Becoming a Google Reader Ninja – The Advanced Course
Photo: Stéfan
My last post on how to become a Google Reader Ninja covered some basic tips and tricks such as double tagging and time management. Today I'll focus on the tags/folder structure.
The diagnose
Are your feeds beginning to pile up? Do you feel anxiety when opening or merely thinking about your Google Reader? Well my friend, you've been diagnosed with having a case of an Unstructured RSS Reader.
The main purpose of an RSS reader is to make your news consumtion more efficient, enabling you to spend less time reading more stuff that's important to you. But it is also really important that it is inspiring. The only way to feel inspired every single time you visit your reader is to keep a tight folder structure and to keep it that way.
Because the truth is that – just like a ninja – you need to keep that footwork going all the time, moving feeds up or down in importance, creating new folders or deleting them. If you at any time feel you don't want to open your reader or a folder – you know that's your cue to make a change.
Step 1: How to structure your reader
While you need to find a structure that suits you, I'll explain how I do it to give you a reference.
Always is the folder that I start with when logging on to Google Reader. When it is emptied I consider myself quite updated on what is going on around the social media industry.
Maybe is a folder that I usually read extensively/headers only, but when time allows it I spend as much time in it as in Always.
Dispensable is the folder where I can click Mark all as read without feeling anxiety about having missed something important.
Step 2: Learn to move like a ninja
A skilled Google Reader Ninja longs for logging on to the reader, since any unread item is important, inspiring or at least easy to delete. This is achieved through a constantly ongoing adding, moving, splitting or deleting of feeds and folders. A common GR user mistake is to get attached to feeds, not wanting to move a blog or news source that seemed super important a year or so ago.
This is why it is so important to keep a folder structure which signals importance. If you at any time open your folder named Super Important and identify a feed that doesn't anymore feel Super Important – move it down a notch. At first it feels hard to let go, but soon you will get that feeling of freedom.
Step 3: Never ever delete a feed
One of my most important folders in Google Reader is my Database folder. It is a folder I never read but always click Mark all as read. In Database I put every single source of information that I find even remotely interesting or important. By doing this I create my own miniature search engine, to use for datamining information.
This function has proven to be of great importance over and over again. When conducting any kind of research or reporting job, I know I can rely on my own news database to get hits from the sources I trust. Over time this has saved me hours of research time.
Conclusion
1. Create a structure. 2. Re-structure. 3. Even if you never read it – don't unsubscribe, move it to your database.
Thoughts? Input?
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Comments to this article
Thanks! Glad you like it :).
Thanks for the last tip. I was wondering how to handle sites I never read. It's a good idea to keep it as a potential future reference.
@Fruitfulvine2 Yep it sure has helped me a lot.
Spot on! Thanks :)