While some of my non-techie friends have been using Bloglines for a few years, I couldn’t get quite grasp the point. Why log in to another site and read my bookmarked news sites. Wouldn’t I miss the nice layouts of TWOP or the whole experience from Feministing?

Cut to last weekend when I spent my Sunday with Jenn and basically geeked out and shared social media experiences. Jenn showed me her Google Reader and explained how it made reading all of her bookmarked sites so much easier. For me, being able to see something “in action” is how I understand a concept. (Why do you think I wish I had a giant whiteboard as a wall in my apt?) I logged into Google Reader and started adding my bookmarked sites. And voila! It made my news-reading so much more efficient. It cut down the time that I once needed to click on each site from my bookmarks toolbar and menu. Some images don’t pop up within the news article but that’s ok. There is a link to the article which opens a new tab (Firefox) if I decide I want to visit the website. So far, I’m a fan.

This afternoon, I was IM-ing Joanne, and she mentioned that she visited websites by typing them by memory! Yikes. I explained the benefits of an RSS reader, just as pal Jenn did for me, and voila, I think we’ve got another convert!

Here’s a screenshot of what my Google Reader looks like:

Google Reader snapshot

If you click on All Subscriptions, you’ll see on the right-hand frame all the articles. All you have to do is scroll down.

Or if you’d like, you can click on each Category or specific website on the left-hand frame.

Have fun! One of these RSS readers will fit your preference.