Hope This Message Finds You

In only a few days, what to some will be a monumental catastrophe is slated to occur.

For others? Those like me would hardly blink at the scheduled demise of Google Reader on July 1—if only it weren’t for the fact that it will impact a high percentage of blog readers across the board and around the world.

I’ve never been a fan of Google Reader, frankly. That, however, is my consumer voice speaking.

When I switch hats to my blogging role, I realize the massive impact this event can have on readership.

So I want to very earnestly ask you, my dear reader, to check and insure that you are not going to be one of the many who have put off making the big switch from Google Reader to another blog—and news—reading device until it is too late.

I’d really miss you if you were…

Well, I suppose true confessions are in order here. I, too, was one among the many procrastinators. Only last night did I make the switch.

And, just in case my inept computer skills did me wrong on that switch, I overdid it and signed up for not one but two different readers. On my iPad, I chose to download the FlipBoard app. For my desktop (yes, the dinosaur clunker!) I went with Feedly.

If you are still casting about for an alternate reader, check out this list of clickable suggestions I found, courtesy of the blog at Author Media.

And if you choose, as I did, to migrate to Feedly, here are some instructions to help ease the pain of unwanted change.

Just be sure to do it by June 30.

Now, here’s a word for those of you who are not only readers but writers. Consider the effect this change is going to impose on your own readership. Remember those handy gadgets you installed on your blog when you first set up shop? As of last night, when I checked what came up for those clicking to subscribe via RSS feed, Google was still offered as a main choice. Feedly and FlipBoard and all those other current choices available now? No mention.

Wrong.

Until these new options integrate themselves into the mainstream of gadgets to be handily placed on our blogs, you may as well take the offensive and plunk down the appropriate buttons on your own cyber-property.

I like what Beverly McGowan Norman posted on her blog, Roots, Branches and a Few Nuts, yesterday: a link to Feedly’s instructions on how to add a widget to your own blog. That way, subscribers can simply click the link that says, “Follow on Feedly.”

One of the beauties of blogging is witnessing the gathering of a community of like-minded readers around any particular blog. I’ve certainly enjoyed interacting with the circle of readers who’ve gathered here. To think that any of us would be “lost” owing to a third party’s decision to disconnect its service is rather sad. I just don’t want it to happen to you. I certainly would miss your company—and your input! Whether you are one of those faithful daily participants here at A Family Tapestry or a more occasional reader, I hope this message finds you before we turn the calendar page on another month.