Most writers I know on the net blog, just like I do. If you’re a blogger, the chance is big you’re also reading numerous other blogs. And to keep track of them… An RSS reader is mighty handy.
When I first got into blogging (which was long before this blog, but I’m sad to say most of them failed miserably ;p), I tried out Google Reader.
Let me just say it straight away. For a mighty handy tool, Google Reader is mighty confusing.
Maybe it’s me, but I just couldn’t get the hang of Google Reader and forgot about it pretty quickly.
Quite a while later, I found out about Feedly. It’s powered by Google Reader (and Twitter, more about that later, just know you can link Feedly and Twitter), so you have to sign in with a gmail account. What’s really nice is that when you download the Feedly extension (for Safari, Firefox and Chrome), you get a little Feedly icon in your address bar (excuse me if it looks different in Safari and Firefox, I use Chrome), with a little # with it for the number of new blogs. If you click it, you’re sent to the “What’s New” page.
Screenshot of my "What's New" page in Feedly
On the left, you can see a screenshot of my “What’s New” page in Feedly. As you can see, there isn’t much new, and I still have to catch up with some blogs. I have all of my blogs categorized. I use folders “writing”, “psychology”, “friends” and “webcomics”. I only follow 41 blogs (I thought that was a lot, but I learned it’s relatively few compared to thousands, lol), but still it’s handy to have them categorized. But for those who do follow hundreds or even a thousand of blogs, you can have, for instance, a “must-read” folder for those blogs you really want to read every day.
Screenshot of my Google Reader
On the right, you can see my Google Reader “What’s New” page. Kind of meh, in my opinion. Basically, it has everything that is in Feedly, just… chaotic. And every time I wanted to add a new blog to Reader, it was automatically put in all folders. Don’t ask me why 
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I mentioned something about Feedly being powered by Twitter, in the beginning, didn’t I? Trust me, this is really cool.
Screenshot of a blog in Feedly
Look at the next screenshot on the left (yep, another one). As you can see, it’s a blog post by Jody Hedlund about Twitter. See that bunch of icons above the article? That’s where you can select what social media you want to send it to (or bookmark it with). There are the Gmail and Email icons, would you want to send it to a friend in a private message. There is the Twitter icon and the Facebook icon. These two are absolutely splendid. As I said before, you can link your Twitter to Feedly. So if you click the Twitter icon, you get a little pop-out with a shrinked URL, the blog title and the amount of characters you’ve used and you can then customize it. If you click “Tweet”, it’s automatically published! Bam! It’s what I use to tweet blogs with. I love it! The same counts for the Facebook icon – it’s linked to your Facebook so you can share the blogs on your profile in an instant. The other icons include Linkedin, Posterous, Evernote, Delicious, etc. If you want other or more icons, you can set those in your preferences. The possibilities are endless!
But wait, that’s not everything. Wow, there’s more? Mais oui!
This morning, in bed, I read all new blogs. That’s basically why there were barely any new blogs in the first screenshot. I read them on my Android phone! Only last week, Feedly released the App for Android. I was checking their blog almost every day to see if it had been released yet, and now that it is… I’m ecstatic! I can read my blogs everywhere, and it’s synched with your computer-based Feedly. There’s an app for iPhones, too!
Now, if I’ve convinced you to try out Feedly… Find it here: http://www.feedly.com There, you can find the download for the browsers and the iPhone app. Apparently, they haven’t yet added the link to the Android app, so I will!
Scan this QR-code with your phone and you’ll be sent to the Market instantly 
What do you use to read your blogs? If you used Feedly before, are you as enthusiastic about it as I am? Or did you like it less? And why? Or do you use a different RSS reader that you’re very happy about? Please share 
March 16, 2011
Featured Content, Writing Tools