Most People Read Feeds
I’m sure it’s not true. For some this post will seem like I’m trying to teach nursery rhymes to Shakespeare. Most web surfers probably have no clue what a feed is, let alone read it. I didn’t know how to until this year. I used to think feeds meant Html-like codes tech savvy people read - much like when you clicked ‘view page source,’ - won’t lie to you. And even after I’d realized the benefits (#1 being a huge time saver; HUGE) of reading feeds, which is simply reading/viewing blog or site content without ever having to visit that site (unless sites have restrictions), I didn’t read them on a dedicated Feed Reader. Yes I read about the hundreds and hundreds of desktop and web-based readers but non did it for me. Until I switched to Google Reader.
If you haven’t already, in which case this post means shit to you, subscribe to your favorite sites’ feeds and read it on your Reader of choice. It will change the way you’ll keep yourself informed. It’s very easy to set-up and there’s no one way to read. You don’t have to use Google Reader; I just like it because I can’t do without it. 
Some blogs I read regularly have changed their designs a couple of times and I had no clue. I personally don’t care if someone never visited my site but read it on his/her reader. (S)he is reading it, that matters.
It’s a free world, and you should know what else is out there.
December 11th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
I just recently began using the Google reader, and although it saves me time, it also seems to take some of the joy of wandering, if that make sense. I open it up and boom! 100 new posts/pages/articles to read - every day. Sometimes more. It can be daunting, especially when you read for fun. For me, visiting someone else’s site is like going to their house…the journey and the experience is just as important as the conversation I have while I’m there.
*sets up soapbox - From a design standpoint, I know that we designers put a lot of time and energy into a layout or graphic feel, and I admit that sometimes I feel cheated out of some of the appeal of creating for an audience. If readers are going to strip away all the design and just serve up the meat, maybe we should go back to the days before the interweb had pictures.
Like you said, people change their site layout and the average reader probably doesn’t even see it.
December 11th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Ah, but Stumble Upon does the wandering for me. You’re right, it is like visiting someone’s space. Some blogs I visit when a headline catches my attention and I want to link a post of mine to his/hers.
Some of my favorite blogs only feed partially so I do have to visit the sites to read the rest of the post. The tech or news stuff I don’t bother going to the site…or even Flickr photos.
I’ve tried using some of the other readers and it becomes hard to browse/scan through the headlines. I’m a heavy scanner. Some photo bloggers would only post a picture and I can use J or K keys to go through a bunch of them.
December 12th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Feeds readers are great, the only thing I hate though is that it takes the personality of the site away. Like you’ve mentioned, blogs change their designs and we have no idea, unless the happened to mention it. Other than that, readers are time savers.
December 15th, 2007 at 1:04 am
[…] three days have passed since I blogged about my ‘generous’ feeds contribution that I find, this morning, my full feed contents not showing on my Google Reader; all I see is the […]