Google Reader

Posted By Aly Juma ~ 17th January 2010

What is it?

Google’s made some amazing applications over the years, Google Docs, Picasa, Google Voice, and most recently Google Wave (jury is still out on this one), but my favorite by far is Google Reader.

Google Reader is an RSS aggregator that can be used to compile articles from all over the internet to one place. This has been a fantastic tool, allowing me to keep up with all my interests without having to visit hundreds of sites. It quickly became part of my daily morning routine, functioning as a virtual newspaper for me over the past two years.

Getting started

Following just a few easy steps allows you to unlock the full power of Google Reader..

1. Sign up for Google Reader

Sign up here.

2. Add Subscriptions

You can add feeds by searching subscriptions from your favorite blogs and frequently visited sites. A great resource to use in setting up your Google Reader is Alltop.com, which allows you to browse the most popular sites on the web by topic.

3. Enjoy!

Now you’re all setup to enjoy articles from your favorite websites, all in one place!

There are several useful features packed into Google Reader, in particular are folders, which allow you to better organize your feeds into areas of interest. For example, my folders consist of: blogs, business, culture, design, humor, innovation, marketing, social news, tech, and think.

I hope that helps you get started with and make the most of this often overlooked application!