Why I Love Google Reader

The Bloggies Awards is a ceremony that honors the biggest vote-getters in Blogdom.  Blogs are short for “web logs,” which are like online journals or scrapbooks. They range from the very helpful and inspiring to the revoltingly narcissistic. This matters to me because there are a few blog writers (bloggers) that I really enjoy following. Two noteworthy things happened at the 2009 Bloggies, the Oscars of the blogging world.

The Bloggies Awards is a ceremony that honors the biggest vote-getters in Blogdom.  Blogs are short for “web logs,” which are like online journals or scrapbooks. They range from the very helpful and inspiring to the revoltingly narcissistic. This matters to me because there are a few blog writers (bloggers) that I really enjoy following. Two noteworthy things happened at the 2009 Bloggies, the Oscars of the blogging world.

First, my favorite blogger won big, snagging “Blog of the Year.” Ree Drummond, AKA “The Pioneer Woman,” is a ranch wife in Oklahoma who homeschoolers her four kids, helps her husband on the ranch, is a phenomenal cook, photographer and writer, and a wonderful teacher. Everything I’ve made from her richly photographed “The Pioneer Woman Cooks” section has been a big hit with my family. Oh, and she’s a believer too. A few months ago her husband and two daughters went to the Dominican Republic with Compassion International, and the whole family blogged about it in real time.

At the Bloggies, each category winner goes up on stage and receives a shot glass. Then the big winner wins a shotglass AND a bottle of locally made vodka (I didn’t know they made vodka in Austin, Texas, but there you go). All the winners go up on stage and the winner pours them a shot.

But when Ree didn’t pour herself one, the others harassed her as she faced a difficult internal challenge. Her peers wanted her to join in on the celebration, but it was Lent and she had made a solemn promise. Finally she looked out at the crowd in that very liberal city and confessed, “I gave up booze for Lent.” The uncomfortable silence that ensued showed how far our culture has drifted from its Christian roots. I was so proud of our sister Ree in sticking to her convictions, even when it meant being dreadfully counter-cultural.

Which is what Jesus did, right?

This is one reason I enjoy reading what comes from the heart and mind of this woman of substance. And her daily updates are made easier to follow by the other noteworthy thing that happened at the Bloggies: Google Reader won “Best Web Application for Weblogs.” And well it should have. Google Reader ROCKS.

It’s a free, well-designed application you don’t have to install on your computer since your preferences reside in cyberspace deep in the Google brain. (Forget Microsoft—Google now rules the world.)  In your browser, you bring up Google Reader (which I have made a clickable button on my browser toolbar since I use it all the time) and all the blogs you subscribe to are listed. Any updates are marked so you know which ones to look at. But it’s not just for blogs. Websites like the one I administrate for Probe Ministries which offer a list of new articles and updates, called an RSS Feed, can also be subscribed to in your “feed reader” (which is what Google Reader is).

I like this YouTube video that explains the whole concept in language everyone can understand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU

Here’s how to use Google Reader, to subscribe to the Tapestry blog.

1. Open a second window or tab in your browser. Go to http://reader.google.com

2. You will be asked to sign into a Google account. (Create one if you don’t already have one. It’s okay—it’s safe and free.)

3. Click the “Add a Subscription” button. A field will come up for you to paste in the RSS feed.

4. Go to the Tapestry window and right-click on the orange button that says “Get the feed.” In Internet Explorer, choose “Copy shortcut.” In Firefox, choose “Copy link location.” This copies the RSS feed address to your clipboard.

5. In the Google Reader, paste the RSS feed into the subscription field. Either right-click and choose “Paste,” or type Ctrl + V. Click “Add.”

Now, every time you go to the Google Reader (either by typing http://reader.google.com or better, by bookmarking it, our new blog entries will be waiting for you. Ta-da!!