I love reading feeds
How many feeds are you subscribed to? I’m increasing my feed load rapidly again. Why? Reading feeds is a joy again, thanks to Google Reader. I’m not alone, either. Two people came up to me after our talk today and said “thank you for talking about Google Reader.”
“U, J, J, J, J, J, K, J, Shift-S, J, J.”
If you don’t get that, then you haven’t used Google Reader yet and you haven’t started a link blog of your own.
Three questions:
1) Am I putting too many items on my link blog? Often I’ll throw more than 50 a day up there.
2) How are you reading my link blog? Did you subscribe to it?
3) Have you started a link blog of your own? What’s your URL if you have?
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November 30th, 2006 at 7:02 pm
I still prefer to read individual blogs, even tho I have reeders available. I like to look at design as well. :P
November 30th, 2006 at 7:13 pm
Daijinryuu: well, that’s all and well if you read 10 blogs a day. But if you read 300, like I am, sorry, waiting for a browser to load just won’t do.
November 30th, 2006 at 7:25 pm
1) Yes you are putting slightly too many items on your link blog.
2) I was usually just going to the link from my bookmarks, and I just subscribed to your link blog feed.
3)I actually only just discovered the link blog feature :)
My link is http://www.google.com/reader/shared/14699523012351043034
November 30th, 2006 at 7:26 pm
Samuel: hey, you like Slashdot! Heheh.
November 30th, 2006 at 7:42 pm
well, just testing it out :D
November 30th, 2006 at 8:03 pm
Hi Robert,
I started using Google Reader a few days after the big update but I just wasn’t as comfortable with it as I was with Bloglines. I recently tried Reader again and now I’m hooked. I guess I just had to let the Google goodness sink in a little. Here’s the url for my link blog which I just started this week. Thanks for the recommendation. Cheers!
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/15203299053817466772
November 30th, 2006 at 8:05 pm
1) No, your putting the right amount of feeds on your link blog. It is rare that I find something I don’t even have a passing interest reading.
2) Via a feed in Google Reader.
3) http://www.google.com/reader/shared/06830670157707851877
Although mine pales in comparison to yours.
November 30th, 2006 at 8:11 pm
1) It’s only too many if you try to read them all. I mostly just skim the headings and read the stuff that interests me.
2) I’m subscribed, and I’m about to delete all of the “news” blogs from my subscription list because of it. You are my news source now, I’m going to blog about that tonight if you want the full details ;)
3) Nope, because I don’t have an easy way to create one (I use FeedDemon).
November 30th, 2006 at 8:12 pm
(quickly, before I catch a plane)
1) Nope, lots of links are good as long as they’re interesting/useful (Yeah, that’s pretty much a matter of opinion, but so far they’ve pretty much been good.)
2) Through google reader.
3) No, since you’re basically sharing all the items I see from my other sources.
4) Yes, please share your OPML :)
November 30th, 2006 at 8:18 pm
On the days when you add 50, it’s too many, but I found some good links from that information. It’s just imposing to have that many to read, and now there is overlap with other items. Wish there was a way to eliminate the duplicates in the Google Reader.
I’m with you though, it’s great to have it available and it does a nice job of navigating through the web blocker at work :-)
Mine is http://www.google.com/reader/shared/10464150949900294946
November 30th, 2006 at 8:18 pm
1) Mm, just a wee bit too much perhaps?
2) No, I haven’t subscribed (yet).
3) I’m not sharing anything (yet) on
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/02353062926089622152
I’m reading 292 feeds already, constantly deciding whether to share or not AND subscribing to all the feed (b)logs of my friends… that would become just plain nuts I fear.
November 30th, 2006 at 8:25 pm
Robert, I am giving it to you. You got me to try Google Reader and now I am hooked. Yes, now I have a link blog BUT I don’t subscribe to yours. Me and a friend are using it to keep tab on what we are reading.
November 30th, 2006 at 8:27 pm
wow forgot to put mine in,
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/11118502123529131017
November 30th, 2006 at 8:27 pm
I think there’s a bit too much on your link blog. But, I also follow a bunch of feeds and end up duplicating what I’m already reading, with stuff in your links. So, for me it’s not worth as much. But, if I didn’t follow as many blogs myself, I’d probably like it more.
November 30th, 2006 at 8:33 pm
1) No, not enough for me!
2) Yes, I subscribe to it. ;)
3) Yes, inspired by yours. http://www.google.com/reader/shared/05131063821495069510
November 30th, 2006 at 8:37 pm
Robert, you are one of the folks who turned me on to Google Reader. I’ve now got several hundred feeds I am able to follow, and yeah I’ve got a link blog too. I put maybe 20 links per day on it.
I don’t subscribe to yours, and I would bet not many subscribe to mine either. The main purpose of mine is to show links on my blog to posts that I have either blogged about or like a lot, but not enough for a whole blog post.
My link blog is
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/13328568669406058507/state/com.google/starred
Oh, and thanks for this new feediction… sigh.
November 30th, 2006 at 8:45 pm
I used to use it all the time. However, it stopped refreshing nearly all of my feeds a month or two ago, and as of a couple days ago, still hasn’t refreshed them. I’ve tried e-mailing them and posting on their newsgroup, but absolutely no help has been forthcoming. It’s too bad, cause it was great when it worked.
November 30th, 2006 at 8:50 pm
I love feeds as well. I’m quite picky at what I subscribe to, so I only got around 20 feeds that I read. But I’m constantly going out of my way to read new blogs and if they seem interesting I’ll subscribe to their feed.
I think you could put more links on to your link blog, tho I dont read all of them just look through the headlines and read/star the ones I find interesting.
Don’t have link blog of my own. Don’t know why.
November 30th, 2006 at 9:01 pm
1) Yes and no. Lots of times I will see something I just read because we’ll have subscribed to the same feeds. At times, it’s almost possible to tell when both of us are reading b/c stuff will show up again right after I had gone over it. Vice versa, I’ll come to something from you before I get to it in my own set of feeds. Time travel, perhaps?
2) Google Reader. And I subscribed after one of your several mentions on this blog.
3) Oh sure. http://www.google.com/reader/shared/02874390538714179211
November 30th, 2006 at 9:05 pm
I subscribe to yours. I keep it in another folder than my “daily” to read lightly when I have time, so no its not too much. I do go back to it.
My own linkblog use is slightly different. I use it as a kind of pending file … interesting posts that I might blog on later, but at a minimum, I just want to hang on to them. And of course I link to it from my blog.
Re posts overall I have 175, of which 84 are in my “daily” folder.
PS … Google Reader has done (since the September interface change) for RSS what gmail did for email. I can’t go back.
November 30th, 2006 at 9:21 pm
Hi Robert,
I have been using Google Reader for more than 4 months. Till then I used to read using Bloglines. It feels very easy, both in the previous version of the Google Reader and the New version. At first I had no idea, on Sharing. Later it turned out to be more than a habit. But my sharing frequency is not as High as yours. Oh! and yes, I subscrube to your feed anf link blog. I have one problem, that is we both read Engadget, then If you have shared an post from Engadget and I happened to read it before I read from my direct subscription to Engadget, then GR should recognize it and mark both as read. Again, If I read Engadget’s Direct Feed before your link blog feed, it should notify me that it is also shared by Scoble!. Dont you think so?. Have you got any such problem subscribing to a link blog?.
Here is my link Blog : http://www.google.com/reader/shared/02421592127842287113
and it’s feed: http://www.google.com/reader/public/atom/user/02421592127842287113/state/com.google/broadcast
November 30th, 2006 at 9:27 pm
I’m using gReader and love it. I’m around 225 on feeds (including search feeds). I don’t do the link blog yet. I can’t see how it fits into my overall blog strategy.
November 30th, 2006 at 9:27 pm
I am a link blog subscriber — it forces me to keep a little more open mind. I am normally a pretty stern Mac Fanboy.
November 30th, 2006 at 9:39 pm
g Reader is addictive :-) And Scobleizer you are right when you are telling that you have started enjoying reading the feeds again! Its like breathing in and breathing out feeds has become lot easier… Somebody stop me :D
November 30th, 2006 at 9:45 pm
No, you are not adding too many items to your reader! I read your link blog in Google Reader, and here is my link blog: http://tinyurl.com/y6wmjo
November 30th, 2006 at 9:51 pm
Mr. Scoble,
I created a “Reading List” (aka link blog) of articles I think would be interesting to my own readers, using Google Reader’s tagging mechanism and FeedBurner for nicer presentation:
http://inkblots.markwoodman.com/2006/10/31/create-the-ultimate-reading-list/
Here’s the result:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/woodman/inkblots-reading
November 30th, 2006 at 10:00 pm
1 - The amount is fine.
2 - Not subscribed to the link blog.
3 - http://www.google.com/reader/shared/18421084218891150828
Link blog idea completely stolen from you. Thanks Robert!
http://www.blindsquirrel.org
November 30th, 2006 at 10:20 pm
yep. i stuck it out with Google Reader eversince. i knew they were going to improve the crappy first version :) so now i cleaned up my feeds and only subsrcibe to 180. i love the new interface. very easy to use.
btw, i hope GReader support secured/private feeds soon. my workaround right now is to use Feedburner then plug it into my GReader. works like a charm.
~C
November 30th, 2006 at 10:22 pm
The only time I remember that you have the shared page is when you mention it in the posts. But, because you mentioned it, I decided to look into how they work and like the idea of using them. I have started sharing a few things recently and want to look into adding it to the sidebar of my blogs at some point and see if I like it there enough to keep it there.
November 30th, 2006 at 10:23 pm
And, I forgot the link to my shared items.
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/14267505817361450656
November 30th, 2006 at 10:32 pm
1) No, I skim each one… read the ones that are interesting, its a great overview of the day… some are of articles that i have already read as i am subscribed to that blog to, but very easy to just hit n and go to the next one…
2) yeah, i am subscribed to it via google reader..
3) I have thought about it as it is a very easy way to share news with others…
and yes please share your OPML… i am always looking for new feeds… i find myself spending more time in google reader than on digg…
November 30th, 2006 at 10:43 pm
I’d like to see your OPML too. I learned alot last time you shared.
November 30th, 2006 at 10:55 pm
Gotta tell ya…
You’ve got me hooked onto Google reader….I couldn’t agree more with you (“U, J, J, J, J, J, K, J, Shift-S, J, J.”)
I’ve tried two other feed readers in the past -Wizz RSS for Firefox (loved it!) and Feed Raider, but the ability to quick-view posts definitely places Google Reader in a league of its own.
I also think the ability to star and tag posts, helps me organize my online reading and manage my blogging references while I craft blog posts. Currently, I use delicious for online bookmarks and Google Reader for blog bookmarks.
Thanks for the recommendation.
Mario
November 30th, 2006 at 11:25 pm
1) put up as much as you want
2) yes, I subscribe to the feed
3) here’s my linkblog: http://www.google.com/reader/shared/18364841011054974700
November 30th, 2006 at 11:29 pm
I’ve added short “Sugar Rush” posts to Zero Boss. At the bottom of every block of Sugar Rushes is a link to my items tagged “zeroboss” in Google Reader, so that people can read what I don’t have time to publish.
Ye Gods, do I love Google Reader.
Adding your link blog to my feeds, Robert. :)
November 30th, 2006 at 11:29 pm
1 - volume is fine
2 - I subscribe
3 - No, I haven’t tried it - I like sorting feeds into categories and archiving by feed within category. I have it down pretty well. Not ready for swimmin’ the river.
November 30th, 2006 at 11:30 pm
And not to gloat? But I was doing this MONTHS before you realized it was cool.
Okay, I’m gloating. Sue me.
November 30th, 2006 at 11:48 pm
I’m sorry, but I can’t bring myself to use an online reader. Google Reader may be as fast as NetNewsWire (unlikely), but I like to have the ability to read my feeds offline, such as on an airplane.
I do like the idea of a link blog, though. Sharing as an afterthought is the way to go. If I have to jump through hoops to share, then it’s simply not worth it.
December 1st, 2006 at 12:56 am
I subscribed to your feed, but am not able to unsubscribe again because of a bug in Google Reader (I’m able to unsubscribe from any other feed).
I like about 20% of what you’re sharing, and this 20% are now in my standard feeds-selection anyways.
This 50 or more feeds a day are quite a lot if you haven’t got so much time to read them all, most of the time I just skip them, currently, because of the lack of time.
December 1st, 2006 at 1:20 am
Robert, As I may be one of the two people who thanked you from yesterday, here is a link to the free screencast which covers using Google Reader for those people who might not “get it”!
http://screencastsonline.com/sco/Shows/files/SCO0070_googlereader.html
December 1st, 2006 at 1:43 am
J, J, J? Shouldn’t that be K, K, K? Or do you read your feeds backwards?
December 1st, 2006 at 4:18 am
After trying various reader programs on the Mac over the last few years I never managed to see the advantage over just visiting the websites.
Google Reader has change that - ‘it just works’
Could do with a search facility - for both the feeds you subscribe to and a search the web option - would be consistant with gmail.
Robert, will your talk be available online anywhere ?
December 1st, 2006 at 4:20 am
I really appreciate your linkblog, but I think you should decrease a bit the number of posts you share.
In the same way I used to watch the digg frontpage RSS feed but the number of items is increasing. They should strenghen their algorithm…
>James : I use J,J,J too…and I read my feeds forward.
December 1st, 2006 at 5:46 am
After your regular positive comments over Google Reader, I made the switch from Rojo and started up a link blog. With Google Reader I can pretty easily keep track of all the feeds I read, and with the keyboard shortcuts and automatic loading, skip past the stuff that doesn’t interest me. In terms of being able to deal with the volumes, it has much the same effect that reading this post had on dealing with my e-mail.
In answer to the specific questions:
1. I’m not that bothered about the number of items - it’s one push of ‘J’ to go past anyway. The only annoyance is that some of the stuff you link to is on feeds I read anyway, so what is apparently the same posting comes up twice, and of course sometimes stuff that you skip over on the feeds is of interest to me.
2. I’ve got it subscribed in Google Reader.
3. My link blog is at http://www.google.co.uk/reader/shared/10133637988496888680, and also embedded into my main blog using a WordPress RSS sidebar widget.
December 1st, 2006 at 5:52 am
Google reader is OK. I have played around with the majority or readers and I really love netvibes. It gives you the ability to read over your feeds in a newspaper like fashion and you can set up quick and easy tabs for favorite subjects.
December 1st, 2006 at 7:37 am
[...] It’s so good that I’m about to unsubscribe from most of my news feeds! Any general tech news I’m interested in is either already on his link blog, or will be there soon. He loves doing it, so my best news source is unlikely to go AWOL anytime soon. [...]
December 1st, 2006 at 7:45 am
I started using Google reader after you wrote about it about a month (45 days?) ago. I’m hooked now - and I’ve been adding more to read too - and I like how easy it is to unsubscribe too. I’ll find some new blogs, subscribe for a while, and if I don’t like after a week or two, I just boot from the reader. I’m liking it. Thanks again.
December 1st, 2006 at 7:50 am
Hey Robert,
I love Google Reader as well. The shared feeds are great in my opinion, but there are some with differing views.
1. On your volume, it is your choice. I’d prefer a slightly more selective list, but then I might miss out on something. :)
2. Yes. I’m subscribed.
3. http://www.google.com/reader/shared/08974262075210772166
December 1st, 2006 at 8:21 am
1) No, there aren’t too many links on your link blog. However, I think I’d really benefit from Google being able to filter out links I’ve already got in another blog. When a good article comes out and gets linked by everyone under the sun, I see a lot of copies of it.
2) Google reader - my new favorite!
3) http://www.google.com/reader/shared/18394520051154723415
(btw: my blog’s feed is http://appdev.info/backend.php)
December 1st, 2006 at 8:25 am
I aggregate my linkblog to my own site.
I check out yours every week or so.
December 1st, 2006 at 8:36 am
As to 1, yes, there are too many things on your link blog for a normal person to even browse through everyday. I would concede the fact that perhaps that blog is not for normal people. In which case, by all means, keep up the good work.
I added the link blog to my reader, on your recommendation, early this week. On the first day, I found many an engaging article. I woke up the second morning to find twice my normal volume in my reader. I had to remove your link blog for lack of time.
Cheers,
December 1st, 2006 at 8:40 am
1) 50 seems like a lot, but I
2) subscribe using Google Reader and skim very quickly. You usually post a few things a day that I read in its entirety, and
3) yes, I’m a fan of the link blog, and I post maybe two or three items on mine each day, which the few people who read it probably access through the widget in my blog’s sidebar.
My Google link blog (mostly environment-related), and its feed
December 1st, 2006 at 10:22 am
I have been using Google Reader for a month and made the switch from Newgator Online. There are only subtle differences in the experience, but big enough for me to want to stick with Google.
Link blog:
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/12766354832894079293
December 1st, 2006 at 11:10 am
I love Google Reader, it adds alot of benefits. I scan through your linkblog posts on Google Reader and pick out what catches my eye, so I don’t think it’s too many. Keep em coming.
My link blog is here: http://www.google.com/reader/shared/07144623670831472936
December 1st, 2006 at 12:20 pm
In true geek fashion, I’m actually programming my own rss reader. It’s a really lite, fast win32 program… simple 3 pane style. I’m just adding support for keyword filters which is pretty cool.
December 1st, 2006 at 1:39 pm
I had to give up on your linkblog. Too much. I did see cool stuff in there while I was subscribed though.
I’d like to share mine, but I don’t like the fact that Reader publicizes my name.
December 1st, 2006 at 2:04 pm
I’m still using Bloglines to read my feeds, though I will use Google Reader whenever Bloglines is acting up, which, for some reason, seems to be often now. But it does allow me to have a link blog.
http://www.bloglines.com/blog/Chrono803
December 1st, 2006 at 2:05 pm
Yes, I am a regular reader of your main blog and link blog. My primary rss reader is Google Reader and my link blog is here:
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/06124810147951159518
December 1st, 2006 at 3:26 pm
[...] I just read a post of Robert Scoble about him being hooked on Google Reader. I use Bloglines to read my feeds. It is a bit of a drag reading them when you have been away from your computer for a while. I don’t think Google Reader is a solution for this , but I am curious to see how it works. And if it works well. So far everything Google is good: [...]
December 1st, 2006 at 3:57 pm
I have about 160 feeds in my feed reader and they generate about 700+ articles a day. I don’t have the key shortcuts integrated yet, but plan on adding it some time. My preferred style of reading is to just put it into collapsed articles mode similar to the list view on Google Reader and paging down rather than scooting down the page one article at a time. Similarly, I then expand the articles that might be interesting to then decide if I want to click through.
You get pretty good at skimming article titles after a while. Blogs that I don’t like are those like Scripting News that don’t put titles on individual posts, leaving you to wonder what is in the article. I’m also not big on blogs that put giant articles in the feed rather than a small piece that you can then read on their site. They’re not thinking “eyeballs”.
December 1st, 2006 at 4:03 pm
You turned me on to Google Reader when you blogged about it some time ago and talked about your ling blog.
I don’t have a personal blog (yet) but I enjoy sharing some links with my friends. Some of us had created a network of shared links :)
1) sometimes a little hard to stay up to date, but always good links.
2) yes, I’m subscribed
3) mine is
My link blog is
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/14543052240064934315
December 1st, 2006 at 4:13 pm
I really like Google Reader and use it daily to see many sites quickly. It’s the best way to view feeds to date IMO. I’m also seeing a number of referrers on my logs from http://www.google.com/reader/view/
My link blog (where I only add an average of about 2 links each day) is http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/07563809003240544553/state/com.google/broadcast
December 1st, 2006 at 7:23 pm
I added the link blog URL to Feedburner.com then used their Buzzboost service to output it to my regular blog. See “almost blogged” at the bottom of my sidebar navigation for the integration.
What do you think?
December 1st, 2006 at 7:33 pm
Well, I broke the layout, so I had to remove it. Oh well.
December 1st, 2006 at 10:48 pm
you put SO MANY up. almost too many, i think. i do enjoy reading it, though.
i use google reader, and have a link blog of my own:
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/13755541617105859810
December 2nd, 2006 at 1:56 am
I consider your link blog to be a daily river that you create for those who need to know what it feels like when reading less than 3000 words per minute.
I forcefeed your link blog to college students new to blogging so that they understand the research imperative. Part of that imperative comes by glancing over the shoulders of others. I appreciate you sharing the stream you create because it’s so much fun purging it ruthlessly from my Google reader. I can be ruthless because I know it comes right back in full force! In a twisted way, marking your link blog as “read” consistently produces the satisfaction I need from trying to manage my incoming mail. When I need a boost, I open your link blog, mark it read, and translate the satisfaction over to my unread mails.
Thanks, coach.
December 2nd, 2006 at 11:34 am
1) I don’t think you have too many items in your link blog. Although I do think at times the are more links than posts. I would rather have less link blog entries if it meant more Scoble-blog posts. That being said,I’m a Scoble acolyte and I’ll read anything you put out.
2) Google Reader
3) http://www.google.com/reader/shared/01270030268309960468
December 2nd, 2006 at 1:58 pm
1) I haven’t looked - you could use Feedburner and integrate your links into your feed using Link Splicer: http://www.douglaskarr.com/2006/12/01/subscribe-for-some-delicious-extras/
2) Google Reader
3) I used #1 and incorporate the two. I also have a widget on my home page that shows the latest links: http://www.douglaskarr.com
Regards,
Doug
December 4th, 2006 at 9:20 am
Robert — on your suggestion I’ve tried Google Reader. I haven’t looked back yet. I find it much nicer than Newsfire or NetNewsWire for OSX, but I know that not everyone does.
I have about 110 feeds. No linkblog yet,as I’m just setting up my blog’s shop, so to speak.
December 4th, 2006 at 1:20 pm
1) No, I don’t think you’re putting too many items on your link blog. Google Reader makes it easy to skim through headlines and only read ones that pique my interest.
2) I am subscribed to your link blog through Google Reader.
3) Inspired by you, I have indeed started my own link blog: http://www.google.com/reader/shared/00674013555693287384
December 4th, 2006 at 1:43 pm
[...] I love Google Reader almost as much as Robert Scoble, and to celebrate that, I’ve begun a linkblog. In the past, I’ve “starred” these types of stories in my newsreader program, saving them before going back and deleting them after I had read or written something about them. [...]
December 4th, 2006 at 5:16 pm
I have been using just FF’s Live Bookmarks. Seems like Google Reader has improved quite a bit since I last tried, now actually incorporating the graphics from the original blog posts. Have to try that out soon.
I try to keep myself updated of what is hot and what people are talking in the net, so the amount of feeds is almost unmanageable. Mostly i’ll just settle on reading Slashdot :)
December 4th, 2006 at 9:04 pm
[...] I love reading feeds [...]
December 5th, 2006 at 2:31 pm
Would love to try it, but it won’t import OPML from Newsgator: Your OPML file could not be imported. Please make sure that it is correctly formatted and try again.
December 5th, 2006 at 7:36 pm
I tried Google Reader today and fell in love with it. After trying it I switched from NetNewsWire.
My shared items is: http://www.google.com/reader/shared/09833560235991284109
December 5th, 2006 at 11:05 pm
[...] Blame it on Scoble… After kicking my RSS feed reading addiction while I was using Wizz RSS, I switched to a great looking, yet slow and boring Feed Raider when my RSS feed reading habit almost slowed to a halt, but a few evangelistic posts & video from Scoble and here I am, stuck with two google reader accounts and reading 100s of feed posts each day. The more you read, the more you’ve got to read! [...]
December 8th, 2006 at 12:50 pm
[...] It also struck me that the Google Reader interface would be perfect for this. By now I’m so used to the J, J, K dance of Google Reader that I find myself instinctively reaching for it everywhere. [...]
December 21st, 2006 at 9:40 am
[...] In the meantime, I kept reading how Scoble is addicted to the Google Reader (He’s apparently not the only one), so I thought I’d take another peek. I wasn’t too impressed with my first usage of it several months ago, but I kept noticing people mentioning sneaky upgrades, so I decided another look should be warranted. [...]
November 20th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
hi
I really appreciate your linkblog, but I think you should decrease a bit the number of posts you share.
thanks
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