.Real.Greg.Lee.

I’m a huge fan of blogs.  Those on the leading edge of media are already moving beyond them and I’m curious to see the next stream of communication, but I think as the leading edge moves to the next thing, most of the world is just now experiencing the benefits of “the blog-o-sphere”.

Here are my typical conversations about my blog and other blogs:

1.  How I read so many:  I subscribe to about 50 blogs.  Of course some have content daily or more often.  Some are much less frequent.  With so many blogs, I definitely want to do 2 things: 

• I want to skim for the best content.  I almost never read long blogs and usually decide in the first few sentences whether I want to read the rest of anything. 

• I want them to come to an organized place where I can read them in my downtime.  They may stack up for days at a time or I might have multiple times in a day where 5 minutes can let me scan a pile of them.  I tend to read them while I’m waiting things — the oil changed in my car, someone to show up for a lunch appointment, etc.  Of course having them on your laptop or your phone (or at least a laptop) is a huge plus for this.

2.  How I subscribe:  I subscribe to all by their RSS feed.  RSS is short or “really simple syndication” and different platforms use it to put all the blogs you read in one place.  Most blogs have place you can click to subscribe by RSS and even if they don’t your internet browser probably has a symbol (the image above) you can click on to subscribe to a page.  I have my RSS feeds drop in to my Outlook program, but there are a lot of options.  I used to subscribe by email to blogs, but RSS brings them within minutes of being posted rather than a once-a day update.  If you want to read more than a few blogs, you should TOTALLY use a Feed Reader instead of email subscription.

3.  The blogs I read:  These fit in categories for me. Here are the primary ones:

• Suncrest Blogs:  Whether it is our Prayer Blog or our Cultivate Blog or Student Life Ministry Blog or East Campus stuff from Doug or Andy Kaser’s Blog, it’s great to stay in the loop on stuff around here.

• Other Blogs by Church Leaders:  Some are friends so I love to hear their personal stuff.  Others are kind of “long distance mentors” because they use their blogs to share leading ideas/best practices/struggles/etc.  Very helpful!

• Suncrest People with Blogs:  I subscribe to any personal blog I know of that a suncrest person does.  It may sound bad, but it is a very efficient way of keeping up with people and I think it often gives me a window into how real life is treating people.  That’s a huge help as a teacher. (If you have one…send me yours!)

• Blogs with Exceptional Leadership Content:  I’m a leadership junkie and there are a few blogs I read where I’m am constantly blown away by the consistently rich content when it comes to capturing how leadership works and how the world works in response to good (or bad!) leadership.  The two best in my opinion are Seth Godin and Mac Lake.  Seth’s is consistently insightful and Mac’s is utterly practical.

4.  Why I read so many:  You can be a reader and not be a leader, but you can’t be a leader and not be a reader.  It’s one of only a few ways you will grow in the next year.  I still read books, but blog reading has replaced (and guided) a good chunk of that for me.  I’m reading to grow and connect now every day – rather than waiting for the elusive time I think I’ll find a block to sit down to read hundreds of pages.

That’s it for Reading Blogs.  Tomorrow I’ll talk about writing them (and unveil the new design for my blog I’ve been working on.)

~ by Greg Lee on December 31, 2009.

Posted in Suncrest