Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Tips on using Google Reader -- Oops, now suggesting Feedly!

Google discontinued Reader, so I now recommend Feedly! This post still has good general information, so please scan it. If you've used Reader in the past, Feedly has a quick and easy carry-over utility. You won't miss a beat, and I predict you'll like it better than Reader!

Do you have a hard time keeping up with your blog-reading? Do you ever forget to check a friend's site to see if they've posted?

I personally think every blogger should have an option to Subscribe, and it's easy to do. (Check out my Let Your Friends Subscribe post from Oct 2011) But not every blogger gives us that option, so we're left to randomly check.

Or NOT. Enter Google Reader!

What on earth is Google Reader?


Reader is a news aggregator, which is a fancy term that means "internet broom." It sweeps all the places you send it and puts any newly published dust bunnies into the Reader dustpan.

It's not just for blogs, but since this is an instructional blog site, I'm sticking to that. If you've never been to the Reader page, here's the quickest way to get there:

Pull up your Gmail account, then click on More to drop down the menu.

Click Reader, and you'll see something like this:

If you've ever subscribed to a blog using your Gmail address, or clicked the "Join this site with Google Friend Connect" gadget, you'll find those blogs listed here. Scroll down and see what you find.

Pretty cool, huh?