Google Reader is finally dead, but don’t fret there are many other services available out there to help you keep track of all your favorite blogs. One of which is Bloglovin’
Similar to Google Reader in the sense that you can “follow” (subscribe) to feeds of your favorite blogs. However, Bloglovin’ is more than just rss feeds, it originated from the idea of building a fashion community, but has since shifted gears to offer a clean, simple and inviting blog reader.
Bloglovin’ allows you not only to follow blogs but sort them into groups. Not only do they feature popular posts on a topic, but their category set up is similar to Pinterest, making it easy to stumble upon new blogs of interest.
If you want to catch up on your blogs while away Bloglovin’ even has a free iPad/iPhone app.
Getting started with Bloglovin’ is easy, you can even sign in with your Facebook account which is what I did. You can easily search for your favorite blogs or explore the categories. Many blogs now offer a “Follow on Bloglovin’ ” button on their site. In order to get a button on your site you need to first “claim your blog” or in other words identify yourself as the owner of a blog. In your account settings, you can choose “My Blog” and then in the next dialog simply type in your URL. After claiming your blog you can copy and paste the provided code you a post in your site. You can also create a quick widget (button) to add to your site or customize one as I did on the bottom of the page (see “+” button in the footer).
Personally I never really used Google Reader, and have been more in the habit of just using my bookmarks to visit my favorite blogs to check for updates. However, now that I have so many blogs I check, and so many devices it’s hard to sync bookmarks, and who has time to waste check for updates on a site that may not have any. Thus, using a service such as Bloglovin’ seems logical, and so far I really like Bloglovin’ out of other which I’ve played around with.
