Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Google Reader Blog Stats

I wish Google Reader provided results for the year.  I'd love to be able to compare 2008 and 2007 next January.  I guess I can compare the number of subscriptions, and the number of posts I read December of 2007 compared to December of 2008.

screen shot of google reader stats

I think I've become more efficient at going through my feeds.  Now, obviously, I haven't read each and everyone one of these items, but I've probably read every one of the titles, and have read or starred any that I've found interesting.

My process is this.

On my all items feed, I order things oldest to newest.  Every morning before going to the train, I'll try and empty my unread items.  If I find something interesting, if I have time, I'll read it, otherwise I'll star it.  I usually have between 80 and 150 items when I wake up in the morning.

Then over lunch, I'll usually try and catch up again.  If I'm able to go through it quickly, and I have some extra time, I'll go through my starred items from the morning.

Then on the way home from the train, I'll usually go through my feeds on my Treo.  Some feeds I can read completely through Blazer (the Palm browser), and others I'll want to read on my computer when I get home.  I'll star those.

Finally, at night, before I get to bed, I'll try and catch up on my items.

All throughout the day, I'll share items that interest me.  You can see my shared items here.

I was really getting overwhelmed with it earlier this year, but I think I've learned how to manage it well.  Sometimes I'll get some extra time, and catch up on the starred items that I never circled back and read.

Anyway, I'd never be able to do it with any other reader.  Google reader is the best feed reader I've ever used, despite what everyone is saying about it.  

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I switched from Bloglines recently as I wanted to try out Google reader. So far it looks good and now that I got meself a Blackberry Pearl, hopefully I can keep up with my subscriptions. I am interested to checkout my trends (neat feature) after a months usage.

Jim Fiorato said...

Hey Ahmed,

I think you'll really like Reader. It's an extremely productive RSS reader. It's fast, easy to mark things for later read, and really really easy to share things with people without having to spam them.

Good luck with it.

Jim