Posted by Helen on: 02.19.2007 /
I finally started using one a few weeks ago. I’m very glad I did. It’s so much easier now to keep up with the blogs I read regularly.
I signed up on bloglines after seeing it recommended by Jason on Paul’s blog. Here are a few other recommended ones, for those of you who like choices.
After signing up it was easy to subscribe to the feeds of the blogs I read regularly. I just needed to cut and paste their URLs into the box and then follow the instructions.
When I first subscribed to each blog it showed several recent blog entries; now it only shows me what’s new. I have a list of blogs I’ve subscribed to and when a new entry goes up on one of them a number 1 appears next to it, like my inbox when I get a new e-mail. Clicking on it opens up the new entry in bloglines. If I click on the blog title with that new entry, I’m taken to the blog itself.
I can create folders in bloglines to keep my bloglist organized. I’m sure there are other useful things it does that I haven’t tried out yet.
Comments feeds:I found out a few days ago that wordpress blogs have comment feeds. This isn’t necessarily something you’d want for every blog; but if you follow one closely you might. The URL for the comments feed is the blog URL with /comments/feed/ on the end. So, the comments feed URL for CatE is http://www.conversationattheedge.com/comments/feed/. Some blogs seem set up so bloglines can find the comments feed right from the blog URL; with others I needed to give bloglines the specific comments feed URL or it didn’t find it.
Time delay:There’s sometimes a bit of delay between when new posts or comments go up on a blog and when bloglines finds out about them. But I would think for most people and most purposes it’s up to date enough.
I’m very happy I took the time to set up the blogs I read regularly in bloglines. I’m sure I’ve more than recouped that time by having one website where I can see at a glance which blogs have new posts and with one click per blog, what they are.
Comment by: Mike Clawson
1Thanks for the tip Helen. I’ve signed up now too.
Comment by: Helen
2Mike, let me know how it works out for you – I hope it’s helpful.
Comment by: Paul
3helen, was a great tip i think! i’m really enjoying using bloglines :)
Comment by: David
4I am a long time bloglines user and I think it is brilliant.
But I am worried because more and more people seem to be using google reader now.
I hope we won’t all be forced into using another google app because they have squashed their competitors.
Feedreaders are not only useful for keeping track of blogs, but comment threads on blog posts usually have feeds and comment threads on support forums as well.
Bloglines also has a good feature, whereby you can subscribe by email. So for instance the ‘Barna Update’ is delivered by email. But for me it is delivered to a special bloglines email address and I find it in my feeds to read. All without clogging up my email account.
Comment by: Tamara
5Helen, I’ve been following your blog ever since the Revolution conference in November. And I’ve been using Bloglines to keep up with you (and the other OTM blogs).
I have two Bloglines accounts – one for personal use and one for work. My personal one currently has 113 feeds; my work one has 45 feeds. Like David mentioned, I was able to slash all my email by at least 40% by redirecting newsletter-type emails to my Bloglines email accounts.
I’ve had to work with Bloglines Customer Support on a few issues, and I’ve been extremely pleased with their responsiveness and ability to resolve my issues. Not bad for “free.”
David mentioned Google Reader. I’ve also heard that it’s gaining momentum, but I’m sticking with Bloglines. It works and they’ve treated me well. :)
Comment by: Helen
6Paul, David and Laura, thanks for your comments.
I also noticed that Google is way ahead of Bloglines. But like Laura said, it works for me so I have no reason to switch.