The demise of google reader

If you're a regular blog reader like me then you'll probably have heard that google reader will cease to exist as of 1st of July this year. I'm not especially sad to see the reader bit go as I use Bloglovin' instead anyway, but I will be sad to see my Google Friend Connect followers go.  I know I've only got 24, but I really appreciate each and every one! So if you would like to continue following me after 1st of July or you aren't a follower already then read on to get my take on the various options for blog following sans google reader.

Bloglovin

This is my favourite and the main feed reader I've used pretty much since I started blogging. It's come on leaps and bounds since I first joined and they really seem to listen to what people want from a feed reader. It has great functionality as you can organise blogs into folders really easily keep track of what you have and haven't read, but what really sold it for me is that you view posts in their original (pretty) contexts with the bloglovin' banner at the top to navigate. There's also a great little phone app so you stay up to date on the move. You can find my profile here -

Hello Cotton

This one seems fairly popular with a lot of craft bloggers, but I have to admit I still don't really 'get' it. It seems a great site for discovering new blogs and content, but I feel it's more aimed at discovery and the social element of blog reading as opposed to the organisational side which I feel I need, although I know a lot of people love it. You can find me here -

Feedly

I've heard a lot about this recently as the main opponent to Bloglovin' so I though I'd check it out.  It seems more customisable than Bloglovin' and is a great organisational tool, but I wasn't particularly keen on posts being displayed within the reader as opposed to in their original location so you don't get to see any of the surrounding blog design, but I can see why a lot of people like it.

Email, Facebook and Twitter

As always you can still follow me via email if you sign up on my sidebar or you can like my facebook page or follow me on twitter to get regular updates.

Thanks for reading and apologies for the long post. I hope to see you again soon!

Twitter - to split or not to split?

In writing this post this afternoon and then finding this post on UK Craft Blog I've decided to leave things as they are on twitter, with the exception of changing my Twitter name to aLittleBlonde and planing to make more use of lists and direct messages to organise things a bit better. So... this is me!

Follow @aLittleBlonde1

But, if you're interested in what I had to say earlier, then read on...

This is something I've been wondering about for a while now and The Pampered Sparrow's post the other day got me wondering about it again - how much do I want to share? At the moment I only have one twitter account that serves both me and aLittleBlonde. Although that makes things easier to manage, it does mean that my tweets, people I follow and interactions with others are somewhat mixed between me talking with friends, choir stuff, the things I get up to every day and things going on with aLittleBlonde.

On the internet I like to keep things fairly anonymous as aLittleBlonde. I'm not hiding my 'real-life' name/face, but I'm not particularly publicising it either - to be honest I can't decide quite how much I want to share. How much do I want aLittleBlonde to be directly traceable to me? (especially when you take potential future employers into account!). Hopefully you won't find many direct references to the 'real' me, not that she's really any different to aLittleBlonde, although I do hint every now and then and talk about where I live rather a lot - just have a look at my tags to see what I mean!

So what's my point? Well, there are many different strands to what makes me me - there's the third year psychology student, the daughter of two incredibly musical parents, the friend, the choir girl  the school friend  the employee of a big high street store I'm not allowed to mention, the potential future teacher and graduate, the crafter and of course aLittleBlonde. Most of that gets summed up anonymously (unless you know me personally and make the connection) in aLittleBlonde and there isn't a defining line where one begins and the other ends. At the moment my twitter page is both me and aLittleBlonde and I'm not overly sure whether to leave it that way or split things up a bit. Apart from anything else, my twitter feed must seem rather random to my followers sometimes!

So is it time to make the split - one twitter account for me and one for aLittleBlonde? There's just a couple of things holding me back - for a start how on earth do I split myself in two? Do I need to? What if there's something I want to say through both my personal twitter account and aLittleBlonde - do I copy and paste, retweet myself...? What about those who follow both?

Well done if you've managed to make it to the end of this rather wordy post! Please do let me know if you've got any thoughts. What do you think - to split or not to split?

Happy Tuesday, 

aLittleBlonde