Thing 3: Finding great blogs, RSS feeds, and Google Reader

Now it's time to move out into the wider blogosphere.

I'd like you to find 2-3 additional blogs that you'd like to read--maybe about a topic you're interested in, or someone you're interested in.  You can find them through Technorati, an aggregator and indexer of blogs, or on your favorite news site.

You might also check out Technorati's Top 100 Blogs.  You might choose some blogs to follow from there, too!  You can also find out "rising" and "falling" blogs on Technorati's home page.

Now that you've found some great blogs, you might want to check in on them now and then . . . and you may also want to see what the blog writers in this class are doing, too.

But sometimes it's hard to remember to check on websites or blogs--or know when there's something new to read.

What if you could check for updates of all your favorite blogs, online newspapers and other regularly-updated sites by visiting one simple page? That's the beauty of RSS, which stands for Really Simple Syndication. You may have noticed that some of your favorite websites have little orange icons that look like this:

This orange RSS icon lets you know that you can subscribe to the website using a news reader such as Google Reader.  That's what we're going to use to keep track of blogs for this project.  Watch this Common Craft video to learn more about RSS feeds and Google Reader:



Your job for Thing 3

Is to get your Google Reader account going, add the blogs of your classmates, plus at least 3 other blogs, online newspapers, or websites to your reader. Chances are, some of the websites you already visit a lot and the blogs you just discovered have RSS feeds available.

Here's how to set it up:

Open the email account you use most often.  Look across the top for "Reader."

1. If it's not there, click on the "more" drop down on the left-hand top of the page, and select "Reader"
2. Now, go to your favorite, regularly-updated website (see some suggestions below) and find the RSS feed icon (shown above...usually orange, but not always). Click it. You'll be asked if you want to add the feed to your Google Reader or your Google Homepage. Choose Reader.
3. Repeat step 3 for other newsfeeds/blogs/sites.
4. If there's no RSS icon, you can also add blogs by clicking on "add a subscription" at the top left corner and copying in the URL of the blog.
5. Add this blog, 13 Things for 2013--so you can see when I post an update.  And add your classmates' blogs.
6. Leave a friendly comment on at at least 3 of your classmates' blogs.
7. Now instead of going to all these sites daily to read what's new, you go to Google reader--it's right there on your gmail account.

Here are some sites with RSS feeds to get you started:
Cedar Rapids Gazette (look for the RSS icon on the right-hand side column, about half-way down--you can also get news delivered to your phone, etc.
The New York Times RSS index--Tons of different RSS feeds for every interest!
NPR's RSS index

Write on your blog:  
After you have your Google reader set up, write a post reflecting on your experience with RSS feeds and news readers. How might it be useful professionally?

Which blogs are you following with RSS and Google Reader?  Have you used Google Reader before?

Also, write about commenting--why do you think commenting is important in online communities? How might professional blog writers (someone writing a blog for an organization, for example) view comments--as helpful or annoyances?