Friday 5 April 2013

bye bye google reader

google reader shut down notice


In a way, I never really got the hang of Google Reader. I always found it a bit clunky, I never finished the task of moving my saved blogs to folders (partly because it was just so slow! That might have just been me and my antiquated computer though...), and I always ended up opening blogs up rather than reading them in the reader, because I like to see what the blog looks like, even if it's a regular haunt.

But google reader was very handy for storing favoured blogs, for tucking them away somewhere safe where, yes, they may have gotten overlooked but they weren't lost forever.

For a while now I've also been adding blogs to Bloglovin', finding the 'add to a group' system far easier than it was with Google Reader, especially retrospectively - I've always tended to save blogs (and bookmarks) on the basis I'll categorise or tag them later. Hence my ending up with a heap of Google Reader blogs just scattered around and confusing my head when I want to find something specific...

So my choice is pretty much made up for where to put the blogs I follow - Bloglovin'. It makes sense to amalgamate all the blogs in one place, and so I shall move them over shortly. I've heard that when imported they don't go into categories so I'll still have some work to do, but I'm also planning on doing some weeding, and removing any blogs that I rarely read or aren't interested enough in any more.

bloglovin' home page


And I'm also hoping to put my ultra-faves into a special folder (or two) of their own so I can find them easily when I want to. I don't know about you, but I find I have a few (quite a few!) blogs that I simply adore and am always interested in their content, whereas some blogs I just kind of am happy to drop in on now and then and see what's happening...

If you're not yet sold on any other reader then check out this post, which reviews some of the main choices, and discusses how likely some of them are to go the distance... And do let me know if you've made a decision and where you're going to go!

(It seems Google Friend Connect, which has already been kind of shut down, will still be kind of open even when Google reader goes. I'm very pleased about this as it's still the simplest way to quickly follow and blog, and to do so publicly. GFC works with both Google and Blogger - when you join a site via GFC it has previously added the blog to both. From July, it'll just add it to Blogger. Phew.)

Oh, and if you fancy following me on Bloglovin', then click here! I'm off to move my blogs now - I'll let you know if it doesn't go well!

Happy Friday, and have a good weekend.



3 comments:

  1. I'm going to put everything on feedly... I read it it the best substitute for it. Have a nice one!

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    1. I'm pretty taken with Bloglovin' but am going to check Feedly out too - you're not the first person I've heard talk about it! :)

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  2. I'm a fan of bloglovin too! I love that I can organize and separate blogs by topic, and the liked posts option is great too. Already following you on there :)

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