (I feel that too), but there are new people who are filling those gaps. New bloggers who are creating content and chatting left and right. Go find them. Befriend them.
Everyone is looking for something different from this website, so finding friends will look different for everyone, but here are my tips:
Seek out the smaller blogs. Following big blogs wonât make you friends. Iâm not saying itâs impossible, but itâs simple math. When you have that many followers itâs hard to keep up with everyone. There are many great and wonderful people who run large blogs and by all means follow them, but if you want friends, your best bet is the smaller blogs.
Look for blogs that start the interactions. Look for blogs that send asks. Look for blogs that play tag games. Look for blogs that participate in challenges (especially the 100 Days of Booklr challenge). These are bloggers who are doing things and befriending peopleâand theyâll likely want to befriend you too.
Keep track of people. If youâre bad with names (like me), write shit down. Everyone feels good when theyâre called by name or tagged in something relevant to their interests. At one point, I kept a spreadsheet with my mutuals and their names and what books they liked, etc. because I knew I had a bad memory for that. You donât have to be that nerdy about it, but making the effort can go a long way in building friendships.
Search the booklr tag. I look through the recent booklr posts at least once a day. If I see someone posting a question or asking for recommendations, I do my best to respond. Sometimes Iâll just boost a post because I know I have followers who will jump in. I find a lot of new posts, blogs, and friends this wayâand you can too!
(Tangential related) Find fresh content. Maybe booklr feels dead because it feels stale, like people are all reblogging the same posts for the hundred-thousandth time (literally). To fix that, donât just rely on your dash because thatâs going to be a feedback loop. Look for new posts on the booklr or other tags. A) itâs new stuff that no one has seen before and B) itâs supporting smaller blogs who may not get seen otherwise! Win-win! Doing this wonât necessarily build you a crew (it can help though), but I think itâs crucial to making booklr feel alive again so thatâs why I include it here.
A couple last things to remember: not everyone you try to befriend is going to click with you and thatâs ok. But I do think that we all can find friends on here and friends are what makes booklr a community. Just sometimes you have to be very deliberate about building that community for yourself. And also, thereâs nothing wrong with being anxious about talking to people and wanting to just be a lurker. You can still make a difference. Stick to the last two tips and let smaller blogs feel loved with your likes and reblogs. Good luck!
