Reading RSS vs. Visiting an Actual Site

written 9 Jan 2008 while the sun tried, at least, rising

I’ve been using Google Reader lately instead of iGoogle to get my RSS feeds and I have to say, it’s pretty nifty. Here are some observations:

Pros:

No advertisements, as most people don’t make them a part of their RSS feeds.
Keep track of what you’ve read, what you haven’t. For example, Lifehacker puts up about 20 posts or so a day, and with RSS in iGoogle I would miss the majority of those, only being able to display 9 feeds or so at a time and checking only once per day. And other sites, like Bike PGH, only publish about once every three days, so they don’t regularly get updated. Now, I can see what I’ve read and what I haven’t quickly. Also, in iGoogle the only way you can know if you read something is to either rely on memory or the links getting recolored, but this only applies to things you’ve read in that browser.
Simple interface. Load times from graphic intensive sites and sites that don’t have good designs, or have distracting designs, are eliminated and reading RSS becomes more of a newspaper experience, where everything is uniform and pleasantly presented.
iPhone Interface lets me easily read these items whether I’m at my notebook or not. Imagine, every time you go to the crapper you have a newspaper that comes with you.

Cons:

Lack of design. Even as the simple interface is a pro, it’s also a bit of a con sometimes, as it can be enjoyable to visit a site for its design.
Less conducive to commenting, as you need to click through to the site, then click the comments link instead of just being able to quickly get to it. This could be a good thing for the web though, forcing people to put a little more time, and possibly thought, into comments before just going off about everything they ever read.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Filed Under: links

3 people chatting it up...

I have been using Google Reader for a while, and I absolutely love it. One of my favorite new features is the “share” feature, which can turn into sort of a mini-blog. You click the share button on a post, and it gets shared with your Gmail contacts who are also sharing. You should turn it on and start sharing!

- julie | 12:54pm 9 Jan 08
I have been using a feed reader since 2004. I couldn’t go back. It has allowed me to follow many more blogs, as well as keep on top of projects and in touch with friends.

There is no right way to use a reader, of course, but here’s what I do. When an item looks interesting to me, and it’s longer than a paragraph or two, I open it in a new tab and continue reading my feeds. Then, I go through each tab, where I can read the post in the full context of the site, and comment.

I use NewsGator, though I started with BlogLines. Google Reader seems nice, too, and I’ve tried to switch to it, but old dogs, new tricks, etc.

- AdamD | 04:00pm 9 Jan 08
@Julie: I’ve been noticing that as well, and think I’ll start doing it. I can’t wait until Gmail/Calendar/Reader/all things Google get turned into one big social network type thing, as is rumored to be Google’s plan.

@Adam: that’s a great idea. These days I’m just struggling trying to keep myself from wasting endless hours looking through every single feed.

- nathan | 01:13pm 10 Jan 08