Google Reader

Four years ago when I started blogging there were a handful of blogs I read. Typically I would either type in the URL or I would click a link from my blog. If I found something new I liked, many times I would have to blog hop until I found that link again. There was A LOT of blog hopping. And A LOT of time wasting.

Then I discovered Bloglines. A single website that told me when new posts had been added to all the blogs I read. No more hopping from one blog to another in hopes of finding a new post. Now I knew when something new had been added. And I was not on the computer as often. There were some great things about it, but as I added more and more blogs to my interests, I quickly found that Bloglines was very limiting in how I could manage my blogs.

That is when I made the switch to Google Reader. It feeds my need to be organized. What do I like about it? So many things, and I know I haven't even tapped all that it is probably capable of.

1. I can read one post at a time. If I am not able to sit down and read the last 10 posts that have accumulated in the reader, I can read one at a time. And if I start to read a post and am interrupted, I can mark it as "keep unread" and come back to it later.

2. I can organize blogs by type. If I want to read blogs only by my family, I can find them all in one spot instead of scrolling through my list. (Yes, I really do follow 77 blogs. And that is after recently removing about 30 off the list.)

3. I can keep a post by starring it. I find so many fabulous ideas and now I can mark them to go back later and use those fun ideas to do something with LilE or make a cute skirt without having to remember which blog I found it on and when the post was written. I am not that good.

4. I can organize my starred items. Well, sort of. I have about 300 posts that I marked with a star. But when I am looking for one specific tutorial, it takes time to go through them. Kama recently showed me how I can organize posts by category instead of leaving them in the generic "star" pool.

At the end of each post is a list..."remove star, like, share, share with note, email, add tag." Instead of starring the post, you can click "add tag." Then type in the box what "tag" you want to mark the post with. You can see all my "tags" below. You can add more tags by typing in the "add tag" box. Don't forget to click save. Since I am organizing my previously starred items into a new place, I then click "remove star." 

What tricks can you share about Google Reader?