July 15, 2010

Google Reader and Followers

The older I get, the more technology is like the merry-go-round that I was pushing as hard as I could until it was going so fast I couldn't jump on, and was left sprawling in the dirt beside it.

Here's an analogy for you (remember those from English class?)

Marti is to Google Reader as Mikey is to Cheerios

Yep, I tried it and I like it. Finally.  (Edited in 2013 to say that Google Reader has been discontinued.  It was fun while it lasted.)

I don't know why I resisted so long. My friend Missy from 90 Miles from Nowhere had explained at least twice how great it was, but I guess it never penetrated into the musty recesses of my gray matter. Don't throw that age thing at me, I'm still willing to learn. Ok, maybe not, more like I'm willing to wait for someone else to learn and then show me which button to push.

So anyway, I looked at my Dashboard today, which I usually only use to get to "Edit Posts." I looked past that to the reading list. Oh I knew the few blogs I follow show updates there, but the whole post isn't shown so I have to click on it anyway, and it only shows blogspot blogs and my daily reading includes others, so I just never bothered to do anything with it. In fact, I never could see the point in either being a follower or having followers. I thought it was more a status symbol, one that indicated my status was pretty low.

But the reading list happened to catch my attention because there was a new post from Larainy Days. I love reading her blog because she's a kindred spirit in the love of wry (and some say twisted) humor. Somehow I had happened to miss her blog jumping to the top of my blog roll so I had to stop and read it. Then I noticed.....




"View in Google Reader" at the bottom right. So I clicked on it, and lo and behold, there were all the newly updated blogs in their entirety just like Missy said, only I didn't have to type in the website or have a separate link saved in Favorites (which I am too lazy to find) to get to it.




And for those non-blogspot blogs, there is an "Add Subscription" button at the top of the left toolbar, so I can add blogs like Knock-Off Wood. Click on it, add the url...




and, voila! there it is in my reading list.




So now I will become a follower of all the blogs I like to read every day so I can read them all at one time. How cool is that????

Wow! I feel so superior. I want to call my 20-something daughters and sing-song "I know more than you do, I know more than you do." But I won't. I'll restrain myself, and the next time the conversation of internet comes up, I'll casually throw in "RSS feed", "Google Reader", and "subscription management" as if I have known this for years, or at least as long as Missy has, and watch their little eyes widen in deep respect for their aging but technologically advanced mother. And then I'll look down on them, shake my head sympathetically, and suggest that their skills are slipping now that they are no longer in school.

Until next time, may you have blessings and at least one foot on that technology merrry-go-round,
Marti