I may have mentioned this before but I've become a real fan of Feedly. Put simply, it's an RSS feed reader, but I so often get asked 'what's a feed reader' that I'm going to explain what I think Feedly is and why I like it.
Please note this is not a technical explanation! Think Top Gear rather than Car Mechanics Magazine!
I subscribe to a lot of blogs. That doesn't mean I read them all regularly, alas, but when I find a good blog post I'm compelled to subscribe, so I don't miss anything good. When you hit the 'subscribe' button on a blog, you're generally given a choice of how you want to subscribe, for example, like this:
Now you could subscribe by email, but if you subscribe to a lot of blogs that will soon clog up your inbox and if you're anything like me you'll miss a lot of good stuff.
A web-based news reader means you can keep an eye on all your chosen blogs in one place, and every time the blog is updated, the latest post pops into your reader. I used to use Google Reader, one of their many free tools, but I found I missed a lot of stuff. Although I appreciate many of Google's free tools, (Analytics, for example) there was something about the layout of Google Reader that made my heart sink whenever I looked at it. I never got around to categorising blogs properly and the whole thing was a mess. This is what it looked like:
Then one day I came across this fabulous short video by Heidi Allen explaining how she uses Feedly, an alternative to Google Reader. It convinced me to give it a go, and I've never looked back.
Here are the main reasons I like Feedly:
- You can import all your blogs from another feed reader (I moved mine over from Google Reader in virtually one click)
- It's very quick and easy to categorise your blogs, making them easy to scan by category/topic
- The layout is magazine-style, with a big choice of layouts. I generally have 3 'featured' (popular) blog posts across the top, each with a thumbnail image, so there's always something to catch my eye
- The many different choices you have regarding layout means you're less likely to miss things
- You can subscribe to new blogs very simply by just clicking the 'add to feedly' button on your toolbar while you're logged in, and choose what category or categories your want to put them in, right at the time of subscribing
- It's easy to read full blog posts in your Feedly window, and retweet or share from there
- You can add all manner of widgets to customise your Feedly page
… plus, it just looks really great, and makes me want to actually read blog posts!
That's it really – I'd recommend giving it a try.
Well explained Robin! I’m using Feedly and am a convert from Google Reader too.
At first I didn’t understand the extra features offered by Feedly – but am now finding it to be a much easier way to control and read my blog subscriptions.
I still need to customise a bit – and your post will help with that – thank you!
feedly is not a rss reader. it is a frontend to google reader. So you are still using google reader in the back and just viewing it in a different way.
Aha, thanks for clarifying that – well, I did say it wasn’t a technical explanation! All the same, the Feedly interface is so much better than Google Reader and contains additional features. So from a user experience point of view, I stand by my post!