Saturday Discussions: Gift Card Giveaways

This past couple of weeks, I've been gaining a lot of new followers (hello new followers, you are loved! So are all my old ones for that matter) because I've had a million and one giveaways going on and participated in a blog hop. This is something I used to do all the time but don't do so often anymore. During my time in participating in the blog hop, I went down EVERY SINGLE blog and saw what they were giving away. But you know what, I do more than that.

A hop will take me several days to get through because I don't just check out what the blog is is giving away. I check out what type of blog I've stumbled across. Do we read the same sort of stuff? Would I gain new knowledge or glean anything from this person's reviews? If the answer is yes, I will follow them. If the answer is yes but I already have the book they are offering up for the giveaway, you know what? I will follow them.

What I'm getting at here is I really love these giveaway blog hops not because I can win something. I love them because I'm able to find new blogs that are passionate about reading and writing and books the way that I am. That's a gift all on it's own. But here is one of my biggest pet peeves:

• I hate it when a blog offers up a gift card.

But Amber, I did that! I want you to get what you want. 

My response is that I appreciate that. But you know what I really want? To know a little bit about you and what you love by the books you are giving away. Why not even offer me some suggestions on what I could spend that gift card on? Or show me choices and be willing to trade in for other things along that lines. 

I'm not saying that I resent people for offering gift cards or I am ungrateful. I'm just saying that it makes it a little harder for me to get to know you when I'm blog hopping and I WANT to know you. Seeing what you want me to get, what you are excited about, makes me excited too.

Because the truth of the matter is that your giveaway will end but your posts and thoughts and ideas will be fresh on my blogger dashboard every morning. I won't even remember what you gave away. But I will remember that you're the girl with the unicorn layout that made me smile and the one with the dead-on reviews. So tell me a bit about you while I'm dropping in by giving away books you love or are looking forward to!

I'm sure some of you think this is silly but I'd love to know, what are your thoughts on gift card giveaways? Do you see any positives to them or do you feel the same as me?