Change In The Air
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| “There’s even a Bloglovin’ app for your iPad, or other tablet or smart phone!” |
As you may have become aware from the wails of anguish a few months ago, Google has decided to discontinue Google Reader as of July 1. I personally did not use GR, but it was apparently a popular format to receive updates from favorite blogs and news services. I’m uncertain about whether those of us who use Google Friend Connect will still get blog updates, and if any of you readers know for sure, please do chime in.
Of course, those of you on Google+ who have have added Une femme to your circles will still get updates as usual. (The Google+ widget on right sidebar is a quick and easy way to do so if you’d like.)
To be on the safe side, I’ve also been testing Bloglovin’ which has been recommended as an alternative reader, and have concluded that it’s pretty easy to navigate and allows you to organize and group your favorite blogs by categories of your choice, a handy option if you follow a lot of blogs like I do. I spent a few hours over the weekend migrating my blog reading list over to Bloglovin’. (I could have imported with one click but wanted to review/ clean up my follow list to remove duplicates and blogs that are no longer active.) In the process of doing so, I was dismayed to see that some of your blogs have not been populating in my Blogger/ Google Friend Connect feed, so I’ve been missing out on some posts! Dommage!
I’m suggesting that if you currently subscribe to Une femme or any of your other favorite blogs through Google Reader, you might want to migrate to Google+, Bloglovin’ or one of the other readers out there in plenty of time before the July 1 cutoff.
(Click on the button below to follow with Bloglovin’. Oui, c’est facile!)
Facebook users will see regular blog updates at the blog’s Facebook Page. (Just “Like” the page and then hover over the Like button until the options pop up, then select “Show in News Feed” to be sure you don’t miss any updates.)
You can also go to one of the widgets on the right sidebar and sign up for emails, and if you have any favorite readers for subscriptions/blogs that you’re currently utilizing, please let us know in comments.
Note: I do not work for Bloglovin’ nor do I receive any compensation from them. I’ve just found this to be one of the easiest and most accessible of the readers I’ve looked at.
Edited to add: as the first few commenters seem to overwhelmingly like feedly, I’ve added that button to my sidebar for easy subscription. And here:
I also have some exciting changes in the works for the blog within the next few weeks. Look for updates soon!
Do you use readers to follow your favorite blogs? Please do share any recommendations or experiences with readers or other subscription services.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 United States License.
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I switched over to Feedly when the change was first announced, and I find that I really like it. In some ways better than GR. I’m very slow to adopt change and Feedly has been great!
I tried Bloglovin but just wasn’t impressed. Now using Feedly, and am much happier with that. Why Google couldn’t have simply offered a premium version is beyond me, but Feedly’s a decent substitute.
I transferred all the blogs that I subscribe to and not all are on Bloglovin which is a real disappointment because I want to keep up on all the great posts.
I am going to have to figure out why some blogs appear and others are missing. Perhaps you or one of your savvy readers will know and can advise me.
Bloglovin’ is an RSS reader. You can still subscribe to any blog you like through Bloglovin’, even if the blog in question doesn’t have the “Follow this blog with Bloglovin'” icon. Just go into your bloglovin’ account, search for the blog and then click Follow. When transferring from one reader to another, all of your blogs SHOULD go to the new reader, but I’m sure there are some glitches. Just compare the old reader’s subscription list against the new ones, to confirm all the blogs are there, and add in any ones that have gone astray. It took me 5 minutes to transfer my subscriptions from Google Reader to Bloglovin’. I do prefer Reader’s interface, but it’s about to be gone. I’m sure we’ll all adjust to the idiosyncrasies of the next readers we choose. Just keep in mind, you should be able to subscribe to ANY blog with ANY RSS reader.
I’m content enough with Bloglovin for nw, but I plan to fiddle with Feedly and Old Reader when i get back home. I sometimes find I can’t comment on posts on Bloglovin and can’t click directly to them either. Instead i have to manually enter the UrL in my browser, a bit fussy. . . .I also get a bit impatient with the need to wait for Bloglovin to show the whole page while this used to be scrollable in GR without clicking through. Still, I`m just crossing my fingers that Google will keep Blogger available to us. . . with their various cuts, I do wonder some days, especially with the dropoff in Spam filtering! Looking forward to seeing your exciting changes.
I’ve been using Feedly too. The switch from GR was pretty much a button click, so that part was simple. Configuring it took a wee bit more time but not enough to matter. I’m happy with Feedly. Folks should try it!
I need to check out feedly!
I love Bloglovin and they now have an app for Apple and Android which makes it even easier to keep up. Now I just need a 36 hour day ;-P
Spashionista (Alicia)
For me…not a lot of change..I did not use the reader to follow as you do. It will be interesting to see if this really affects readers very much. Have a great Monday!
I am blown away by how much and how quickly I grew to love Feedly after years (years!) on GReader. It imports all of your blogs and groups from GReader, too, so it was easy to get set up.
I tried Feedly and a few other readers after Google’s announcement, and settled on ‘Brief’, a plug-in to Firefox. It has an ultra-streamlined interface but gives me all the features I need– feed categories. Works off of Firefox Live Bookmarks. The main disadvantage is to tie me to Firefox. Im a FF fan but like to bounce over to Chrome occasionally. I wont miss a single one of your posts, I promise!
I use the Reeder app on my phone. I like Pocket for saving articles for reading later.
I transfered all my blogs to Bloglovin and added their follow button to my blog a while ago and find it really easy to use. Although some blogs I have wanted to add do not seem to be on their list. I use “Feedler” on my iPad but will try and download the Bloglovin app if my operating system is not too out of date (the only disadvantage I find with apple is that they are always updating their systems which means not everything is compatible).
I’m happy with Bloglovin’ for now,and always open to the new, better way to keep up. Bloglovin’ is nice an soothing to my eyes.
Very happy with Feedly.
Like Patti, I follow on Bloglovin. I can comment on your blog, but for some reason Bloglovin doesn’t always allow me to comment on some of the blogs I follow.
Feedly?!? There’s another one? Geesh, I can’t keep up. I follow blogs in Blogger. I have assumed that will remain as part of the Blogger package. Then I can go from creating a post to reading other blogs in one tab. Sounds like it might be good to try Feedly though, just in case.
I tried Old Reader, Feedly, and Bloglovin’ but I didn’t really like any of them. I settled on Netvibes. It was an easy transition and I like the layout better than those others.
I also switched to NetVibes, no complaints. As K.Line says above, these are all RSS readers, and they all handle any RSS feed, so no special buttons are needed besides some link to a blog’s RSS feed.