I have heard the rumblings for some time. But, I officially saw the announcement this morning. Google Reader is going away…as of July 1, 2013. I was already a bit miffed at Google for announcing that they would be doing away with iGoogle later this year (although that change isn’t coming until November, I believe).
 
Generally speaking, I do not like change. I am the person who finds that one favorite dish at a restaurant, and orders only that specific dish each and every time I visit said establishment. It throws my entire universe into a tailspin when restaurants change their menus.
But, this… They have messed with an integral part of my online routine…and a very useful tool in my quest to wisely utilize my limited online time.
My husband firmly believes that if one item on a restaurant’s menu is good, then there must be other good choices as well. And, he is occasionally right. However, my preferred method of dealing with such a travesty is to simply refuse to dine at that restaurant ever again.
Don’t think I haven’t considered it in this situation as well! I was seriously contemplating resorting back to my original blog-reading method of bookmarking all of my favorite blogs, and checking in on them periodically. But, realistically, I follow too many blogs to do that. And, many blogs (this one included!) just do not post frequently enough to justify a daily visit.
I was very excited when several of my bloggy friends suggested something called Feedly. It appears to be the current favorite for (former) Google Reader users. However, I am an Internet Explorer girl. Not exactly by choice… But, my computer died recently, and in acquiring a new one, I had to get one already loaded with Windows 8. And, very few web browsers currently work with Windows 8…and by very few, I mean only Internet Explorer. But, Feedly does not play well with Internet Explorer…and from all of the boards and forums I could find, it looks like they have very little intention of doing so in the future. So, if you are not tied to Internet Explorer in some way, then it sounds like Feedly might be a good option.
But, for me… On to the next.
One of my friends recommended a site that I had never heard of before, called Bloglovin’. They offered to import my blogs from my current Google Reader account…and it worked with Internet Explorer. So, since I do have a bit of time on my hands these days, I decided to go ahead and try it. (And, because Google Reader is not disappearing until July, I figured I would still have time to find something else if this one didn’t work.) The whole process was relatively painless…and took maybe 10 minutes. All of my blogs transferred without a problem…but the folders in which I had organized them did not. But, reorganizing them was not all that difficult, and even gave me a chance to weed out some seemingly abandoned blogs…and a few that I, for one reason or another, no longer read with any regularity. And, now everything is neat and tidy again. And, I have to say, it looks quite similar to my Google Reader set-up…this change may not be so bad after all.
Now if only they had an app for my phone… The site did advertise that an app was available in the iTunes store. But, I am not a Mac person (by choice!). But, after a little more research, I discovered that they do have an Android app as well (they just don’t advertise it?). It did receive a few negative reviews, but it appears that most of those issues have been resolved (or I just haven’t run into them yet). It will take a little getting used to as the mobile format is a bit different. But, it works.
So, if you are looking for an alternative to Google Reader, you might want to check out Bloglovin’. And, while you’re there…Follow my blog with Bloglovin.