How to Read Blogs Other Than in Email...This Is Important!

If you read Questioning my Intelligence and/or my other blogs via Google Friend Connect or a blog reader (such as Feedly or Bloglovin) or you simply favorite it in your browser, please disregard the rest of this post. You're good.

If you read blogs via FeedBurner email subscription, please read what I have to say...EVEN IF YOU HAVE HAD NO INTERRUPTION IN SERVICE!!!!

That's right. I'm yelling at you. Sorry about that.

The recent changes implemented by a number of large email providers have negatively impacted many blog readers who use FeedBurner email subscription services. There is little hobby bloggers like myself can do to fix this.

If you read this or other blogs via email, this Feedburner problem is likely to grow. Those of you currently receiving Feedburner emails may eventually stop receiving them if the protocol (or something similar) in use by yahoo and gmail gets picked up by other email providers. Also, it may very well be that Google bought Feedburner with the intention of letting it die, just like it let Google Reader die, in an effort to drive market to its Google Friend Connect and Google+.

So, if you are looking for alternatives to receiving blog posts via email, here are a few ideas.

1. If you read fewer than 15 or so blogs, consider creating a favorites folder in your browser and check each blog every morning for new posts. This won't take too much time with just a few blogs, and you'll find that going to the actual website (rather than just seeing posts in emails) can be rather fun.

2. If you read more than 15 blogs, consider signing up for a FREE blog reader account. There are several different ones available, but I like the simplicity of Bloglovin. It's easy and you only need to sign in to one website each day to find all the new content on each and every blog you want to read. Saves lots of time and clicking. (I get nothing for my endorsement of Bloglovin, by the way. I use it and like it.)

3. No matter how many blogs you read, consider a Google Friend Connect account. (That's right. Bow down to the almighty Google. Resistance is futile.) It's easy...well, sort of. Eventually, I figured it out. Currently, there are 61 people following Questioning via Google Friend Connect. Thanks, y'all! If they can figure it out, the rest of us can, too. The advantage here, as with Bloglovin, is that you only see new content and don't waste your time clicking to the blog when nothing new has been added. I like that.

4. If you're looking for an easy access just to my blogs, the One-Layer Simplicity Challenge, and the OLS team's stamping blogs, I created a single website with links to all of them: Work-Around List. If you favorite this blog in your web browser, you'll have ready access to all those blogs.

5. If you are on Facebook, I plan on starting both Questioning my Intelligence and Simplicity by LateBlossom Facebook pages soon, on which I will post links to new content. Little slow getting on the social media bandwagon, but there you have it.

If any of my readers have other ideas, please post them in the comments. Also, if you have questions, please post them in the comments rather than emailing me. It will be far easier for me to address questions publicly than one at a time privately.

If you are totally lost, don't worry. You're in good company. Just know that if you are reading this in email, you might one day stop receiving it. It won't mean I stopped writing, just that Feedburner and your email service are no longer compatible.