Since switching from Bloglines to Google Reader from back in mid-June, I’ve become much better at managing my RSS feeds. Here’s the method to my madness:

Scanning
I use Google Reader’s List view to take in my feeds river-of-news style. This means I’m scanning headlines and quickly deciding which ones warrant further reading. Reminder to all of us with blogs: good headlines are essential.

Sharing I
Clicking the Share button at the bottom of a post or using the Shift + S keyboard shortcut adds a post to my publicly shared items feed. (Subscribe to it in your RSS reader to find out which posts are catching my eye.)

Sharing II
I alert friends and colleagues to posts I think will interest them by clicking the Email button at the end of a post and sending off a quick message.

Starring
The Add star option (shortcut key s) is helpful for posts I’ll want to come back to.

Tagging
I also create custom tags — Google calls them “labels — for posts I want to revisit. My tags include towatch, for videos I’ll want to take in when I have more time; monster, for posts I’ll want to keep track of for my day job; and totry, for posts about a new tool or site I’ll want to come back and play with later on.

Trending

Google Reader’s Trends data is one of its most interesting — though I would guess most under-used — features. I can see which feeds I’m reading most often. For example, I’ve read 13 posts from Penelope Cruz (68% of her total output) and 14 from Dan York (82%) in the last 30 days. I can also see the feeds I’m barely reading at all or that haven’t been updated by the authors in several weeks, and they’re likely to get axed as part of my ongoing effort to keep my total number of feeds at a manageable number (currently 158).

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