The Post About Google Ruining Everything

Google announced last week that Google Reader would be retiring. I assume it's becoming a Greeter at Wal-Mart or a professional napper {coughDADcough}.

I loved Google Reader because it kept all my blog and website feeds in one handy place so I could read whenever the mood struck. Since I was now in the market for a new RSS feed aggregator I sought advice. Lifehacker, a website I read through Google Reader, posted an article addressing this dilemma "Five Best Google Reader Alternatives."

Leigh at Hopeful Leigh also wrote about another popular option Bloglovin'.

I narrowed it down to feedly and Bloglovin'. This led me to a great article comparing the two side by side: Bloglovin’ vs Feedly: Which RSS Reader Reigns Supreme?

I tried out both but feedly was the winner for me. It came down to 2 issues:

• Bloglovin' didn't import my existing folders or starred items like feedly. 
• Swapping to the original source/blog/website was fluid in feedly and not so much in Bloglovin'. For commenting (which is my goal) this is imperative.

Definitely choose a system that works best with your preferences for blog reading. As always, I'm not the boss of you.

Now for a quick feedly tour on your desktop.

I like to look at all my baking or home design or photography at the same time so having folders is crucial for an ADD gal like me.

Here's a blog I fancy Fer The Love of Writing. Fer lives in Alaska and is ridiculously fantastic. We met on the Interwebs so we're close. As you can see, I have options when viewing her posts in feedly - Full, Mosaic, Tiles and more. Options can be selected for each website with a default selected.

The sidebars keep me organized and let me switch things up when my spirit animal changes to squirrel.

My actual preference is to read blogs on my phone or tablet while stopped at red lights.

Look how pretty Fer's blog is on my tablet. THE TUNDRA LOOKS SO INVITING.

More than 500,000 have made the switch to feedly this week and they try to make it simple by providing an easy peasy guide: Transitioning from Google Reader to Feedly.

If you've never even thought about reading blogs or other news sites this way, let me encourage you to consider it.

Might I recommend...Feedly?

Comment with your thoughts, recipes, or digital high fives. Also, if you have a blog I need to add to my feed reader - include the web address in the comments and I'll get it added!