On Monday, I blogged about 32 blogs that I read. Taking that a step further:
How I read blogs
Well, as I mentioned in my blog post last week, I read all my posts in Reeder — Reeder on my Mac, Reeder on my iPad, and Reeder on my iPhone. They all sync with my Google Reader account, which also makes it nice, if I’m not at my personal computer.
One of the reasons I’ve picked Reeder over NetNewsWire or Gruml or some of these others is because I can easily post an article to Evernote, Read it Later, or Pinboard.
What I do with that information?
A big problem I think people have with managing information is being consistent. If you put things in different places every time, when you get ready to reference it, you won’t remember where it is. So, as geeky as having a system is, you need it.
Share? Like? Tweet?
I will use Google Share if I think a post applies to a specific person.
I rarely “like” a post. If I do, I use it as a way to communicate to the author I do indeed like that post. Typically, though, the best way you can “pay” an author back is by sharing it.
I’ll tweet something if its something I believe my twitter followers will appreciate. I try and be careful. I don’t want to bombard them with links and I want them to know that when I do post something, I really do think it’s good.
For me, sharing, liking, and tweeting is all about pushing content out, not referencing and revisiting. If you feel differently, check out ifttt.com. I know the address looks funny, but it stands for “If This Than That.” You can connect it to all your social media services. So, I can say if I tweet a link then bookmark on Pinboard. — Pretty cool!
Star? Pinboard?
If I think, “I could use this in the future,” then I’ll bookmark it to my Pinboard account. I switched to Pinboad when Yahoo sold Delicious. However, the guys that developed YouTube have recently picked up Delicious, so I’m sure they’ll pump some new life into it.
I tag all the bookmarks I save. The trick to tagging is to think “How will I search for this link in the future?” Don’t use the suggested tags just because they’re suggested. Use tag words that are helpful to you.
Evernote?
I save any images in Evernote. I do this for several reasons: (1) If the site gets moved, images get taken down, whatever, I have my own copy. (2) Evernote’s thumbnail view makes it easy to find and reference a specific image. When I’m working on a project, I’ll go through Evernote and tag any images with that project name. (3) Evernote can read any text within the image. This is great when I’m searching. (4) Evernote syncs with everything: other computers, my iPhone, and my iPad.
Read it Later?
Any posts that I don’t have time to read now, but want to read it later, I’ll post to my Read it Later account. Instapaper is another popular favorite. — I can access these lists online, my iPhone, or my iPad.
Google Docs
Recently, I’ve started keeping a Google Spreadsheet of links that I want to post on my personal blog. This helps me keep track of what I’ve actually posted. Plus, since it’s a Google Doc, I can access it anywhere.
