Using Google Reader’s Trends to Find Blogs of Value
Image via CrunchBase
Someone on Twitter yesterday asked about how people use Google Reader’s Trends feature. I had a quick reply then, but I thought I’d blog about it as well.
I subscribe to a lot of RSS feeds in Reader. If I see an interesting website, and it has a feed, I tend to subscribe, because only by reading over a few days can I really determine if the content is of value to me. (All websites should offer feeds for people like me, by the way.)
While I’m reading my feeds, I use Google Reader’s features to share articles I find particularly interesting or star them for later reference. I may see something I want to blog about, for instance, so I’ll star it. I also email articles quite frequently if I know they will be of interest to someone in particular. Google Reader’s Trends captures all of this activity.
When the number of feeds becomes overwhelming, and I need to winnow them down — usually about once a month — I’ll check the trends. The feeds I keep are the ones that Trends shows I’ve been sharing, starring and emailing. I’ll also check the posting activity. Feeds that are marked inactive, or haven’t had new posts in over a month, I’ll definitely drop.
If you use Google Reader, do you check the trends?
Check out my shared items on Google Reader.
Related articles by Zemanta
- Unclutter Google Reader by Analyzing Your Trends [Google Reader]
- Share Anything Anywhere with Google Reader
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=9b3773ed-7ee0-4a7c-9f8d-8bb5dd9c11cb)
shannon.turlington AT gmail.com 
