Last week I was lamenting the fact that I have way too many blogs in my RSS reader. Not only was it unrealistic for me to expect I could stay on top of that many blogs, but instead of being a learning adventure and a way of connecting with other bloggers, blog reading had become a chore. This problem was compounded by the fact that I’m also notified of new blog posts via Twitter and Facebook. I considered using a different RSS reader or different system for organizing the blogs I follow, but realized that would do nothing about the volume. So here’s what I’ve decided to do.
- I’ve subscribed to a handful of “can’t miss” blogs, using Outlook 2007’s built in RSS reader. That will allow me to stay on top of those on a daily basis. Once I’ve read the posts (in Outlook), I can keep the post to read again later, move it to my “blogging” folder if it’s something I want to write about later, or just delete it, after posting a brilliant comment, of course.
- For all other blogs I’m going back to simple bookmarking. I created a folder in my Firefox bookmarks called “~ Blogs to Read” (the ~ is so it will appear at the top of my folder list) and within it I’m creating subfolders for specific topics such as Blogging, Internet Marketing, and so on. Then, when I have some time to spend reading blogs, I can go to the folder for the topic that’s on my mind, and just read, instead of feeling like “I have to read this one before the number of unread posts gets any higher” or “This one only has one new post; I’ll just get it out of the way.” Maybe I’ll miss some great posts, but there’s a good chance I’d have missed them anyway, so I don’t feel I’m really losing anything.
- If I come across a really good post that I’ll want to refer to again in the future, such as Mashable’s 20+ Great Twitter Tools for Firefox, I’ll file it with my regular bookmarks, in this case, in a “Twitter” file.
- If it’s food for a future blog post, I’ll copy and paste the link into an ongoing Outlook task I created for blog posts.
Maybe it sounds complicated, but it’s really a simple system. There’s reading material, reference material, and writing material. That’s it. And now I feel like the pressure has been taken off, and I can go back to enjoying the process.
How do YOU organize your blog reading?
Janet – sounds very organized – but then I would expect that for you – very on brand
I use Bloglines – the great thing with that system is that it has all the blogs I read in one place and just have to go there and it immediately tells me which ones have new posts since the last time I went there. Then I can see summaries of each post and decide if I need to read any further.
Just my toonies worth
Paul, I was using Bloglines, but between the number of blogs I’d subscribed to and the number of days I didn’t get a chance to check them, it just wasn’t working for me anymore.
Sometimes, Janet, I think we were twins separated at birth
I love using Outlook 2007 for my RSS feeds. They just pop into their own little folder and wait for me to see them.
I’m still doing the “There’s just one post….” thing.
Instead of copying a link as a reminder for a future blog post in Outlook, though, I use ScribeFire which is right in my browser window.
Great post, long lost little sis
I love my Google Reader. I have folders for the different subject – mostly I read blogs for pleasure so I have folders called creative blogs, cute kids, business, friends, health, and organising (of course)
The thing is I regularly declutter when I find myself “marking all as read” too much and I like to keep my blogs at less than 45, so I do go through once a month.
However, I give myself permission to simply mark the whole lot as READ if I feel overwhelmed!
Marcia, I looked at Google Reader, but I think I’d have faced the same issues as I had with Bloglines.
To compare it to paper, I’d rather leave the flyers at the trade show than bring home a bagful, then toss them out without looking at them.
Melodee, I didn’t know about ScribeFire but you can be sure I will check it out (and you can never have too many sisters)!
I am like Marcia (in so many ways…). I like my reader. I like to put blogs in their own space, away from emails or other matters. Usually, like tonight, I sit down and crank through 100+ posts I get every few days. I look at everything in reader and click thru on posts I want to comment (like this one) and/or read through. It takes about an hour or so, but (like tonight) my DH is watching basketball while I read… life is good.
I like that your system works for you… it’s all about options and what works!
Megan, one of my biggest challenges is when something STOPS working well for me, as happened with Bloglines. It can be very time-consuming to research other options and find a better solution, not to mention the time to learn a new system and put it place.
I use the Brief plugin for Firefox. It combines bookmarks with a typical feed reader. I have 4 categories and it works really well.
I also tell myself that each week I need to comment on at least 50 blogs meaning that I can’t let it slide. I enjoy reading and commenting but it can eat up a lot of time, so the 50 per week keeps me going but is a low enough number that I get pretty ruthless about what I’ll read and comment on.
Alex, I love the idea of setting a target of commenting on a specific number of blogs each week. I know that goals need to be measurable but never thought of applying it to my blog reading. 50 is probably a bit high for me, but I’m sure I could start lower and work my way up! Thank you!!