Keeping up on Blogs

Here's a little information on how to know when your friends have updated their blogs without randomly clicking and checking all the time. Simply sign up with a site that does that for you! And then all you have to do is check 1 site! Our preferred site is Bloglines, though Google Reader is a popular alternative as well. And the fact that we like Bloglines so much is saying a lot, since we both work remotely for Google in various capacities and generally really like Google quite a bit. Bloglines really is awesome.

Basically when people have blogs, they usually have "feeds" (unless they're private or turn their feed off). It's one of your settings on your blogs. So, when you post posts on your blog, its also sends out a feed of that post.

There are sites that collect those feeds all neatly for you--they're called feed aggregators or feed readers. Pretty much every day (several times daily usually), I log into Bloglines and the little sidebar on the left tells me which of my friends have posted new posts! I can click on it and read it in the frame to the right of the sidebar, right on that site! You can do all the same things--read, comment, click over to the blog if you'd like, etc. You can even check certain posts you'd like to reread or on which you'd like to comment later when you get a chance. It's handy!! You can even set up subcategories (friends, family, funny stuff, people I've met online, mommy blogs, etc.). The best way to learn to use it is to simply play with it.

Set up an account, visit the blogs you like to read, and subscribe! Voila! Here is a bit more information on ways to enjoy blogging all the more (copied from a recent comment I've posted on my SIL's blog):

1. BLOGLINES! A lot of people use Google Reader and we used them at first, too, but we like Bloglines so much more! It's very user friendly, you can use it from anywhere, and it's a handy way to read it right in your reader. And you can subscribe to anything with a feed there! The other thing I like about Bloglines is that I've added a little "Subscribe with Bloglines" button to my browser window so when I come upon a blog I want to continue to follow, I simply press that button and voila! It lets me give my preferences and presto! I'm subscribed! I seriously can't recommend it highly enough, especially since so many jump to Google Reader first. We've tried both and Bloglines really is better!

2. STATCOUNTER! This lets you track who visits you, when, where they come from, etc. And you can label people, too, by name!

Hope this helps!