I tend to be known as one of those people who uncovers all the cool new articles and internet tools. Even if the tool or service is not related to my specific job, I still might see it and think of you!
How do I find out about all of these things? Simple... I spend a great deal of time consuming the web. I am a huge user of Google Reader... and unlike many people, I practice an "Inbox Zero" approach on my RSS feeds as well. I view every single one... every single day... If I am on my mobile device (which syncs with Google Reader), I star anything that is interesting, and then read it later (typically on Monday nights or Friday afternoons).
My Starred list (feed favorites) is just like my email inbox. I try and practice Google Star Zero on that as well. :)
Now, I know there are a lot of RSS Ninjas out there... who probably read way more than I do, but I like to think that I have a pretty good system. I don't keep a lot of junk in my feeds. If I don't get value or it is too noisy, I trim it out.
Here are some of my stats:
And a pretty chart of the last 30 days of activity.
You can see on 7/16 that I had gone on vacation for two days, so I had some serious catching up to do! And here is the top 10 most consumed feeds:
Being that I am in the web product space, it isn't surprising that something like TechCrunch is up there... they also tend to publish on average 30 stories a day, so those build up fast.
So if you too want to know about all the latest cool stuff having across every industry on the web, you now know the secret. Google Reader action.
I was thinking the other day about the things I am good at (career wise) and staying on top of the latest trends, products, and ideas definitely ranks up there. It is definitely not work. I enjoy sitting in front of the information firehose.
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