Trying to keep up with the Blogosphere

Part of blogging is the community and reading other blogs.

I used to be way more diligent way back when. I’d spend a few hours a day reading and commenting on other blogs. The problem is, I just don’t have the time for that anymore.

One thing I truly utilized way back when was Google Reader. It was a fantastic. You could go to your Google Reader each day and find out who has updated and what was there to read.

Then in 2013, Google ended the Reader, which was a total shame.

Since then, I’ve gone through different attempts at trying to replace it. And then for a few months this year, I slowed on blogging, so didn’t really pay attention.

But, I miss all that community. I miss reading certain blogs. I miss going back and forth with others. And I need to get back into it. And I have a lot of blogs I love to read.

So I need a new reader.  I love being able to see when there are updates. And if I do it right, I can have it be one of the pages that opens on my web browser so I see updates.

So what’s the best?

I know a lot of people use Bloglovin’ and I am a member there, too, but I have never really been able to use it to see updates. And if I was going to use that, I’d truly have to go through and clean it up. Mine isn’t organized and I’d really have to do some cleaning to get that going. Even still, it’s not what I’m looking for.

What I’d really like to see is something like Google Reader was – a replacement of sorts.

A quick Google search gave me a good article at Life Hacker has given me a few to try out. Now, to be fair, this will take me a little time because I want to find something that works how I am hoping it will.

Once in place, maybe I’ll be able to keep track of things again!

The two I am starting off looking at are:

The Old Reader: This seems like the feel of the old Google Reader (hence the name) and there are a lot of free features, but also a premium membership, which isn’t badly priced. However, I can’t seem to make folders, so I wonder if that’s part of the premium membership? I’m just starting to mess around with this one, so we’ll see.

The premium price isn’t bad ($3 per month or $25 per year) and there’s a 14-day free trial available, which is nice so you can check out the engine before you commit.

News Blur: I have signed up and it seems to have a somewhat Google Reader feel. Like The Old Reader, there are free options as well as paid ones. I’ll be digging into the free one to see how it works.

However, one issue is testing things out. They have a test setup so you can see how it works, but when you sign up for a free account, you are taken to a page asking you if you want to go premium. The message at the top says:

There are 13 people in front of you, all patiently waiting
on their free accounts on NewsBlur.

By going premium you can get full and immediate access to NewsBlur.

I’m not sure what I think of that. Look, I don’t mind paying a little for a product, but if I can’t test it out on my own without having to wait for others to stop using or something … that’s just stilly. I’m not saying I won’t eventually go with it, but this is something I will remember when making a decision.

But let me say this – again I understand companies need to sell their products and make money – but I waited about XX minutes to even see it. So does that mean only a certain number of free people can be on at one time? It seems that way to me. But I know this much – it turns me off ever so slightly with this because I am trying to get a feel of what a product is before dumping money into this.

Oh – and the premium is $24 a year, but there’s no opportunity to do a monthly setup, which I’d consider to try it out.

A little more than an hour later…

You are at the front of the line! Just a few more minutes
until you receive your free invite to use NewsBlur.

By going premium you can get full and immediate access to NewsBlur.

Turns out that hour-long wait may be to set up the account. In that case, it kind of makes sense with how it works. A free site takes a while to setup, while you can skip that step by going premium right away.

That means, I now have these two to test … and if there’s any more that I find.

Some others are Feedly, which I’ve tried and didn’t get a feel for, and Net Vibes, which is something I still need to work on signing up for and trying

So I ask my fellow bloggers and readers – is there something you use that is totally awesome and I should try? If so, please let me know!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!