I shouldn't be surprised to learn that Google has its own version of a feed aggregator. What I would like to know is, what exactly is all this vitally important information? Is someone monitoring the Swiss particle accelerator for impending black holes? Checking the movement of the tectonic plates in anticipation of the final dissolution of the earth's crust so they make it to the Ark on time? Afraid of losing their one and only chance to find their soul mate on Matchmaker.com because someone else was updated more quickly?
It's hard for me to imagine a situation where typing in a URL (or several), or a search keyword constitutes hardship, but I can understand trying to be organized. Taking advantage of tools to better manage one's time is certainly a respectable endeavor. I told an unemployed friend about Google Reader after I came across an interesting article. I want my friend's job search to be successful and thought using an aggregator might be helpful. It can't hurt to cast your biggest net (no pun intended), right? Besides, it could make a good impression on a potential employer if my friend said he found some leads while using a feed aggregator.
Otherwise, I signed up for Bloglines in a previous training and subscribed to a number of feeds related to books and reading, such as NPR Topics: Books, NYT Books, and Alltop, but so far I'm not really hooked on aggregators. I just don't seem to have the type of information requirements that make me feel I'm missing a whole lot by not using a feed reader more regularly. On the contrary, the sheer volume of material that materializes when I log into Bloglines is already a bit daunting. Any time I gain by having a bunch of feeds on one site is immediately canceled out as I either:
1.) get lost wading through the nonessential uninspiring stuff that gets pulled in because I decided to subscribe to a certain blog, for example, or
2.) get stuck on the computer for even more inordinate amounts of time because I got distracted by all the pretty headlines beckoning to me.
Maybe I just haven't yet found the particular feeds that would really interest me. Maybe I need an aggregator for my aggregator. Please don't tell Google I said that.
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1 comment:
Hey Janet, Long time no see....hope you are doing well, and not working too hard. I am trying to get feed back and readers for another blog i created on blogger....would you mind taking a peeeek....? :-)
it is thewordwhisperer2.blogspot.com
thank you thank you thank you..:-)Maybe i will see you at ATA some Sunday soon. Have a great week! :-)
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