The Leader's Toolbox: Google Reader

As Tim Sanders and Andy Stanley are fond of saying, leaders are readers.  And with blogging still growing in popularity, we have an unprecedented amount of great material available to us totally free. The problem, of course, is that it’s really tough to follow more than three or four blogs faithfully.  We quickly get overwhelmed by the time it takes to click on each bookmark, searching for each

The best way to take advantage of all of this content is by using a feed agregate, or Reader.

Nearly every blog has what’s called an RSS Feed.  You should be able to find it by clicking on the icon that looks like the one to the right.  You can click on it, and you’ll be redirected to a page that lets you put the blog in your reader.

The reader will then automatically manage your blogs.  You’ll see exactly when a new blog is posted, and you can read it, sometimes even comment right from the reader.

Now, there are tons of great readers out there… here’s a site that compares them for you.  I use Google Reader, which is fantastic (and no, you don’t need a Gmail to use it).  It’s simple, fast and interfaces with all the other Google products (which, if you’re not using, you should be!). Google Reader lets you star and tag favorite posts, organize your feeds into folders, email favorites to friends, team members and employees, and more.  Check it out: Here’s a screen shot of my Reader.  You can see the other Google users I follow, the feeds to which I subscribe (neatly organized into folders) and the main reading screen.  It’s slick and elegant… quintessential Google! <click to enlarge> So, how do you find good feeds?  Well, in addition to the blogs you already follow, one great way to use Google Reader to find more feeds!  You can ‘follow’ others, either by searching for their name/email address, or by finding their follow address (mine is here).  Reading what others you respect share is a great way to find golden needles in the haystack of the internet. Here are a few of my favorite leaders to follow (linked to their feeds): Michael Hyatt (Thomas-Nelson CEO) Tim Sanders (One of my favorite Leadership guys, and awesome author) Seth Godin (Social Media/Marketing Guru, Author) Mitch Joel (Social Media Guru/Author, Six Pixels of Separation) Here are a few of my friends who both write and share excellent material: Tom Fuerst Tiffany Malloy Henry Imler Annah Bender The Modern Reject Ben Reed (Bonus: if you’re an iPhone user, the Byline app syncs with Google Reader flawlessly.  It’s a must-own!)

Do you use a Reader?  If not, why not? If you do, what do you like?  And whom do you follow?