29 May 2013

Three strikes....{not lovin Bloglovin...how about Feedly?}

OK so I jumped on the bandwagon with all the rest of you a few weeks back. Set myself up on Bloglovin - put the obligatory 'Follow my blog with Bloglovin' at the bottom of my post.

But I gotta confess. I really don't LIKE Bloglovin. For a start it wouldn't show my own Things I'm Loving posts properly in my feed, nor Paisley Jade's posts either for that matter. I figured out it had something to do with all the weekly Things I'm Loving blog posts from way back all being named the same thing. Which is why I've been naming each one with a date recently, if you'd care to notice.  Strike one against Bloglovin in my opinion.



In Bloglovin I also can't import other news feeds like Stuff Headlines which I currently also read in Google Reader. Strike two.



In Google Reader, you can mark items as starred which means you can come back to your starred items later. This is how I mark blogs that I know I want to comment on later which means I can *star* them while I'm out and about and then I can sit down in the evening and go back to my starred items and comment. Or I can save them for re-reading or pinning to Pinterest for my favourite craft and photography blogs. As far as I can tell, Bloglovin only has a 'like' feature and nothing else. Dumb if you ask me. Strike three and you're out...Bloglovin.


Despite having installed Bloglovin, I was pretty much having a silent protest over here and continuing to use Google Reader even though I know its days are numbered. So I figured there had to be a better way.

Enter Feedly.

Feedly is sexy. It's well designed, looks good on the page and has so many more options than Bloglovin.


You can view your feed like this...looks just like Google Reader.


Or like this - more like how Bloglovin is set out.


Or even like this. So much choice people! Do you see it?!


And hey would you look at that, you can save all your favourites to go back to later to re-read, pin, comment on.

You can import your Google Reader information straight into here and it will turn your old starred items into new Saved items. Hallelujah!

Much, much better, in my humble opinion.

Oh and just wait until you see the lovely mobile app version.

The categories show up in lovely colours (mine don't here because I had no new blogs to read). And the blog lists look just like they did in Reader with people's icons etc.


And this little mobile view is just lovely, don't you think? So much nicer than Bloglovin where one blog post preview takes up the whole screen.


So you might have fallen in love with Bloglovin. And good on you if that's the case. But if you're like me and you're not really feeling the love, you've got nothing to lose. And I just know that my funny little brain is WAAAAAY happier viewing the world through Feedly-tinted eyes.


If you are looking for an alternative to Bloglovin, try Feedly. Don't take my word for it....have a go and see how friendly and well-designed it is! 


Follow my blog with Bloglovin

10 comments :

Ange - Tall, Short and Tiny said...

YOU are awesome! I have been getting so frustrated with Bloglovin' too - it randomly decided to change my email preferences to 'never'...um, I didn't select that one!
I will definitely be checking this out xx

Max said...

Great tip. Bloglovin keep putting random, totally not me blogs in my feed/faves-fed up of having to delete them all the time-argh!

Michelle said...

I've been using both. But I have to say I didn't realise Feedly had all these features - so I really appreciate this post!

Cate said...

Thanks Meghan - I was not enjoying Bloglovin' at all but thought it was just because I was missing Reader! Feedly is a much better reflection of how I actually collect and read blogs...plus that whole missing-the-g at the end of Bloglovin' really annoyed me!

Simoney said...

OK, so that looks AWESOME (and I'm not usually a google reader-user so I haven't noticed the glaring gaps in Bloglovin) BUT isn't Feedly just a safari browser-only thing? Only compatible with macs?? Ipads? Iphones? I'm an android/google chrome girl.
Will feedly work for me?
Cos if so, I'm over there like, YESTERDAY
x

Simoney said...

OK so in answer to my own question... I have just headed over to feedly and whaddya know - they have it for Chrome. So I downloaded it for my chrome, linked it to my Google reader (which was like TWO CLICKS) and hey presto. Feedly.
You are so right.
It's beautiful.
I'll keep bloglovin in the button collection (since some people will be using it still) but now I'll be looking for a Feedly button. LOVE it.

(and an Adroid app for my phone/tablet) THANKS Meghan!!

Miriam said...

oh I was there! I feel special. I just use my blogger dashboard... yeah I think that's going to disappear too.... I'm such a dinosaur about these things

Clare Hubbard said...

Oh, I thought I was the one disappointed in bloglovin... Forced change is tricky at the best of times but I really like the look of Feedly. Thanks for this info, Meghan!

Marie Turner said...

Omg I am so happy I read this! I've been wondering for ages how I can read all the blogs I like without having to visit each page individually via their websites! And it's really cool on my ipad! Thanks Meg xx

Dehill Coronav' said...

the only part I really like with feedly is his mobile app.

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