Sunday, April 7, 2013

A-Z blogging challenge:
G is for Google (with a side of Grief) and Generosity


The springtime news that Google is shutting down the Reader in July was met by many with shock and horror (hence, the "side of grief" in the headline). Right now there are 140,000+ signatures on a "keep Google Reader running" petition, and bloggers and news agencies everywhere are asking: is this the end of RSS? 

According to my sage sibling, RSS has been on the way out for years. YEARS, I tell you. Well, he may not have said it *that* emphatically... whatever works to get you the information in the way you want it, I always say. For husband and myself, Google Reader has been the preferred way to subscribe and follow various blogs, from business to tech to fantasy football (him) to quilts/crafts/cooking/writing/poetry (me). So the question is, should we just give those up, even as time constraints mean I skate the surface (or just mark it "read" and move on, unless you are in my "daily reading" folder) most days anyway? (Not *you,* my fellow dear bloggers, I mean those "other" feeds...)

Hardly.

I have a variety of ways I stay connected with sources of information, and in the interest of making sure you know how to stay connected with me and others, come July, I thought a quick review of options might be helpful. If you have a favorite, or another method I don't mention here, please let me know!

1. Email subscriptions. See the section over there to the right, where you can follow by email? That's a great way to stay in touch--in fact, I believe quite a few of you follow SweetTea&Sunshine that way. I usually try and post early in the morning, knowing that it will then be pushed out by around 11 a.m.-noon... a nice mid-day pick-me-up (she says, modestly)! I have grown my own number of email subscriptions over the years, and then go through periods of cleaning out and removing unread ones too... tastes and interests change, and what piqued my interest two or three years ago may not anymore...

2. RSS feed. Whether it's Google or another reader, Real Simple Syndication is a reliable way to follow blogs and sites. There are more of you following SweetTea&Sunshine using a feed reader than via email, so if it's Google, between now and July, alternatives will need to be found.

I am currently playing with Feedly, but not loving it completely. Lifehacker has been tracking the change, and posting recommended options--I will keep an eye out there for anything that transpires in the next couple of months that changes my views, but I have a feeling Feedly will be it. (Here's a recent pro-Feedly post from Lifehacker if you need help to make the move...)

3. Following via Blogger. Also in the righthand sidebar, this is an easy way to keep track of blogs you want to stay up to date with... that are in Blogger and use this widget. So, it only accomplishes part of the world wide interwebs equation.

4. Facebook. I set up a Facebook page for SweetTea&Sunshine years ago, but haven't utilized it, much. Maybe I will do that in the coming months; I know that I have really enjoyed reading various blogs that way, and feel less of a need to subscribe in a more traditional sense because of that. Right now if I want to push a blog post out via Facebook, I just do it as me, but I'm sensitive to the idea that not every friend of mine might want to know about my blogging... I have no idea why. I certainly appreciate it when my friends post their new blogs via Facebook. Just my thing to get over, I guess.

5. Twitter. This one is even less utilized (by me) than Facebook. The only times I really post to Twitter are when I am posting to LinkedIn or Instagram, and the option is included in what I'm already doing. I know, how's that for the laziest Twitter user, ever? I am appreciative of two Twitter feeds that I get via email: news.me and a daily news aggregate of people I follow from Twitter itself, too. I just don't have time to ride the Twitter stream...

OK, enough about Google, even as there may be some grief in letting go of Reader; I have a feeling we'll all get over it soon enough. Maybe eventually we'll even be able to see it as a good thing?

Completely switching gears, I can't help but add Generosity to G'day. People who are generous of spirit are some of my very favorite. Monetary or material generosity is fabulous too, don't get me wrong; philanthropy on every scale (widow's mite to Warren Buffett) is a topic quite dear to my heart.

But generosity of spirit? Rarer than cold hard cash, I find. In my humble view, more daily, small acts of generosity would go a long way toward healing the world of hurt.
A few that came to mind...
--Letting in the driver who is pissing  you off and nudging in ahead of you, without pulling up and cutting them off. Really, are those 10 seconds of traffic annoyance going to make or break your (my) day, one way or the other?
--Paying a compliment to someone you know isn't your biggest fan.
--Making sure your colleague gets the proper credit when the boss gives you props on a project and it was more of a joint effort.
--Being the kind of person who is approachable and open, even in difficult conversations.
--Smiling at Mr./Ms. Grumpypants, wherever you encounter him/her... (If you need a refresher of my Ms. Grumpypants: see here, #7.)

Small acts, every day, help bring others into our world, draw people in; and through extending the generosity outward, it comes back--in spades. Isn't that really what we all want, to be understood (even for a minute), to connect, to not feel alone? Be generous enough to let others in and vice versa; sometimes it's not about giving to others, but letting them give to you.

These two famous artists recently were recorded letting someone else share the stage with them, rather generously. Now, it can of course be argued from a PR standpoint that this is what one does to "look good" and come across as a lovely human being, when in reality they could each be completely otherwise. Well, I choose to give them the benefit of the doubt. And Michael's reaction? That can't be scripted, can it?





Who can you extend a hand of generosity toward, today? What proverbial "youngster" can you share a stage with, and make their day? Be on the lookout; I'd wager there will be an opportunity or two, or three!


What's this A-Z business about? Check out my kick-off post. And stay tuned for the random joy and nonsense I concoct during the month of April!

24 comments:

  1. When I read about the closure of Google Reader, I was glad. I was hoping they would also remove GFC, because that would stop that "follower collection" hysteria, but that will never stop I guess. I think with using a reader you miss the fun stuff with a blog... people spend time on designing a blog and make it look nice, and then people don't see it anyway because they read it through a feed reader.
    Personally I've never used RSS readers, I've tried but I have no idea how to use them! I use Feedburner for my own blogs though, to send new posts to Twitter. And I guess Bloglovin and any other service also uses RSS feeds to pull posts from blogs, so I wouldn't think RSS will disappear.

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    1. When you put it like that, "the follower collection hysteria," I can't help but agree/see your point. I'd say I don't go in for that stuff, but then you see my GFC widget, and doing the A-Z challenge, and well, that wouldn't hold much water, would it?

      I still go to blogs to comment, so I get to see the design and such anyway, so that wasn't the issue for me. What I love about RSS is that is feeds the info TO me, I don't have to wonder, "Did Susanne do a new post?" and go check it out--I KNOW, it's there! So for me, RSS has been fab.

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    2. I totally see your point with RSS, it's very handy if you know how to use it, but where do you mean the new posts end up? In your e-mail? I don't think I'd want that. I think my e-mail is enough cluttered anyway! But I'm always that odd person in these cases, like, I don't want e-mail notifications from Twitter and whatnot, if I get an e-mail I want it to be a REAL e-mail, you know, from real people....the only notifications I want are Wordpress telling me I have a new comment on my blog. Everything else is just annoying to me!
      Regarding GFC, you could still use it without being a follower number collector, although there may not be a point with it when there is no Google reader.

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  2. I agree Generosity is very important. I love it when someone is Grumpy and you show Generosity and they eventually Grin.

    My post today is also Google.

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    1. Awesome with the Gs, Sharon. I will definitely check out your Google post!

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  3. I've never used the RSS Feeder or the Google Reader, so I can't say much about that. I do like that you add Generosity into your post.
    #1345
    A to Z April Blogging Challenge
    http://mauldinfamily1.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/g-is-for-the-goat-man/

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    1. Adding generosity to any post is a good idea, don't you think?

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  4. The thing I don't like about Feedly is the inability to alphabetize the blogs I read LOL! First world problems, eh? http://www.quora.com/Feedly/Is-there-a-way-to-organize-sort-the-items-within-a-Feedly-category

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    1. Well, my dear, for those of us who had NO idea that alphabetizing was an option with GR (but now that I think about it, I guess I knew on some level...), Feedly's lack thereof hasn't been an issue. My main deal with it is that I thought it was a stand-alone engine, so made a bunch of changes and edits to my feeds once they were IN Feedly, only to find out that it still is DRIVEN by Google until Feedly gets their act together. So for now, I'm staying with GR. I'll continue to research and if, by mid-June, there's no better option, I'll leap!

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  5. Oh, my my!!! The music videos got me...here I am with tears!!!!

    I too have been thinking of the generosity of spirit concept. Trying to go with the spirit rather than just the words.

    Thank you. I will leave the google thingy with you until we can meet and you can explain it to me face to face.

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    1. I know, right?! Michael especially moved me, but Billy is a gracious man too.

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  6. You forgot Gratitude ;)

    I never used Google reader at all- I've always used a feed reader application on my Mac to read websites. And Twitter... just not for me. It's like texting in that it's something I admire very much (oh, the brevity!) but something I am not capable of. Brevity is not my thing, except when on phone calls or when having to wait in doctor's offices.

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    1. You KNOW I didn't forget Gratitude, Chel... I just thought it would get such wide coverage, being such a hip-cat concept these days, that I'd do something different... I need to go check out some of the other blogs and see if my assumption was correct.

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    2. I'm joining from the A-Z challenge and would love to know more about readers, and what you decide, thanks for the useful info. My biggest problem at the moment is not being able to manage replies to my comments on other peoples blogs.
      You might like my G G is for grateful post... I hope it changes your assumption :)

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  7. Like you, I'm hesitant to post blog updates to Facebook because I'm not sure my 'friends' are that interested. I should just get over it. It's not like I'm interested in everything they post to FB.

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    1. Exactly! We all know how to slide past the 34th picture of someone's baby/cat/lunch, so they'll do it when they get to our blog post... right?

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  8. Generosity goes along away. Even if it's just smiling at the Walmart cashier who's been working all day for 'peanuts'!

    Blogging A to Z Challenge http://www.shellygoodmanwright.com/apps/blog/show/25492250-g-is-for-guilty

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    1. Right on. Now to remember when I'm actually IN the situation! Every. Day.

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  9. I love all your G words today! Google just confuses me and I need a lesson over breakfast. And Generosity--one of my favorite words of ALL time! Lovely, lovely post!!!

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    1. How did I miss this comment? I am all for a Google anything over breakfast!

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  10. I hadn't seen the petition, but am linking over to it when I leave here. I am a word press blog, so I was already dealt a blog when GFC left any non-blogger blogs. I don't think this is the end of RSS, too many other readers are jumping in. I am just waiting for a while before I change.

    Thanks for checking out my AtoZ.
    Rhonda @Laugh-Quotes.com

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    1. I'm still hanging out on Google Reader, Rhonda... I figure I'll make a switch when I HAVE to!

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  11. G: Generosity of spirit. I like that phrase. It's so nice to be nice. :)

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    1. Me too. It can be nice to be not nice sometimes, but generally it's nice to be nice.

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