BBBB, Keeping Up With It All

Welcome to my little nest on the great big interweb. Today's post is another in the BBBB, Building a Better Beauty Blog, series. Today's post will be about feed readers. So you're asking yourself, "Self, what's a feed reader?" No?!?! Hmmmm. Simply put a feed reader, rss reader, feed aggregator, or rss aggregator are like an inbox specifically for blog posts. You simply add the blogs you would like to follow and then every time a new post is published from those blogs it lands directly in your customized inbox. Commenting on other blogs is an important part of building relationships with other bloggers.

So you're thinking; but, I can follow blog authors on Google+ and read their blog posts based on their G+ posts. This is true; however, there are two problems with this. The first of which is that a blog author can choose not to announce their new posts on G+. The second is that you also see all of the blog author's comments on other people's blogs. This is nice if you are looking for new blogs to connect with, as it's the friend of a friend system. But if you are pressed for time and need to comment on the most important blogs quickly a feed reader can help you accomplish that. Google Reader used to be the leader in feed readers. I used it prior to it's demise earlier this year. Since then I have been on the hunt for a suitable replacement. I have used several and I would like to explain a few details to you.

As beauty bloggers you are probably most familiar with the feed reader Bloglovin'. Many beauty bloggers have the 'Follow me on Bloglovin' button on their blog. Bloglovin' has become a very popular way of following blogs. It's a nice feed reader and it serves it's purpose well. I am just less than thrilled with it's level of customization and lack of features. 

There are plenty of other readers, like Pulse, Yahoo Pipes, Digg, Bloglines, NewsBlur, CommaReader, G2Reader, etc. They are all perfectly fine but the best I have found is Feedly. I would like to take a moment to explain why I like Feedly. Most other feed readers feel like an email in box. Reading e-mail feels more like a chore than a delight. Feedly makes it feel more like entertainment. Plus, I can personalize my color pattern and my layout style. 

Feedly - Magazine Layout

Once you sign up with Feedly  you simply add a blog buy clicking add feed in the top left corner and typing in the blog URL. After you have done this once Feedly will deliver every new post to you. Another great feature of Feedly is that they have both an iPhone app and an Android app which means you can read blogs on the go. Feedly will keep track of which posts you have read, whether you read it on your phone or on your computer. 

Feedly - Card Layout

You can choose to have the previously read posts automatically deleted or have them saved. I prefer to keep my previously read titles just in case I need to find it again quickly or if I didn't get a chance to comment. It's that whole out of sight out of mind thing with me.  I can also change the colors of the post titles. I have mine customized that new post titles are bright pink and the previously read posts titles are grey. I can scan my list to quickly see which ones I have previously read and which ones I haven't. 

Feedly - Title Only Layout

Once you have read to the bottom of any post click the 'Visit Website' button and it will deliver you to the blog so that are able to leave a comment for the author. Another great feature of Feedly is that you can save posts, put posts in your 'Pocket' and share the post on popular social media.

UPDATE: I have just discovered that you can set individual feeds (the feed for each blog) to open directly in their blog website immediately. Click on the individual blog on the left side of the page in Feedly. Then click on the setting icon at the top right of the page. Click the 'Open in Website Directly' option at the bottom.  This eliminates having to scroll to the bottom of the post in Feedly to click the Visit Website button. 

Feedly - Visit Website Button for Leaving Blog Comments

Organizing lists is super easy. Simply click organize in the upper left corner and the different categories show up for easy editing. You can click and and drag blogs from one category to another. In order to display blog posts simply click on the category name in the list on the left side of your screen. 

Feedly - Organize Categories

You can also have YouTube uploads delivered to Feedly as well. This is a great way to keep up with your favorite YouTube channels without worrying about all the changes that YouTube keeps making. To add content use the following URL

http://www.youtube.com/user/NEYAVBEAUTYTALK/feed

Please note, that you will change NEYAVBEAUTYTALK to your favorite YouTubers user name, not their channel name. If you are unable to locate the user name you will have to ask the YouTuber for it.

UPDATE: I have just discovered that you can set individual feeds (the feed for each channel) to open directly in their blog website immediately. Click on the individual channel on the left side of the page in Feedly. Then click on the setting icon at the top right of the page. Click the 'Open in Website Directly' option at the bottom.  This eliminates having to scroll to the bottom of the post in Feedly to click the Visit Website button. 

The beauty of Feedly is that you have flexible options for reading the blogs you follow without missing any of them. Commenting on blogs is easy and there are great options for saving interesting posts. Over all, I find that Feedly is the most user friendly and easiest to use reader that helps you build and maintain relationships with other bloggers. In the past I have used Google Plus, bookmarked blogs and used other less effective readers.

What are some of the current methods you use to stay current with your favorite blogs?

Remember that all of the BBBB posts from myself and Laurie can be found under the BBBB tab at the top of my blog

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