Sunday 17 March 2013

Happy St. Patrick's Day Google Reader

Sometimes it snows here on St. Patrick's Day, and the sky certainly looks ready for it this morning; so I'm posting a Spring-ish looking card to wish you a great day...

and, now that the news about the demise of Google Reader is starting to sink in, to express my hope that we'll all continue to keep in touch through other means. I have used Google Reader happily for years now..what to do? what to do?


I'm going to try out Bloglovin' - having been persuaded by a nice little feature on Alinor's blog Freeze Frame here and by the great change over instructions by my blog designer friend Katie of Priceless Designs here. If you like to get really stuck into a bit of research and want to try something different, you could have a look at this article on alternatives

But of course, whatever you decide, I'd love you to stay connected. Don't be a stranger! Oh, and St. Patrick's Day wishes from me. I'm off to make some potato bread to celebrate.
Follow my blog with Bloglovin

34 comments:

Cheri said...

I'm very sad about the demise of Google Reader. I've started an account with BlogLovin and was able to easily import my blogs. Sort of freaks me out that if your blogs are all read, your list of subscribed blogs doesn't show up and you can't sort by category... I also started an account with "The Old Reader" but could NOT figure out how to import my subscription list. :(

scrappyjacky said...

I'm pretty peeved that Google are closing Reader down....almost certainly because they don't make money from it!!
Haven't yet decided what to switch to yet....there seem to be a few options.
Happy St Patrick's Day to you.

Unknown said...

I'm more sad than I can say, it just works. I darned well hope someone comes up with something fab and if they do I would pay them for it.

Your card is gorgeous and very spring-ish :)

Alison said...

I must do a bit of research myself...I'e been hiding my head in the sand over the issue!
Alison xx

helena said...

just seen group of large vivid gree leprichauns (sp?) walk past!!! I think the local pub is having a Saint Pat's event

thanks for the blogloving link - hadn't seen that on other lists and at first browse it looks good

Susan said...

I am different from others in that I never used Google reader once I had set it up. I don't know why other than design esthetics and the fact that I just didn't like how it looked. So with the posts this past week every where I went I decided to check out Bloglovin recommended by another blog that I have been reading for years and trust her opinion. I wasn't surprised when I fell in love with Bloglovin. I have a button in my web browsers tool bar to make my blog reading even easier and pretty.

Alana said...

I have been using Bloglovin for the past year and find it is great:) Also emails me to tell me when someone's blogged. Very spring like card, we need a bit of brighter weather here too....it's raining:(



Lea Lacoste said...

Happy St Paddy's Day to you too!!
Thank for linking to my blog <3 Hope you'll like Bloglovin'!

Becky said...

I've never used Google reader! I tend to just read certain blogs and visit them once a week to catch up on posts. If someone new leaves a comment on my blog I will add them to my favourites and visit them that way too.

Anonymous said...

Happy St. Pats! Yum - potato bread!!!! Lovely card....so spring-like!

Susan said...

I just learned last night that google Reader is closing and I was so disappointed. I've only used it for about a year but it's how I check my favourite blogs. I'll have to look into Bloglovin. Thanks for the suggestion.

Sarah said...

I don't very often comment here. But, when I heard that Google was finishing, one of my first thoughts was "What will Sian suggest?", and here you are telling me. Until this post I'd mostly been hearing about Feedly, but one of the things Feedly doesn't seem to do is let me go into the blog. (I use the "next" button on reader) But Bloglvin seems to do this, thanks for the suggestion.

Lou said...

thanks for the links Sian - i'll check them out. Happy St.Patricks day to you - a super card x

Melissa said...

I've got to work on this, too, and get set up with all my favorite blogs!

Wow, snow . . . brrrr. It's definitely spring time here (finally) - lots of sunshine & 70 degrees the past few days.

Jimjams said...

Happy St Patrick's Day to you and yours!

Thanks for the links Siân - as it was you that got me going with GR, I was hoping that you might have an alternative. Going to look at Feedly & Bloglovin' & The Olde Reader to see what's best. But I'm still hoping that Google with have a rethink!

Beverly said...

Thank you for bit of spring by way of card, I needed it, our temps dropped 20 degrees from yesterday :( I am waiting a bit of changing over. Since everyone is switching I decided I would let ya'll do the test runs ;) I want something that has something along the lines of the "Next" button on my toolbar. I certainly don't want to be emailed every time someone posts.

Nathalie said...

I like the various shapes on your card and the gold alphas add the perfect POW!
I too have been a Google Reader user for years and I have read the threads and posts here and there.... I almost jumped on the BlogLovin' bandwagon but decided to wait a bit as many companies are promising bigger and better things before July...

Miriam said...

I don't use Google Reader, I never liked it. I use the favourites windows on my mac and I have a list of blogs that I visit when I can. Your spring card is so pretty. I hope St. Pat's was good for you.

Anonymous said...

I'm hugely disappointed with Google's decision too. It's obvious many of your followers use it, and what's more important than that? I've tried a couple of services already. Newsblur looked good but it charges $24/year for premium access (only 12 feeds allowed for the free account). Right now I'm alternating between The Old Reader and the Reader element of WordPress. Neither one is exactly what I want tho The Old Reader is closest. My biggest problem with it is that it doesn't seem to work with Internet Explorer. So, I'm off to check out Bloglovin'--thanks for the recommendation.

Sue Althouse said...

This whole thing with Google Reader has become a bit of an obsession with me for a few days. Once I got over the initial shock, I've tried Bloglovin, which I thought was fine, but then I put Feedly on my iPad and I might be hooked on that. It is total eye candy.

Maria Ontiveros said...

Just finished a nice plate of corn beef and cabbage!
I"m waiting a bit to decide what to do.
Rinda

Karen said...

I've been very happy with Google Reader, and am looking seriously at Feedly as a replacement. After reading the comments here, I'll look at Bloglvin too.

Jo said...

Lovely card. I'm upset that Google Reader is going, I've used it happily for years too. Thank you for the links to the alternatives x

Fiona@Staring at the Sea said...

I've used GR quite happily, since I started blogging, and not sure what to change to. Thanks for the links, I'll do a bit of research. it looks positively Spring like here today, but that could just be the big pot of daffs on my windowsill!

Barbara Eads said...

I switched over to Bloglovin' last night. It was pretty easy. I'm still getting used to the format. Since I follow over 200 blogs (of course I could never read all of them every day), I zip through them quickly. I put the ones I want to read on my sidebar. I'm a Mac user and have this nifty little pair of glasses to the left of my bookmark bar. All I have to do is click on that to see what reading I have or to add to my list. The only reason I mention this is that now that I'm using Bloglovin', ALL of the icons are for Bloglovin' rather than the blog icons I'm used to. I'm sure I'll get used to it---I have to. You know what they say about "old dogs....!"

Mary B said...

Hi Sian, I'll keep in touch, I've added a side bar to my blog and can tell when someone has posted.
I've been away for the w/e without internet so that is why I've only just seen your post.

Jennifer Shaw said...

Your card is lovely and I hope you had a fun St. Patrick's Day. As usual, I must be behind in technology. I have my favourite blogs on my sidebar of my blog and then have a list of others bookmarked that I check in on. I am probably doing it the hard way. LOL

Sandra said...

I signed up to bloglovin the other day, but at the moment still using reader. I've got some research to do, but I'm so sorry to lose reader

Ginger said...

Hello Sian :) Just catching up on your blog! Happy belated St. Patrick's Day! We had 25 cm of snow this past weekend after some pretty amazing Spring like weather. This after the Groundhog did not see his shadow!! :)

I have been reading people's opinions on new blog readers, I have made no decision yet, likely BlogLovin if it's that easy to import it will make it simple.

PS - that's a pretty card!

Lisa-Jane said...

I've been brave and changed to Bloglovin without researching anything. I'll get myself into knots over it otherwise. See you there ;-)

Unknown said...

I shall have to have a look around. I am not happy as I love google reader :-( Please let up know how your blog lovin' experience is going.

Carmen said...

I never actually used the reader page, though I did click to let people know I was following them. I generally tend to add blogs I want to follow to the roll on my sidebar and I use that to see when blogs update too - I'm not sure if that means I will be affected, will that be going too? I'm so out of the loop - I didn't even know it was all happening till a couple days ago when I asked someone else how to get email updates on the collaborArt blog...

Elizabeth said...

Thanks so much for the Bloglovin link. I went to read my blogs this morning in Reader and it wasn't there. I panicked because I had neglected to copy all the addresses of the blogs I follow. I was pleasantly surprised when Bloglovin found all my blogs and imported them for me. I'm a happy camper now.

Missus Wookie said...

lovely card - I'm still hoping for spring and reading this almost two weeks later. Been reading various articles about the demise of GR - figure I'll think about it later. We have until July.

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