Google Reader Alternatives

I’m sure most of you know this by now, but Google Reader is closing up shop July 1st. With all this hubbub about Google Reader going away, I figured I’d give you a quick summary of some other blog reading options. I know none of you want to miss a single thread of Flax & Twine, so here are my thoughts:

RSS Mailbox in Your Mail Software:
Personally, I never used Google Reader. I download my feeds into a pre-existing RSS folder in my Apple Mail software. This works well because the RSS feeds are kept separate from my inbox and I can separate the feeds from there into folders and organize them how I like. Plus, it’s super convenient having the blogs I follow directly in my mail program. I have no need to go to another website first. This works wonderfully if you have a Mac, but I’m not sure of the functionality of this in Outlook.

Direct By Email:
You can subscribe to Flax & Twine by email and the posts will come directly into your inbox. Yay! Don’t you want a little dose of me in your inbox next to the mundane day-to-day stuff? You can do this in the “FeedBurner Subscribe by Email” box over in the right side bar just under the chunky knits button.

Bloglovin’:
Recently, Bloglovin’ added a super easy mechanism to import all of your RSS feeds from Google Reader. You can easily create an account on Bloglovin’ here. Find Flax & Twine on Bloglovin’ right here. Bloglovin’ is nice because you can organize all your blogs into categories, plus it has a free app to read blogs on the go.

Feedly:
Feedly also has a simplified Google Reader import process. Feedly looks clean and simple and it is easy to use. I’ve heard mixed reviews, though. Some say it can slow down your browser, while others say it loads quickly.

iGoogle:
iGoogle is wonderful if you’re checking in on only a handful of sites every day. It cannot handle tracking the number of blogs I follow, but it is handy as a home page and is great for first glance sort of stuff. Hold on to your shorts though, iGoogle also retires this year–November 2013. If you don’t already use it, I wouldn’t start now!

Okay – whew! Good luck moving those RSS feeds. Lots of great things to come in the next few month that you won’t want to miss!

See you soon!
xo anne