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Bloglovin’, Feedly and actually reading your favorite blogs

Blog reading and managing your work day. Nina is a paper nerd.

Hey blog reading paper nerds!

Today I want to touch on smart blog post consumption. I believe there’s a way to do it that won’t interfere too much with your daily doings and leave you overwhelmed. Even if you follow a billion blogs (like I do).

I also want to give an overview of two blog reader services from a casual user’s point of view.

First a little background story.

Back when Google Reader shut down it was much discussed in the crafting world (and everywhere else) what alternative blog reader services to use. I particularly remember Bloglovin‘ and Feedly being highlighted as the two main choices for crafters. I tried both.

My impression of them was and still is:

  • Feedly is great for following a large number of blogs and still keep a good overview.
  • Bloglovin’ is more like a feed of single blog posts, like scrolling through the Instagram feed, making it more suitable for fewer blog subscriptions.

Here’s a quick comparison:

Feedly: Browse easily through lots of  blog posts. Separate feeds into your own categories. Lots of different feed layouts and views. Private ‘Save for later’ feature. ‘Must Read’ option for your  favorite blogs. - Bloglovin: Less crowded – single post down-scrolling feed. View friends’ liked posts. A few different ways to  sort the feed. Public ‘Save’ feature  (like a ‘like’ – appears as a heart). Connects with your blog to  track followers and automatically share your new posts to Facebook and Twitter.

Note: Both Feedly and Bloglovin’ have free iPhone apps that work similarly to their corresponding websites.

I’ve always followed a ton of blogs so for a while I just used Feedly and left my Bloglovin’ to collect dust.

But as I kept adding blogs to my Feedly I became overwhelmed. I started to avoid Feedly ’cause I always felt like there was a billion unread posts (sidenote: And seriously, even though I love A Beautiful Mess they just post SO much and so frequently and I’m only really interested in maybe a fourth of it). I felt like Feedly wasn’t presenting to me what I really wanted to read – even though they have a Must-Read filter… which I don’t think works as well as they intend because you’re still bombarded with stuff when you first open your Feedly. It’s just noisy.

How I consume blog posts

Because of my frustrations with the sensory overload that is Feedly, I decided that I needed to split my blog post consumption into two categories:

  • Blogs I really want to read.
  • Blogs I just want to read the headlines of.

I decided to start using Bloglovin’ again.

My blog consumption strategy is now this:

  • I use Bloglovin’ for my must-read blogs.
  • I use Feedly for my less important reads.

This works out great for me!

I follow 15 blogs on Bloglovin’ and I could pare it down even more to maybe just 10-12. And I’ll still mark some posts as read if I’m not drawn in by the title or am too scatter-brained to invest myself into reading it. I feel like I have a good sense of what my fave bloggers are up to but I don’t feel the pressure to read every single thing. And avoiding the noise from Feedly makes a quick browse less taxing on my already-crowded mind. I check Bloglovin’ once or twice a day.

I follow 26 blogs on Feedly but oddly enough I only really read one of them regularly (Seth Godin – brilliant entrepreneur who really belongs on my Bloglovin’). The rest I just scroll through and read if they sound super interesting or I’m looking for distraction. I don’t open Feedly every day – mainly those days where I’ve already broken my focus/work momentum and feel ready to take all the Feedly noise in. I don’t even bother marking stuff as read, I just skip it all together and let it pile up. My Feedly feed is not neat or particularly organized. That would just be way more work and effort than I’m willing to spend on those few golden nuggets I find there.

How do you read blogs?

Do you have any tips for smart blog post consumption? What are your frustrations when keeping up with your favorite blogs?

I’d love to hear your preferred method for reading blogs without the time suck.

Thanks so much for reading this particular blog post. ;) Have a wonderful day.

xo Nina

PS. Here’s where you can find me on Bloglovin’.

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  1. stephanie says

    October 22, 2014 at 16:32

    Things have been the same for me – there are a few blogs that I want to read every letter of, and there are blogs that are awesome for inspiration and to binge read. I love your way of tackling the two!
    I’ve been reading the first category mostly on the actual websites lately (FYI, you’re on that list ;) ), But I like your take on it too… Perhaps it’s time to give Bloglovin’ a chance :) Thanks, hon!

    Xo

    Reply
    • Nina Christensen says

      October 23, 2014 at 08:38

      I’m happy you found this useful, Stephanie. :)

      I wish we all didn’t have to manage our blog post consumption as much but it’s at least good to know that there are great tools for every need.

      I’m hoping Bloglovin’ works out for you. I wasn’t a fan but I’m really happy to have it now. It’s truly the uncomplicated choice for blog reading!

      xo Nina

      Reply
  2. Caylee says

    October 22, 2014 at 16:44

    What a great, resourceful post. Loved reading your posts, and it was an extra bit of happiness seeing my blog on your phone.

    I use BlogLovin. I was a die hard Google Reader fan, and that void has never been filled. Reading blogs through BlogLovin puts a bit of emphasis on the actual blog. I used to loathe going to the blog but now I kind of like it. I consume blogs in exactly the same way as you. This year my focus on reading blogs has changed. It’s no longer to “keep up to date” – I have Pinterest for that. I like taking my time with them.

    My frustrations with blog reading all lead to the guilt I feel for not commenting. I’ve given myself permission to not comment. Not only so that I don’t have the guilt, but also so that when I do comment, it’s a bit more meaningful. That’s the phase I’m going through right now.

    Reply
    • Nina Christensen says

      October 23, 2014 at 08:45

      Thanks, Caylee!

      I LOVE your blog! <3 It's on my short list of must-reads, as you can tell.

      I never really got to use Google Reader, if you would believe that. I used to have all my fave blogs bookmarked and visit them individually. I was on Google Reader for maybe a month or two before it shut down (and never really looked at it) and the whole blog reader discussion that sparked from it made me look into blog readers again.

      I feel you on the guilt for not commenting. I want to comment a lot of times, but I want it to be meaningful just like you said. And meaningful comments just take more effort and energy which I don't always think I can spare. At least I make a point to support my fave bloggers by buying things in their shops and giving them some love on IG. :)

      Thanks for your sweet comment! Have a lovely day, Caylee.

      Much love, Nina

      Reply
  3. Delaney says

    October 25, 2014 at 01:05

    I always used to go directly to my four/five favourites every morning but then a friend convinced me to try feedly and I’m hooked. I do like that I can quickly scan titles and only read the posts that interest me.

    I do find I still only consistently read the posts from my favourite blogs, but at least it helps me keep track of blogs I like to swing by occasionally. It’s funny though – I don’t actually read the posts in Feedly, which kind of defeats the purpose. I always click the link to go back to the actual blog if the title catches my eye. There’s something about experiencing the overall aesthetic of a blog that I like – I feel like reading posts in the reader takes away that aspect.

    Delaney Xx

    Reply
    • Nina Christensen says

      October 25, 2014 at 07:57

      Yes! I love the experience of visiting a blog too. Typically the writer has gone to a lot of trouble to design their blog and content to they go together beautifully and usually they put some interesting stuff in the sidebar too.

      Thanks for your comment! Have a lovely weekend.

      xo Nina

      Reply
  4. Amy T Schubert says

    October 29, 2014 at 19:54

    Hahaha! I love that my Jack Nicholson photo made it into this post :) Seriously couldn’t look at anything else!

    I use feedly — in part because they made it easy to import everything from Google Reader, but also because I subscribe to SO MANY blogs, that I actually just skim through headlines some days (for some blog topics). I love that feedly lets me break them all into folders so I can scan the headlines of my news/gossip sites, but be sure to click through to read in depth of my favorite sites

    Reply
    • Nina Christensen says

      November 4, 2014 at 14:27

      True! I do love the folders feature in Feedly. And I too got started with Feedly cause of the easy import. :D It’s a lovely service – I’m just so easily overwhelmed in there.

      Thanks for stopping by, Amy! Take care. :)

      xo Nina

      Reply
  5. Lauren says

    October 31, 2014 at 01:52

    So smart! I feel the same about the 2! But opposite, I have about a billion blogs on Blog Lovin because its suggestion feature is so great, but tends to feel like Pinterest, but I just find SO much and cant read it all at once. I recently paired down my Feedly a TON and pinned a bunch of blogs on a special blog board on Pinterest and have honestly not felt like I missed anything. But I HATE the fact that there are always 100 unread posts on Feedly, like you said, some people just post SO much (which is wonderful) but I cant keep up. I have a ‘must read’ category on there and thats where I start my day.

    Reply
    • Nina Christensen says

      November 4, 2014 at 14:16

      Yeah, I should learn to use the ‘Must Read’ feature too. But every time I open Feedly I just wanna close it again. I’ve gotten so used to consuming less and less content that I’m easily overwhelmed. Bloglovin’ really saves my sanity in this regard. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting! I love hearing everyone’s experiences.

      xo Nina

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Friday Favorites no. 042 | links from the week | amelia writes. says:
    October 24, 2014 at 12:47

    […] How do you read your favorite blogs? […]

    Reply

Hi! I’m Nina

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