On a whim, I set up a
Google Reader account three weeks ago to manage all of the blogs I like reading. If you aren't familiar with RSS or other feed programs, basically it works like an email account that counts a new blog-post as a "message" in your "inbox." It took me about 20 minutes to set it up and subscribe to all of the blogs I read in RSS format [if you want a list, i'll post it in the comments].
The biggest advantage for me has been the convenience of going to one place and seeing which blogs have been updated, then skimming the posts quickly. This is especially useful for blogs that aren't updated 6 times a day. And I can try to limit my blog-reading to first thing in the morning (though that doesn't always happen). Another perk is that there are some blogs I forget to check regularly, and RSS keeps me in the loop.
The only disadvantage is that I signed up for a few blogs which I used to only read occasionally, but now I'm notified every single time they post something new. So I'm ending up spending more time reading blogs than I was before [Economist note: For me, the price effect dominates the substitution effect]. Which means that it's time to trim back the list of blog subscriptions.
Do you read blogs via RSS? Are there any blogs that you didn't used to read but now find yourself addicted to on a reader program? Or blogs that you used to enjoy in moderation but now can't handle continuous updating?
ben
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