This weekend, The 3 R’s Blog turns six years old! (And it’s not the only one–Happy Blogiversary to my same-age blogging siblings It’s All About Books and Word Lily, too!)
My fifth blogiversary was a three-post extravaganza. This one’s a bit more subdued, and comes at a time of major reassessment for the blogiverse-at-large. You’ve probably heard this about this in many places over the last few days, but just in case you’ve managed to miss the news, Google Reader will be shutting down as of July 1.
If you’re a blogger, odds are you’re a big reader of blogs too, and since no one has time to hop around the internet visiting their several hundred favorite sites every day, Google Reader (or something like it) has probably been a big part of your life. It’s definitely been part of mine, and it’s all about to change, so get ready! (In all honesty, it may not change as much for me; I’ve been using “alternative” RSS reader Feedly for quite awhile, and they seem to be making preparations to carry on without using GReader as source material. Fingers crossed!)
There’s an argument that Google Reader is based on an outdated model and has outlived its usefulnesss, but I’ve seen some strong disagreement with that premise over the last few days. That said, it may be the end of an era, but it’s not the end of the world, and change can be reframed as opportunity. This is as good an incentive as any to assess how you consume and create content in blogging and social media, and determine if it’s all really what you want to be doing.
This much I know, at this point in time:
- Blogging is my favorite way to partake in social media, and my preference is to have blogging come to me, via a feed reader.
- For those who share my preference, this blog has an RSS feed (in original and mobile-friendly flavors!)
- If you prefer to have content come to you, but you don’t use a feed reader, there’s always the e-mail option. (I really doubt e-mail is facing extinction.) This blog offers three e-mail subscriptions.
- all posts
- reviews only
- photos only (for Wordless Wednesday fans)
(There’s a “subscribe” button in the left-hand sidebar–one click will give you all of your e-mail and RSS options.)
- If you’ve moved on to newer forms of social media or don’t want to flood your inbox any more than, all posts are linked at the blog’s Facebook page–if you “like” the page (and set your FB preferences appropriately), you can get new posts and other content right there.
- My own social-media reassessment includes Twitter, but I’ll still be linking to each new post there too.
At this point, I’m not contemplating any big changes for the upcoming 7th year of The 3 R’s Blog. I expect to continue my current posting pace of 2-3 times per week for the foreseeable future, including the Sunday Salon, Linked-Up Wordless Wednesday, and…something else, to be determined by what I’ve been reading and what’s on my mind.
As of today, I’m 135 short of 2000 blog posts, and I see no reason right now to think I won’t get there. That particular milestone may spur some bigger changes around here! (Or not.)
My plans for today–Happy St. Patrick’s Day, by the way!–are to write reviews for two books I finished this past week (one for the freelance gig, one to post here), do some housecleaning, read a bit, and see what else comes along to fill the day.
