Personally, I love reading blogs through a reader. There’s something so easy with having everything in one spot. I’ve used Google Reader for years and find their layout to be simple and very user friendly. Here’s the gist…
Once you open your Google Reader page (if you have a gmail account, you have Google Reader), you can easily subscribe to blogs by clicking subscribe and entering the URL. You’ll see all your subscriptions on the left hand side, and any with new posts will be highlighted. (This is only a few of the blogs I subscribe to. There’s no way they would all fit on one page.)
You can also create blog categories. Sewing, Knitting, Food, whatever category you want, which helps organize your reads even more. Want to remember a post that you might want to come back to? Simply star it, and it will remain in your starred items until you remove it.
You’ve probably seen the ever popular Google Friend Connect that is on many blogs. This is such a convenient way to subscribe to blogs. One click and it easily dumps it into your Google Reader feed. However, Google has been making some changes over the last several months. Starting March 1st, this feature will no longer be available for non-blogger blogs. Instead, Google is encouraging those blogs to create a Google+ page and place a Google+ badge on your site (you can also read more info here).
I imagine this proposes a great inconvenience to those who have relied on this feature for so many years. This does not mean non-blogger blogs cannot continue using Google Reader. It simply means that Google Friend Connect, a service that provides an easy way to subscribe, will no longer be available for those blogs. It also means that if you have followed non-blogger blogs through Google Friend Connect that you will need to subscribe to those blogs another way. So, either 1. you need to get on Google+, or 2. find another service to offer your readers. You’ll also need to change the way you’ve subscribed to non-blogger blogs because come March 1st you won’t see them in your reader if you subscribed through GFC! To continue following through Google Reader, simply click the RSS feed and choose Google Reader.
This post is part of a series with other bloggers. Visit other reader options in this series…
Linky Followers at Studio JRU
Bloglovin’ at Beyond Words Designs
Blog Sidebar at Them Pates
What’s your favorite way to follow blogs?
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