I have been giving a lot of thought to social media sharing and our current state of 'life' on line. My! How things have changed in just a few short years! Several years ago when we were all blogging it felt like the internet was a web of links that we were all building. We were the architects building link bridges from one blog or website to another. Now it is a world wide web of algorithms and machines 'learning' our tastes and preferences. The purpose is supposedly to help us find more of what we like, but It feels more like machines trying to shape our tastes and preferences.

You can read here about why I quit blogging and why I started over. I'm trying to make this blog much more about me and my personal thoughts and my creative work. I have been slow to get back into the rhythm of writing and posting here. The biggest reason is that most of my online time is spent on Instagram. I've noticed that when I post to Instagram I've begun to write much, much more in my posts. It's almost become a bit of a blog in it's own right. The other reason is that I'm still trying to sort out how to blog again and what I want to write about. I guess there isn't a good way to do that except to sit down and write and see where it goes.

The prompt for this post is an idea that's been percolating for several weeks - maybe even longer - ever since Instagram and Pinterest began using algorithms and ads to generate our feeds rather than generating them chronologically based on who we follow. I've had this conversation with several creatives online and we all feel a nostalgia for the "good 'ole days" of blogging. We've brainstormed ways of working around the Instagram algorithms so we can keep up with the work and posts of those we care about most. (And some startups like Vero are jumping in to fill this rift in our online experience.) During one such conversation I jokingly mentioned to a friend that I should create a blog roll of my favorite Instagrammers so that I could visit my website and click through all of their feeds without interference.

After we finished laughing the idea just kept hanging around in my head. So I'm beginning to do just that. Soon I hope to invite you to take a look at my curated Instagram page. I'm slowly adding my very favorite feeds and am toying around with ways to organize or categorize them.

Until then, take note that I've added an Old School Blog Roll to my blog sidebar. I am trying to find and remember all of you creative women who I followed so closely so long ago. Forgive my absence...I feel like I'm finally coming home again.

Both of these lists of my favorite people and creatives feel a bit like finding a ball of twine that I can hold onto as I walk out into a maze of algorithms.

This place is mine.

I'd love it if you left me a link to yours in a comment - just like we used to!