visitRSS Feed Readers
- January 22nd, 2009
There are so many RSS Feed Readers available, that it’s hard to pick one. How do you know which one to choose? Well for me, I just picked one. Didn’t research it one bit. Looking back, maybe I just got lucky, ’cause I like the Reader that I use.
Now, a few months ago I wrote an article titled Don’t Assume; You Know the Old Saying… This article offers a great explanation to what RSS Feed is to all of you that don’t know. (And trust me, there are still a whole lot of people out there who don’t know; you’re not alone!)
Back to the subject at hand…
I use Google Feed Reader. I picked it solely because it was Google, so I figured that it had to be one of the best. The Google Feed Reader works well for me on so many levels.
First off all, it counts the number of unread articles that I have in my “in box”. I try to keep it under 100, but sometimes that’s a challenge. Right now I have a bit of catching up to do, as I have 222 new articles!
Secondly, there’s a nifty little bar on the left-hand side that lists out all of the websites and the number of unread articles I have from each particular site. This way I can easily and effortlessly choose and prioritize the order in which I want o check out my favorite bloggers.
In addition to breaking out articles by site, with the Google Feed Reader, I have the option of “starring” any and all articles that I feel may be of importance to me at a later date. This way, when I’m searching for that one article that I really want to reference 3 months later, I don’t have to wade through piles and piles of articles. It makes life much more efficient for me. (Okay, well maybe not life in general, but it definitely makes blogging easier.)
Lastly, another cool option that Google Readers offers is the fact that the users can monitor trends both in their favorite bloggers and trends with themselves. Google Reader graphs articles posted and articles read down to the exact hour. How’s that for cool? I like that feature because it also offers an unbiased accountability for myself. Have I been reading too much of one blogger and not getting enough diversity in my subject matter? Google Reader will tell me!
I also found this article and video fairly helpful, if you’re looking into Google Reader, or just simply comparing the Reader that you’re currently using… Click here to check it out!
Since we’re talking about Feeds, and Feed Readers… do you subscribe to my feed? If you find my articles interesting, comical, or down-right loony, then I’d be honored if you decide to sign up for The AverageGal Feed. (Couldn’t help myself; it’s the perfect opportunity to self-promote!)
What Feed Reader do you currently use? What do you like or dislike about it? In all honesty, I really don’t know a whole lot about other readers, and I’d like to know a little more! Thanks in advance for sharing!
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I use Google Reader as well. I chose it because I have most of the other Google products and I guess I am just a Google fan. I wasn’t aware of all the options you wrote about though, so I might have to login and take another look around.
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I am going to have to read your other post because I am not really sure what I am using.
I have feedburner on my site, but I don’t actually subscribe to any sites for my own reading. I simply have all the sites I want to look at in my bookmarks and go to them one by one. That way I get the whole experience when I have time to do it. I am afraid my subscribed feeds would just pile up just like newspapers would if I had a subscription.
I am a Google fan though, it would be nice to log in at one spot and have all my stuff.
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Hi Rachel.
I struggled with this for a bit when I first started. Ultimately what I’ve found is that email subscriptions work best for me. If a site I like does not have an email subscription then I might - if I REALLY like it, subscribe otherwise, and I just use my FF for that.
Cheers!
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I signed up for Google Reader and subscribed to several blogs and news feeds to get the latest in the web. But with this in mind, I will try my best not to get too zealous reading and forget about my writing.
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I use Google too, mostly becuase it is right there as part of the other suite of Google tools I use (gmail, docs, etc). I actually like it and it serves the purpose I’m looking for in a feed reader online.
However, if you are looking for a desktop feed reader I would recommend RSS Bandit, which is a desktop application and does all the things you’d expect a feed reader to do but it lets you download your feeds so you can catch up on your reading if you are ever away from an internet connection. It’s come in handy when wifi wasn’t working!
Matt
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Rachel:
I use Google Reader for my main reader also and for the same reasons you listed, not to mention I use a lot of google stuff. I haven’t really played with it too much though. Who has time for that??
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I agree - long live google feed reader!! We’re still trying to figure out the best way to integrate full feed rss reader into OnePoke.com - right now it is just a feed summary - not a full feed.
Definitely love the google feed reader though in terms of telling me whats new, but at the same time, I will RARELY read the articles through the reader itself.
Personally, if I’m interested in the article, I’m going to commment, so i have to go to the blog directly anyways.
I can see the advantage of it being a full feed reader, but it wouldn’t matter if it was just a summary feed as opposed to a full feed.
The only REALLY useful thing to me anyways, is the fact that it tells me what blogs have new posts
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I have used the all. I started with Google just for convenience. Then I thought there might be a better option. So, I added feeds to many alternatives just to see if any were better than what I was using with Google. Some are better in ways but most are basically the same. In the end, I am still using Google, although the built in feed reader in Outlook is competing quite well at the moment.
I use Google Reader, and I ALWAYS FORGET to use the “STAR” feature. Thanks for the reminder, hopefully I can remember it now
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