Tuesday, February 26, 2008

RSS - No Longer Greek To Me

I'm learning to love Google Reader. And now I see why blog comments here have decreased though readership is relatively flat. It turns out that, probably, readership has continued its previous trajectory and more people are subscribing via an RSS feed. This is a good illustration of a larger trend that I was very slow to catch on to.

I know that when I visit a blog, I'm more likely to comment than when I'm reading a daily digest via my iGoggle homepage, and commenting would require a click-through to the actual site. On the other hand, I can read a lot more blogs a lot more efficiently through a reader, and my blog-reading time is quite limited.

So I've compromised. I read only professionally-related blogs via my Google reader, and catch up on other blogs (personal blogs and political blogs) occasionally as time/interest permit. This is working great for me so far.

What about you? Do you subscribe to feeds? And, if so, which reader do you use?

11 comments:

Unknown said...

I use G-Reader too... I have found that I really have to make an effort to comment now. Sometimes I will tell myself, "I am leaving comments on EVERY blog today!" just so that I feel like I am keeping in touch. Funny, this internet :)

www.twolinesonastick.com

Deb said...

I subscribe to yours and other blogs through Bloglines. I do comment when the urge strikes, but mostly I read in silence.

Rob Monroe said...

I subscribe to two blogs through reader, only so that I can read them more easily on my blackberry when I have time to kill before (read: during) a meeting. I start my morning by bouncing around blogs and you are always my first. :o)

Anonymous said...

I use bloglines, I've used it for a while now too. Sometimes, I'm forced to click through to the actual site when part of the post is left off.

Orange said...

I have a Safari bookmark menu of RSS feeds for about 50 blogs (including this one!). Whenever there's a new post, the number in the menu bar ticks up. It's very distracting if I'm trying to work and I see that there are six new posts waiting for me! Have zero self-control.

I do click through a good chunk of the time, but often I'm there long before anyone else has commented owing to the rapidity with which I see the posts after they're published.

I am missing out on some commenting/comment-reading action, but I'm glad to not meander around clicking idly on bookmarks only to find that the blogger's had no new posts all week.

BriteLady said...

I've been trying out Google Reader too, but like everyone else said, it does slow down comments. It also doesn't show the comments, which is annoying because sometimes they're as interesting as the original posts on some blogs. I'm still trying out options, too, and haven't found one that I'm thrilled with yet.

Jess said...

I use google reader too. I click through quite a bit (although I'm not MUCH of a commenter anyway) because I like to see people's blog designs. It helps me keep everyone straight - without the different backgrounds etc, I get confused sometimes!

Its so much more efficient than reading them all individually. I lurve it.

BrownieCentral said...

to represent those of us at the other end of the spectrum: i clearly don't pay enough attention to google apps ... perhaps i am still struggling to accept their control / knowledge of more and more of my internet life. i've never used google reader, haven't tried rss feeds, and don't comment often except on good friends' blogs. (though for the record this is the first time i've read yours)

Sarahlynn said...

I'd comment, except, you know, I'm using an aggregator. Hah hah. Thank you all for responding!

Anonymous said...

Yes, I subscribe to google reader. I read hundreds of blogs, including yours, time permitting.

Anonymous said...

I WAS using google reader, but just quit this week. My reason was that ---through my understanding of the instructions ----your gmail chat friends can see what's on your blog list.

I'm not comfortable with that.

So I took it off.

I have used bloglines before, which is okay. And sage worked okay, too, but I liked the convenience of greader.