Hello there! I'm Sister Diane and I have two grand passions: making crafts and making media. That's what I write about here, and sometimes, I get all thoughtful about internet culture and creative small businesses. Thanks for stopping by! Would you like some tea?

 

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Video! Google Reader Tricks for Craft Bloggers

Google Reader Tricks for Craft Bloggers from Diane Gilleland on Vimeo.

So, lately I’ve been talking to a lot of bloggers, and discovering that many of them don’t know about all the cool things Google Reader can do to help you organize all your crafty blog reading.

I freaking love this tool, so I made this little screen-capture video to show you several tricks. It’s like a Masters degree in Google Reader! I hope you find it useful.

Happy Weekend, everyone!

Screen shot 2011-09-09 at 1.46.26 PM

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66 comments to Video! Google Reader Tricks for Craft Bloggers

  • fanieart

    Wo! Awesome video, Diane. :-D And it comes just in time as I was wondering how to use my reader to it's maximum.
    Thanks! :-)

  • SisterDiane

    Yay! I'm glad it was good timing, Fanie!

  • skulleigh

    Hah! I already have a Bachelor's in Reader and didn't even know it :D I do a lot of that, but I haven't been using tags as efficiently as I could. Thanks for the ideas!

    I'll add something I do in Google Reader –
    A lot of times you can subscribe to the comments on a particular post on someone's blog, so that you can follow that conversation. I used to make comments on a post and then forget all about it, and miss out on good info. Now I have a folder just for that.

  • SisterDiane

    Ooh, that's a beauty suggestion! Thanks, Skulleigh!

  • Kay

    Holey Moley! I had not looked that deeply into Google Reader to know some of the things you have shared! I use Google Reader extensively, but had no idea that I could so easily back reference items of interest. Everything you showed in your video was new to me. Thanks, Diane!

  • Chreamps56

    Thanks so much for this tutorial. I just started back in to user reader over a month ago and these features will really come in handy.

    I'm also going to link up your tutorial over at Scrappersonline:

    http://www.scrappersonline.com/forums/showthrea…

  • Thanks a lot for that interesting video, I didn't know there were those archiving and search functions in Google Reader! I'm currently using Netvibes as it allows me to have both public pages that acts as a thematic blogroll for my blog/site and private pages where I sort blogs through reading frequency criterias (for my resources and inspiration folders, I use a desktop application called Notebook). Your solution is interesting as everything is online and can be found in any computer you may use, but I must admit there's one thing that always makes me sigh when I try a Google application: the user interface. Silly as it sounds, I have difficulties using an app when I find the interface is dull… But I'll definitely keep your video in mind in case I want to make a switch in spite of that, so thank your for taking the time to make that informative video!

  • Oh great!! Thank you so much Diane it is very helpfull

  • Wow I had no idea that Google reader had those features. I am off to organize! Thanks so much for sharing.

  • SisterDiane

    Not silly at all, Adelie – everyone has her own preferences. I tried Netvibes a while back, and liked its functionality, but the user interface was too visually crowded for me. To each her own! :-)

  • lovelylili

    Thank you for putting together this great guide! I use a lot of the same techniques as you, but I have to say my favorite part was your 500 unread items! I've been culling my reader subscriptions and have my unreads down to around 200. I still can't manage to read them all!

  • SisterDiane

    Heh! I pretty much always have that many. I gave up stressing about
    it. :-)

  • I am a huge fan of Google Reader and didn't know about half these tricks. Thanks Diane! This was super helpful!

  • anne731

    This is the coolest.

  • Thanks so much – that is really great info I'm an avid reader fan, but I learned a few things!

  • geekxnerd

    Very cool post! I had no idea that you could tag posts and organize them like bookmarks. I organize blog posts that I want to keep track of on delicious – I wish that I knew earlier that I could do it all in one place!

  • Janet

    Wow! I had no idea that this feature was availble! I have been saving everything under the favorites bar since I am computer challenged at times. I will have to give this some exploring. I am a first time listener to the craftypod. Thanks so much.

  • SisterDiane

    My pleasure, Janet! Thanks for stopping by!

  • spindexr

    Cool. I have a whopping 23 subscribers! ;-)

  • SisterDiane

    Actually, it would be good to mention that there's a little bug in the
    subscriber counts. If you don't see them change over time, try
    unsubscribing from your blog and re-subscribing. We thought my Mom had
    only 15 subscribers for the longest time, and when we resubbed, lo and
    behold, there were more!

  • spindexr

    Your Mom with only 15 subscribers? Impossible! ;-) Thanks for the suggestion. I unsubbed and resubbed and still have 23 subscribers.

  • SisterDiane

    Just give it time, my friend!

  • Ellen

    Thanks so much. I just recently started using Google Reader as I realized I needed some help beyond bookmarks. I had no idea about all of the stuff you covered. Thanks again for taking the time to keep us all informed.

  • SisterDiane

    Thank you, Ellen!

  • Georgeann O. Clark

    Didn't learn anything new but did confirm my love for Google Reader. These organizational tools have allowed me to keep a handle on a real obsession-blogs. Just assumed everybody knew about this since I'm pretty techno inept. Just started using iGoogle and lovin' that too.Try it.

  • Michelle

    Wow. This is just great! And I really appreciate the tool that you used to make this video for the teeming millions. I'm used to watching screencasts for software tutorials and I find it the easiest way to learn computer-y type things. I wonder how else it could be used for crafty awesomeness? Thanks for taking the time to make this and I look forward to you making more casts in the future!

  • SisterDiane

    Thanks, Michelle! I so agree – all kinds of crafty potential for this
    stuff!

  • Oooh this video is super useful! I love me some Google Reader. I don't know what I would do without that search feature. I must use it ten times a day. Thanks so much for making this! I'll be linking.

  • SisterDiane

    You, my friend, are the undisputed all-time Google Reader Ninja.

  • Another really great feature is the keyboard shortcuts. To see them all type the question mark on your keyboard. I use j and k to navigate all the time. And you can star and tag items and all sorts of things with a key or two.

  • SisterDiane

    Great suggestions, Kuky – thank you!

  • Ok… how come I've never seen that Feed Seetings tab before?!!! You've just saved me tons of time. THANK YOU! And… yeah lookie me there! :)

  • SisterDiane

    Thank you for starring in my video! :-)

  • Okay, I feel really silly now that I never thought about tagging my starred posts. I’m going to be a tagging fiend from now on!

  • cal

    OMG! i am addicted to my GR but i swear i have never noticed all of those tabs and buttons! i think it's the same feature in my brain that allows me to not see any of the ads on my yahoo mail and other ad-filled sites (of course i do notice the cute crafty ads for indie businesses on craft blogs though!). i guess i need to adjust my mental filter settings because some of that peripheral stuff is actually GOOD ;n)

  • you can also just drag and drop into folders. love google reader! wish i could keep up with it! : )

  • mscate

    Fantastic tutorial! thankyou :)

  • Anonymous

    fantastic, thanks :)

  • julieadp

    Wow! I'm not the crafty sort, but I do follow a fair number of blogs. You've made my day! I found this post via MomAdvice.com

  • SisterDiane

    Thanks for stopping by, Julie! I'm glad you liked the video!

  • I use Good Reader like a fiend, but my tags don’t show up in my left pane with my subscriptions. Dunno why. Great video though!

  • Nikki M

    Cannot tell you how WONDERFUL and useful and incredible helpful and timely and…well WONDERFUL this video was. I use google reader for my blog reading but had no idea about all of the tools and timesavers this offered. Thank you thank you thank you! I know that some bloggers complain or state that they are not sure how their content is received…well super duper thumbs up to you.

  • SisterDiane

    Thank you so much, Nikki! That's so kind of you!

  • SweeTart77

    Sister D! My HERO! What great info and thank you soooooo much for presenting it in this really easy-too-understand tutorial. Thank you again for your amazing generosity and patience with us students.

  • SisterDiane

    Aw, thanks, Kathleen! I'm so glad you found it helpful. XO

  • melissalaverty

    Love this post. Thank you so much for creating it! I even shared this on my blog because I've noticed that a lot of people don't know about this awesome tool! fancymelissa.blogspot.com

  • SisterDiane

    Awesome, Melissa – thanks for spreading the word!

  • dianeinmyownstyle

    I found you via One Pretty Thing. I knew Google Reader must do more than I ever did with it. This is great tutorial. I can't tell you how excited I am about using all these tips. Thank you.

  • SisterDiane

    Thanks for stopping by, Diane! (Excellent name!) :-)

  • Check your settings. If you have “show updated” then tags won't show up if they've already been read. But they will show up if you have “show all”.

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