I know I should have figured this out by now.
When I first started blogging, I subscribed to a lot of blogs I wanted to follow through an email subscription. It didn’t take me long, or too many days of an overflowing email inbox, to see the error in my ways.
So I followed a fellow blogger’s advice and moved everything to Google Reader by using RSS feeds. Which worked well for a while. Until Google decided to discontinue the Google Reader effective in a few days.
Now I’m scrambling to move all the WordPress blogs I follow over to WordPress “follows” which puts them in a WordPress reader. This doesn’t solve the problem for the Blogger blogs or self-hosted blogs.
I know there are other RSS readers out there, but frankly, didn’t have the energy to deal with figuring it all out.
This morning I finished up visiting all the blogs I follow and am either following them through WordPress, through email subscriptions, or somehow on Blogger– I haven’t entirely figured that one out yet.
I’m missing my Google Reader already.
I’m worried the work I did this morning is going to result in email overload again. However, gmail has started using tabs, that I think I am going to like, that will sort my mail into “primary,” “social,” and “promotional.” So all the ads I get (solicited and un-) show up under the promotional tab which I can easily ignore for as long as I like. And the blog posts updates I get go under the social tab, keeping them conveniently in one place where I can read them at my leisure. Everything else goes under the primary tab.If you have gmail I’d like to hear how you feel about the new system.
I think what I will eventually do is what I should have done from the beginning, and create a page on my blog that lists (and links to) all the blogs I like to read either occasionally or everyday.
I’d love it if you could share with me how you manage the blogs you follow. Do you have a system that is working well for you?
Christine M. Grote 
I need to make a list of my blogs that I follow. I am tired of trying to keep up. Bloggers are going to lose readers like me who are too fed up to fight with another program to follow blogs.
I know. I feel your pain.
I didn’t like the RSS feeds, so I switched to email subscriptions.
I did like the RSS feeds because I could set aside a time and look at the last several posts from someone’s blog and then choose which ones I had time/most wanted to read. But the world moves on.
When someone subscribes and follows I think they deserve a courtesy subscribe. Now I am in the same fix with 250 emails a day. Some are blogs that no longer exist or people that no longer visit me but have to scroll entire list to find to delete but write down first so I don’t make mistakes. I think the list also contains multiple entries for some blogs. . I visit some every fifth post, some every third post, some every post prioritized by their visits to me. But it is taking far too much of my day for this . Fortunately there are 50 notifications I can quickly delete as these two individuals seem to post every hour. I visit them once or twice a week. But what is generally very delightful in my 3 years of blogging I have met so many talented, delightful and wholesome people. There are about two dozen of these that I wish I could meet and while away the hours talking in the cool shade of the back porch.
I know. There’s a lot of reciprocation going on with blogging—which is good in a way. But you’ll never be able to really grow your blog if that is all you’re doing, because you will run out of time to keep up. I enjoy reading the blogs (or looking at cartoons as the case may be), but time is a limiting factor. I need to find a good method of keeping up.
Hi Christine .. you may find this report helpful – it simply takes you through transferring from Google Reader to Feedly .. I did mine very quickly and easily this a.m. …
Click to access SetupFeedly.pdf
Cheers and I’m sure this will help hugely and work … Hilary
Thanks, Hilary. I know I saw a few suggestions when I first got the notice about Google Reader, but I decided not to bother with it and just go it alone. Perhaps I should have given it a look. Unfortunately, I unsubscribed to each feed’s RSS as I went along so I could keep track of where I was. 😦 There’s no turning back now.
I use the wordpress reader for wordpress blogs..and for the few I follow on other platforms I just pop in on them when I receive an email re: new postings.
I don’t always have as much time as I’d like to follow people.
I think that is what I am going to do as well. I have a few of my not-to-miss blogs coming to my email.
I just use my Blogger feed for both Blogger and WordPress. Mind you, I’ve got so many that it’s easy to fall behind, and I’m often several days behind… slowly trying to catch up.
I don’t really understand the whole Blogger system. I actually have a Blogger account. I need to spend some time over there and see what’s up. I have your posts coming by email.
The WordPress reader allows you to enter other blogs. I track from self-hosted blogs and from Blogger. It is rare to have a blog that cannot be entered into WordPress reader.
Go to “blogs I follow”, then edit. A box is at the top for you to enter the URL.
I’ve set nearly everyone to no E-mails except for a few that I want to see on my phone when they post (like yours).
Nancy
Thanks Nancy. You always have such good tips. I’m going to try this out.
I have used the WordPress reader to put in none WordPress blogs also like dogear6. You can just put in the url for any blog and like magic it shows up! I have a ton of email subscriptions and I am about ready to weed those out also. I get behind and feel like I am letting those down that I have subscribed to. That is probably silly but I feel an obligation. I may not always comment or like but I do read most that I have subscribed to unless they have abandoned their blog! It can get overwhelming and I have decided that I am not going to allow that to bum me out. We all go through the same time challenges so I am sure you are not alone in wanting to streamline!!! Good luck!
I am not necessarily trying to streamline. I’m just trying to figure out the best system since I’m losing Google Reader. There’s lots of good ideas in the comments here.
You will find the perfect thing that works for you. It is difficult when you get used to one way and it gets taken away from you! But you are a smart cookie! You will figure it out!
I have never subscribed by email as I cannot cope with everything landing in my inbox and I couldn’t get RSS to work anyway. I check in on the reader on WordPress and take a look at blogger but I only do these once a day if that. I don’t know the best way to handle all this either but what I do suits me for now.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I think as long as whatever you’re doing works for you it’s all good. I think I’ll probably do some kind of combination of the suggestions I’ve gotten here.
Like Hilary, I tried Feedly and I’m very happy with it so far. It was easy to set up and is very easy to use.
Thanks for stopping by and weighing in. I may have to look at Feedly, although I’ll have to set them all back up again since I unsubscribed as I went. 😦
I saw the recent notice from WordPress that other blog platforms can be added to the WP reader. (As Nancy mentioned). I haven’t gotten around to adding them yet, but intend to. I hope to get an iPad soon, and use it for social media. I’m thinking the portability will allow me to get the laptop off my lap! I need to manage my time better, and I think those two things will help me do that. Let us know what you decide on and how it works for you.
I like to use my iPad for reading blogs, especially on road trips. I don’t know system will work the best on the iPad.
Hi Christine, I switched to Feedly when they first announced the pending demise of Google reader. I like it better and the switch was quick and painless. Good luck with whatever route you decide on.
Yes. I kind of wish I had done that too. I’ve got some good ideas here in the comments to try.
I’ve done both–I have all of my blogs in my WordPress Reader. I also have Feedly, because it’s so convenient on my Kindle and smartphone.
I’m wondering if I should do both too because of my iPad. I’ll have to check Feedly out.
I use the WP Reader and e-mail alerts set at “weekly” (for most blogs) That way, if I don’t check the WP Reader for a few days, I don’t have to scroll down ~ down ~ down to see what I missed. I can just wait for the weekly e-mail.
I also unsubscribe from blogs when they no longer interest me . . . or when they post several times a day . . . or when they don’t respond to comments . . . or when they get a “chip on their shoulder” that I find myself wanting to knock off.
I also have a blog roll on SLTW and periodically check the blogs on it that I don’t visit every week.
I like this idea of weekly emails. Do they all come on the same day of the week?
I didn’t have to unsubscribe when I used Google Reader because I could just ignore the ones I wasn’t reading. It’s a process. I would like to get better at keeping up with the blogs I enjoy.
They all come on Saturday night at 10 pm. And most of them I can delete quickly, because I know I’m already caught up with certain blogs. The rest of them, I can scroll through to see if I missed anything I want to read.
Thanks. I’ll look into it.
I’m glad I never used the Google reader … but even with WP reader and email notifications, I’m hard put to find the time to even glance at everyone else’s work, get any of my own stuff done, or actually do nothing at all for a little while. I think I’m just a tad over-committed. Maybe we all are.
I’ve been working with Feedly today and I think I’m going to like it. It took a bit of time getting everyone into it since I had systematically deleted all my Google Reader RSS feeds. (It would have been stupid simple otherwise). I don’t know why I always do things the hard way.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to trying out Feedly. I can organize feeds into categories like “friends,” “photography,” “writing,” etc. So I can easily get to the blogs I’d like to catch up with. I think there are other ways to organize yourself there too, but I’m still learning.
I just marked all my backlog of unread blog posts as “read” —cleared the deck. It feels good. Now I’ll see how well I keep up with things.
I need to check out Feedly too… why couldn’t I do it the simple way either? Off to check it out!
Oh, Christine, I can empathize with you! I have a system, and it doesn’t work well–at all. Like you, I follow too may blogs–and I still use email. I’ve not done well following bloggers I love during our move to Ecuador–too much going on–though I am beginning to do better. Wish I cold help.
Hugs,
Kath
That’s okay. I got a lot of good ideas from others. I decided to do it all. I’ve got everybody on the WordPress reader (which I don’t really like all that well), I’m following a few blogs by email (which is nicely being sorted by Google), and I spent this morning setting everything up on Feedly. I think I’m really going to like Feedly. I also created a “Blogs I follow” page on my blog, primarily for myself. It will help me refer to those quickly.
Then I went through Feedly and marked all the posts on every blog I follow as “read.” Clean slate.
Gosh. It feels good. Like spring cleaning.
Well, I missed the deadline 😦 I fully intended to move over to a new reader, but I just plain forgot. Now I need to start all over again, but like you said, maybe it’s good to have a clean slate. Not just marked “read” but truly gone, wiped clean. Glad I remember some (like yours)… now just another hundred or so to remember, sigh. I miss google reader too.
I think you’ll like Feedly, although I can’t get an app for my iPad yet. 😦 Not a happy camper about that one. They say they are working on it. . .
I’m also use Bloglovin. I know not every blog is on there and I haven’t checked to see if all the one’s I follow are, but it’s a good way to get one email for the ones you do follow
Thanks for weighing in. I haven’t heard of that one. But then I’m settled for now. Not going to rock the boat again.