Google Reader - get yours today!

RSS Feeds. I’ve preached about this one so many times but folks don’t “get” something new until there is a need for them to have it. My favorite thing to say is, once the “why” is apparent, the “how” usually falls into place.

Recently (thank you Sarah) I discovered Google Reader. Now, those of you out there that are NOT using an RSS aggregator (or perhaps have no idea what I just said), you know what Google is….and you know what a “reader” is. But you might be scratching your head and saying “why would I need something that is going to help me read Google. Well, its not exactly like that.

Many information outlets (news, other media, blogs, web pages, etc…) change the information on their sites, some rather quickly. News outlets are only as good as the current information they provide and blogs are updated regularly. Some, more so than others. :- )

Now, you want to get information from these sources, they are of interest to you. Lets say you are into basket weaving and widgets. You are surfing the web and find four or five sites about basket weaving and widgets (not together, of course, since you would never need a basket woven widget). You notice that there is a place no a few of the sites that have current news and even one or two that allow anyone to leave a comment. Instead of having to remember to check back with these sites every so often to see if the information has been updated, wouldn’t it be great for them to let YOU know when the information is updated. THAT is what RSS is all about. RSS tells YOU when information on sites you are interested in are updated.

Best way to figure out what this is all about, just do it (sorry, Nike). Go, right now, http://www.google.com/help/reader/tour.html – it will explain everything to you there. You’ll need to set up a Google account to use it, but that’s ok, you should have one anyway. With 3GB of storage space, I’ve found I’m just forwarding all of my other email accounts to here and I have everything in one place. But that’s another blog.

Go check our Google reader. When you do, if you have, or if you use it, post a comment here about your experience.