The Best Feed Reader is a Social Network
Posted on May 21, 2008
Before I get started with my main post I just want to give everyone a personal update. It has been a while, but I’m back to writing! I have been away for a couple weeks for several reasons, but it feels great to be back on the Juice. I had to go out of town for work one week and have been working on a few other projects since I have been back. I have also been spending a lot of quality time with my family, my little boy is growing up so fast. He has started talking more and more and it is just amazing how much he is changing and growing every day. I have tried to keep up with my Stumble and Digg friends and I have also been keeping up with my favorite blogs, but I have just not made the time to write. I have discovered and started reading some amazing blogs and have also learned a lot more about Google Reader.
The Best Feed Reader
I highly recommend Google Reader if you need a feed reader and even if you already have one I still highly recommend it. I have tried several readers and I am more impressed with Google than any of them. Google Reader is one of the most popular readers out, but there is not doubt why in my book. One of the best things that I have discovered about Google Reader is the sharing feature. It is so easy to use and is very quick. Google makes it so convenient that if you enjoyed the article you are reading all you have to do is a quick mouse click.
On a side note, this is one of the main reasons I like Stumble Upon better than Digg because of the simple tool bar that Stumble uses. All you have to do to Stumble an article is to click on the Thumbs Up icon in the tool bar (see photo above).
With one simple click you can share any article and have a "bookmark record" of your favorite articles. Once you share an article, you can always go back to it and reread it by viewing your shared items. You can even add notes when you share an item to let the author and others know what you thought about it. In this way Google is actually creating a social networking site where you can review and share various articles and post. Another great feature of Google Reader is the easy way that they allow you to spread the word and display your shared articles. All you have to do is click the "Share with Note" button at the end of the article and a window will pop up and let you add a short note with the article. One of the best benefits is the simplicity and how easy Goggle makes it to share and promote articles. Since I already use Google Reader to save myself time by keeping me up to date on my favorite blogs, now all I have to do is a simple mouse click to let everyone know the great article I just read. Google has K.I.S.S (Keep It Simple Stupid), down to an art.
Another great part of Google Reader is the Trending feature. By looking at your Trends in Google Reader you can find all kinds of information and keep a tab on yourself and who you are reading 
and sharing. With it you can track which blogs are being updated the most, which blogs you are reading the most, and which blogs you are sharing the most. I have not been using Google Reader too long, so my trends are not too in depth, but I can already see who and what I read about the most and view which blogs I share the most. I like to use it at the end of the week just to see what my focus and thoughts were. It is really an amazing feature that many social networking sites do not include.
My favorite feature in Google Reader has to be the "clip" or widget that you can add to your web site or blog to let everyone know about your shared items. It is customizable with colors and you can change the title of the "clip" to be anything you want. The "clip" is also fluid in size so where ever you put it on your site it will "self adjust". I keep my "clip" in my side bar right below my most popular articles, but as you can see right below that the "clip" is variable in size.
All in all I think Google Reader is an excellent tool and could be the best social networking site if they would integrate more social networking tools into the reader. I especially would like to see the Friend feature improved and it would also be nice for them to promote most shared items. If you have never used Google Reader, I encourage you to give it a shot. I really love it and I’m sure you will enjoy the easy and simplicity of it too!
If you enjoyed this post please share it with others. Please
or 
Stumble It!
- Similar articles by the Juice of Champions
- Changes, Changes Everywhere!
- RSS in Everyday Language!
- Why You and Your Grandmother Should be Stumbling!
- Changes to the Juice of Champions
- Free Pub - round 2
» Filed Under Blogging, Free Pub
Comments
Leave a Reply
