Jan 20, 2008 | blog
Ok, that title is a pretty poor attempt of comparing shared RSS Feeds to fast food, but it does bare some truth if we follow through a little bit. Starting with Google Reader’s Share feature, people were able to share content of their choosing with anyone who wanted to visit their Shared Items site. Here’s mine if your curious what the resulting pre-fabricated link blog looks like.
The really interesting twist to this Google Reader feature, is the RSS feed that goes with it. A custom feed made up of select posts from possibly dozens or hundreds of sources, aggregated by your favorite person or blogger. This opened up a huge potential for pre-selected, filtered, quality feeds that mirror the genre of the blogger of your choice.
Now there are a couple of shared feed aggregators, kind of like Techmeme, that allow you to add your shared feed to the list. My favorite at the moment is ReadBurner, which recently added a stats page. Another tool is SharedReader, which, unfortunately, looks to be down as of this writing. Tools like these rank posts from individual shared feeds by popularity. Now I can compare what is on Techmeme, or Tailrank, or Newsvine with what is being shared by everyday people via Google Reader and choose what’s important to me. It also allows me to see who is sharing these posts, and be able to gauge how relevant they are to my interests.
I guess the point I’m trying to get around to is the availability of pre-filtered feeds, that a busy person can simply read instead of hunting for. We don’t have to sort through the duplicate posts from 15 news sources, or non-relevant posts that distract us from the task at hand. You can find shared feeds from people you trust, and know that they’ve done the sorting for you, so you can save time.
Along with this, however, is the fact that someone else is suggesting your reading list. Just like fast food, it’s not always 100% of what you want (heck does it even come close to 75% of what you want?) but it fills the void. Fast food saves time, but doesn’t necessarily taste that great – or is it that good for you. The same can be said of shared feeds. Don’t get me wrong, I follow several too.
While I think shared feeds are a great way of saving time, using some aggregation tools that rank these shared feeds into more relevant lists help you find the content that you may be looking for. Some bloggers are even being very diligent to share only the most interesting, relevant posts that aren’t likely to be found in the “mass media” of technology, political, or social meme aggregators.
Still, there is nothing like keeping track of your favorite bloggers and sorting through your own feed list. It takes more time, but it’s a better way to connect with your favorite writers, and take more in context from each blog. At least that’s the way I look at it. 🙂
Tips? Suggestions? Other meme aggregators? Suggested feeds? Think I’m off base on this? Share ’em all below in the comments.
Jan 20, 2008 | blog
For quite some time, I’ve found new bloggers and writes on the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers (SOB) list. Maintained by Liz Strauss over at Successful Blog, the SOB list represents bloggers who interact with readers and encourage the conversation wherever they happen to be.
So I’d like to thank Liz for the award, and will proudly display the SOB badge here in the sidebar. I’m actually tickled to be included!
Jan 19, 2008 | blog
As I’ve mentioned a few times before, I’ve been struggling through my blogging the last few months. From a bout of “blogger’s block” that really chased me from my keyboard, to coming up with excuses of what keeps me from blogging, I’ve finally come to the realization that I need to write. Period.
The one thing that I want to do is be of value, and that is what’s been keeping me from really getting back “in the groove”. I keep second guessing my topics or the tone, or the wording, or… you name it.
To that end, I’ve begun a daily journal. A place that I can just ramble my thoughts out, not worrying about how it sounds, the structure, the cohesiveness of an idea. Just a place to get those ideas down.
In the past I’ve hated this idea, just ask my 8th grade literature teacher – she had us writing journals every day, and I’d just pick something like “pizza” or “zucchini” or some such thing that I could write a paragraph on and claim to have “participated”. Of course, I was a tech-geek even then, and if it didn’t have LED’s or buttons, it wasn’t interesting.
This is but one more technique that I’ve heard other blogger’s using. I’m all for new ideas and techniques, especially one’s that are time-tested and help in multiple areas.
I’m curious to your experiences though, and would really like to know how a journal has helped or hindered you. Does the additional free-form writing exercise that is personal and kept private helps you write, think or work better?
Jan 12, 2008 | blog
I’ve got to hand it to blogging friend Steven Hodson. When he picks a meme, he picks an entertaining one. Especially when I’ve been lamenting the amount of time I’ve wasted NOT blogging for various reasons! 😀
While Steven talks about entertainment and a little goofing off, I’ve found most of my lost time is from other areas. So – how do I waste time? Good question – here are my answers!
- Work Yep, it seems that I like to use work as my biggest excuse for wasting good blogging time. One more example of why I need to find a good GTD or time organization system.
- Twitter I hate to admit it, but my favorite social media tool is also one of my worst enemies. I’m getting better at not watching Twitter closely, but it’s hard. Does anyone have a Twitter Patch (low dose)?
- Perfectionist Unfortunately, I’m a big one for wanting something to be just right. If I had $.05 for every post I started and tossed out simple because I couldn’t make it come together… well, I could finance my coffee addiction anyway.
- Blogger’s Block At least I’ve been using that as an excuse the last few weeks. I did have a nasty bout of that back in October, but seem to have lots of ideas lately. Just not enough time. 😉 Seriously, when writers block settles in, it’s not only difficult, but discouraging.
- Social Media Ah, yes, our favorite topic these days. It takes *a lot* effort to keep up. Is it worth it? That depends, I’ve gotten some value from my efforts, met dozens of great people, found literally hundreds of great blogs, and had a lot of fun.
- Family Time This is a good excuse to have. My family likes to spend time together, whether outside, or inside, we talk a lot and spend a lot of our home-time interacting. Especially since Christmas… I’m getting Wii elbow from bowling! 🙂
Alright, who should I tag? Well, my brother-in-law Dave Huston for starters, Twitter pal and fellow LifeCamper Thomas Knoll, Connie Bensen (another Twitter friend who probably has some good tips to get organized), Todd Jordan (another good Twitter bud), and, finally, an associate from a former employer Jerry Loss.
Photo credit: sugu
Jan 2, 2008 | blog
For me, the new year has become meaningless; other than a convenient marker on the calendar, it’s simply another day. Nothing changes today from yesterday, this week from last week. Even the celebration of a “new year” loses any significance. Maybe I’m getting old. 😉
What does gain my interest in place of this, is the significance of thought. The posts where people talk about what’s important to them and what influences them. Reading about what they’ve learned in the past and how to leverage that in the future holds my attention.
For the most part, new years resolutions are simply dreams that we feel guilty about neglecting. They’re important to us, but we never set goals or milestones, and plans on how to achieve them. So the ongoing learning of life-lessons is of more interest to me than coming up with resolutions that are abandoned as quickly as I click the “publish” button.
There are some great people I’ve read, met, and worked with in the recent past that I am grateful to have found. I’m looking forward to meeting more, reading more, learning from more, and working with more in the near future.
Blogging; it’s a constantly evolving environment that constantly brings fresh voices to the forefront and allows others to listen, learn, and contribute as they please.
Photo credit: Photo Gallery
Technorati Tags: New Year, Resolutions, 2008
