Blogging The New Challenge Part 3: Use Feedly

Blogging: The New Challenge Part 3

Read blogs in a Reader such as Feedly

This week we've talked about the challenges facing bloggers in 2013. On Monday, I asked if blogs were still relevant. On Wednesday, we discussed ways of finding new readers. Today, I'm talking about reading blogs using a service called Feedly.

How do we fit reading blogs into our lives easily without it taking too much time?

Confession--I've gone through periods when I haven't read blogs.
I've been:
a. too busy
b. too discouraged
c. too distracted
d. out of town.

But I always get drawn back to reading blogs.
Why?
a. I feel connected to the author
b. I learn something new
c. I've been questioning something and a title offers the answer
d. I like to read!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I find blogs through Facebook, Twitter, Google+, my Blogger subscriptions, search engines, and recommendations. But it's hit-or-miss. I want to keep up with a few dozen favorite blogs on a regular basis. With Google Reader disappearing, a new RSS Reader is the most obvious choice.

Melissa Tagg (@Melissa_Tagg, Tag(g)lines) Tweeted, "If only all of life was as easy as switching from Google Reader to Feedly..." She's someone I trust, so I immediately Googled "Feedly."

Feedly is a Reader similar to Google Reader. It allows you to organize your RSS subscriptions (Google Reader, YouTube, Google News), and it's a great place to read blogs and share links to your various social media sites. You can sign up for a free web-edition in Google Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. You can also download an App for your smartphone or tablet.

I am using the Google Chrome free version. Feedly effortlessly brought all of my Google Reader information to my Feedly account. I then spent twenty minutes thinning out my folders and reorganizing the blogs into new folders better suited to my current blog-reading habits.

I was not shocked to see more than half of my subscriptions were no longer active (nothing had been posted in more than thirty days). 

If you're familiar with Readers, you'll be pleased with Feedly's easy-to-navigate layout. A column on the left lists any folders you've created. Click on the folder name for a list of current posts of all the blogs in that folder. You can either read the post in Feedly (and share it on your social media sites with the buttons that appear), or you can click on the link to the left of the post to go directly to the blog address. It's up to you!

I'll be paying attention to the trends as the year goes on, but right now, I am committed to continuing my three-day-a-week schedule. The way I see it, with author blogs dwindling, mine has more chance to get noticed. I'm a glass-half-full type of person! And I will always want to read blogs. I enjoy them!

If you read blogs, do you use a Reader? If not, what do you use? Would you be more likely to read blogs if you had an easy way to organize them, like using Feedly?

**A friend contacted me when this post went live that her comments got eaten. A few weeks ago, I switched to not allow Anonymous comments anymore due to the increase in Spam. I have a feeling WordPress bloggers might be having trouble commenting on my site. I have since gone back to anonymous comments, but I have comment moderation on after 1 day of the post going live. Sorry if this is inconveniencing anyone. I'm trying to avoid Captcha's! Please e-mail me jill(at)jillkemerer(dot)com if you are trying to leave a comment and it disappears without saying "your comment is waiting moderation." Thanks!!**

Thanks for spending the week with me! Have a wonderful weekend!

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