Getting Connected on Feedly

 

A storm of dissatisfaction has been brewing in my digital world for a long time. I'm tired of whirling in its vortex so I needed to end the frustration and find a solution.

I've had two main problems.

1) I've soured on social media

When I first got on social media it was a great place to connect and share with other genealogists. I was on all the platforms - even some that don't exist anymore. I have not given up on social media completely but the only platform I spend any time on is Facebook. But Facebook doesn't provide the same experience that it used to. The sense of awe and wonder is gone. It's simply a place to connect with people I don't want to lose touch with.

2) I need to break the cycle of doom scrolling / reading news

Since we have become a world obsessed with being online I have succumbed like most people to filling empty time with doom scrolling the news. It's an empty activity that succeeds in nothing but stressing me out and giving me anxiety. In order to break the habit I needed to find something else to fill my craving for daily online information.

The solution - Feedly

Feedly Homepage

Feedly is a blog reader. By using the Feedly website you can access all the blogs you follow in one place. As a hardcore podcast listener this is an environment that I've very comfortable in. In order to listen to podcasts you need a podcast player that "feeds" you all your podcasts. This is the same way that blog readers work.

Way back in the day I used Google Reader (which launched in 2005 and was sunset 2013) actively. At the time it closed I switched to Feedly. The interface was different enough that it never stuck with me so I stopped using it. However, I maintained the account.

This fall I found myself wanting to act on changing my personal digital behavior and went back to Feedly for another look.

Previously when I used a blog reader, I had followed individual bloggers. Ten years ago was the heyday for genealogy bloggers and there was a fresh energy surrounding the blogging community. There are far fewer active genealogy bloggers today but I have been surprised and delighted to find the amount of people still writing.

I have successfully switched my behavior to making blogs my go-to rather than getting sucked into an endless news cycle. It really didn't take much effort at all. Facebook has been removed from all my mobile devices (it has been for years. I only do Facebook on my computer). I did keep Instagram and Twitter but I use then infrequently. The most important change was that I put the Feedly app front and center on my phone.

The result - Success!

I am now heading to Feedly whenever I reach for my phone, craving the instant gratification of daily news. Not only am I staying away from the negative news cycle but I'm feeling much more informed about the genealogy world. I'm seeing posts about reviews of new features being offered by large genealogy companies, genealogy goals for 2024 and the "52 Ancestors" series posts.

The people who are filling my need for daily content are Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings and Jacqi Stevens of A Family Tapestry because they both write nearly every day. I also follow a nearly daily history blog called Boston 1775 by J.L. Bell. I've been reading Genea-Musings and Boston 1775 for years but now I am actually seeing and reading most of the posts.  These are supplemented by the many bloggers who write weekly or monthly.

I've found it so much easier to follow blogs on Feedly. The past few years I feel like I have seen very few blog postings on Facebook. My blog consumption plummeted. I had very little desire to visit many websites to seek out blog posts. I wasn't even sure anyone was even writing any more. Is this the result we get from letting social media control what we see? I'm so glad to have broken the cycle and put the control of my content consumption back in my own hands.

A few tweaks and I'm feeling connected!

After I fully adopted Feedly I realized I needed to make a few changes. I figured out that I didn't need to limit myself to individual bloggers. I started expanding my library with the blogs of genealogy societies, archives, genealogy podcasters, commercial genealogy companies - pretty much everything in the genealogy world that has an impact on my genealogy experience. 

This switch has been fantastic because now, after many years of wallowing in social media purgatory, I am starting to feel connected again with genealogy colleagues and genealogy news. And the bonus is it's all genealogy focused - I don't have to take the extra stuff that comes with social media. (Sometimes I like the extra stuff, sometimes not so much.)

I didn't stop with genealogy. While my main focus for Feedly will always remain genealogy I have added blogs so I can keep up with WordPress (via WPBeginner) and Photography (via PetaPixel).

One great unexpected benefit is that I have been able to unsubscribe to a bunch of newsletters thus freeing up my mail box which is a whole other issue.

What do you think?

Am I going to tell you to use Feedly? No. The new post-pandemic me is not interested in handing out unsolicited advice or creating trends.  If you've read this and it resonates with you, give it a try. If not, that's cool too. If you've found something better than Feedly (that's free) please let me know. 

In the past I've always been about discussions. I still am. Now I think I'm going to start to have them here. There are no social media connection barriers and we can focus on genealogy. I'm sure you'll see me back again here soon.