What is a Blog? What is a Blog Reader? A blog is a website which gets updated on a regular basis. The topic(s) of the blog can be anything which someone would like to write about and share. A blog reader is a site which can put together a collection of blogs you select and give you a feed of those blogs in one spot instead of visiting each blog daily. There are some more tricks and gadgets which can enhance the blog reader experience.
I myself am not a normal follower of blogs. I have many friends who have their own blog and share with friends and family. I compare this to the family Christmas letter which was included in the Christmas card sent to close friends and family. Of course a blog is updated more frequently, but you get the sense of a blog. When reading reviews of blog readers the article empashized some important factors in the selection of a blog reader (Volvoski, 2021). FREE! Everyone likes this price. When a person has the ability to try an app or just dipping your toe into the blog reader pond, the ability to try it for free is important. Other factors are ease of use, ability to share, ability to upgrade, and useful gadgets.
There are several blog readers to choose from. NewsBlur's filtering is a unique feature. The filter has the ability to automatically highlight or hide stories based on the criteria entered. After a while the system will learn your preferences and bring up articles important to you. Inoreader allows you to follow 150 feeds and articles you've read are saved permanently. It also has a handy tutorial for users. The Old Reader has the ability to share your recommendations with friends. If you don't have any blogs to follow, The Old Reader has a trending tab for different blogs. Feeder has a browser extension which allows you to browse headlines. Feeder shows headlines and a simplified view of full articles.
The blog reader I ultimately chose was Feedly.Feedly is great for casual users and more advanced users. Advanced users have the opportunity to upgrade to other plans for fairly reasonable prices. First of all, it's a quick and easy sign up just using a username and password. Searching for a blog and creating a list of blogs is simple. When you are finished creating a list of blogs just click the today icon and the articles and blogs from the sources you chose are shown like a fee you designed on your own. If you don't have the time to stop and read one of the articles you can put it aside in the "to read later" section with just a click. Overall the Feedly blog reader is a great place to start for anyone who is new to blog reading, as well as the advanced users who can use it as a research hub, share their feed, or have third party integrations. My overall recommendation is the Feedly blog reader, you won't be sorry.
5 blogs followed on my Feedly feed
1. Book Reviews:NPR
NPR is a trusted and verified source of information. Book reviews presented on NPR will hold value.
2. Bookreporter.com Reviews
Shares 5 articles per week, where each article is written by a different review. Seems to be a good amount of content released on a regular basis.
3. Book Reviews, Excerpts, Audio Books and Reader Exclusives -Huffpost Books
This seems to be an interesting collection of book reviews and news. There are a variety of topics and it even includes articles written by authors.
4. Book Marks
This releases 6 articles per week, so it provides a great amount of content on a variety of topics. It highlights the top reviewed books of the month as well as interviews with authors.
5. AASL Blog
This is the official blos of American Association of School Librarians. It posts about librarians, school, reading, and students. This is a fantastic resource.
Resources:
Volvovski, V. (2021, May 28). The 5 best free RSS reader apps in 2021. Zapier.com. https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3332530001006371611/7976225333774029930.
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