First, can I tell you how much I love my iPhone 5? Who could have imagined
a photo like this could come from a phone?
But that's not the reason for this post. I used this pretty picture to lure you here
to make sure you're aware that Google Reader is ending in two weeks.
If you're on Blogger, this means your reading list will be going away! I also believe, but
cannot confirm, that if you have a blog roll on your blog, it will also go away. So if you
read blogs using your Blogger Reading List or from another blogger's blog roll, you need to
find another way to keep track of the blogs you like to read.
I did some research a few months ago when this was first announced to find some alternatives.
It seems that most people are switching to Feedly or Bloglovin' and if you google "feedly vs.
bloglovin,'" you should find some posts that list the pros and cons of each one.
I looked at Feedly very superficially and when I saw I needed to download Firefox,
I moved on to Bloglovin' (just because Firefox is incompatible with software
I have at the office). I signed up for Bloglovin' and not only found the process
very easy, it automatically imported my Blogger Reading List.
***UPDATE***
Tracy left me a comment that Feedly didn't require Firefox so I went back and
clicked "Get Feedly for Chrome." (I don't recall seeing that when I went a few
months ago.) It automatically imported all the blogs from my Blogger Reading List.
Also very easy. It will take me a little white to get the settings the way I want them,
but it's also looking like a great option.
***********
Bloglovin' provides a list similar to the Blogger Reading list showing the lead photo in
the post as well as preview of the text in the post. If there are posts you don't want to
read just from the preview, you can "mark as read" and it will gray out. Further, if you
refresh or reload your reading list, any post you "mark as read" will disappear leaving
only the unread posts. There is also a list of your blogs on the left of the screen similar
to Google Reader. It took a few days to get used to but I've been using it exclusively for
a few months. It's good but it's not perfect. I can't explain why but I can't comment on
some blogs (like Bow Street Flowers). I think it's the blogs that have comments in a
pop-up box. But even despite the few problems, it's better than the problems I had with
the Blogger Reading List...and it's better than nothing.
Feel free to share experiences with other reading lists or ask questions. I think that this
will be the nail in the coffin for many blogs who have thousands of followers that will
suddenly be gone. Check out Feedly or Bloglovin' soon. If you join Bloglovin' and already
have a reading list, all of your blogs (including mine) should automatically be added to
your new reading list. If you're already on Bloglovin', you can follow me here.
Don't put it off!
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