A long while back I took what for me was a huge leap in techno geekery… I started using Google Reader to keep track of all the blogs I like to follow.
It was as if heaven opened up and the angels began to sing. No longer did I go one by one down my blogroll, which like a teenager was growing exponentially not by the day, but seemingly by the hour. Instead I was notified when new blog postings were published. My Internet perusing time was cut in half, nay, by thirds, no quarters.
Now, I’ve been informed that as of July 1, Google Reader will be no more. After a day of teeth gnashing, and hair pulling, I gathered myself together and began the arduous task of finding something to do with the list of 250 blogs that I follow.
Google has made it somewhat easy to create an archive of my list, allowing me to download a copy of the collected data to export to a new Reader.
Through my extensive research (I spent a good portion of one Sunday morning perusing various options), I decided to give Feedly a try. I was able to sync my Google subscriptions easily and they stayed in their category files. I’m not saying the Reader I picked is the best, but it’s working well for me. (Disclaimer: I am not being compensated by Feedly, it’s simply the platform I liked best.)
If you’re facing the same decision I am, what to do with all those blogs you like, there is another option: email subscriptions.
Most blogs offer this feature, allowing you to sign-up for direct notifications of a new post, and unlike Certain Readers-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named, email isn’t going anywhere. My subscription registration is located near the top of my sidebar – just click on “Follow” and input your email address.
I guess this is a round about way for me to invite visitors to subscribe to my blog if you’re searching for a new way to manage your reading list.
I appreciate your support and would hate to lose any of you.
*An excerpt of this post was originally published on IMSO August 21, 2009; meaning I have used a Reader to manage my blog roll for nearly four years.
Thin spiral notebook 
Thanks for writing about this. I too use Google Reader and am sad to see it go. I’m not a fan of the WordPress Reader, and while email alerts are nice, I like having all my blogs organized in a single setting so I can play catch up when I have the time. I’m going to check out Feedly. Thanks for the tip! I haven’t had time to research alternatives to Google Reader.
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I am so LAME…honestly. I get email subscriptions and I love it like that. I have LIKED everyone on Facebook…and I mean EVERYONE. Plus I know that no one reads me, so I’m less concerned with how people find me…and more interested in making sure that I can read everyone I love. I’ve never used a reader…so no muss, no fuss. 😉
I have set up Feedly…
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I’m looking into feedly, as well. And no – you’re NEVER going to lose me. 🙂
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I must have been looking at alternative readers at the same exact moment as everyone else who uses Google Reader, because when I tried to find a different reader, Feedly was down because it was overloaded by Reader exiles. So I settled on Bloglovin simply because it was up and running.
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I switched to Bloglovin. I really like it.
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That was one of the other formats I looked at, it’s nice too.
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I follow you by email already :). I remember when google reader was a new option.. How quickly things can go by the wayside. Thanks for this post. I’ve been wondering what to do with a blog list.
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Thank you for subscribing. I truly appreciate seeing you stop by and for leaving comments.
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Feedly is good. However, my favorite way to keep up with the blogs I enjoy and read is via an email subscription, except when the blog doesn’t offer one. Then a reader becomes necessary.
Yours has been one of my favorite blogs for a very long time, Tara. 🙂
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I downloaded feedly to my home computer to give it a whirl. I figure this a good opportunity to clean out my feeds anyway 🙂
What i cant figure out is how tobreak all my GFC followed blogs into certain categories. I have this one massive list.
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on your Feedly homepage, on the top left corner, you should see a three-line icon. Click on that, then look for ‘organize’ at the top of that list, next to your avi icon. From there you can create different categories, then just click and drag blogs into the new categories.
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It let me do the ones I subscribed to via RSS but the ones that pop in cause I became a GFC follower on a blog it doesn’t let me “organize”
tres annoying
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You can still make changes through Google Reader and Feedly will re-sync/update
Sent from my iPhone
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I’ll have to try and figure out how to do that 🙂
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I switched to Feedly as well. I’m getting used to the magazine format, and I will admit I like it. It’s not a huge crapton to read if you forget to check after a couple of days. 😀
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It took a few days to get used to the format, but I really do like Feedly better. I also did a huge purge before switching, deleting a lot of inactive blogs.
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