On being the new Digg. Oh, and RSS Readers too.

Okay, that title might suggest I’m getting ever so slightly ahead of myself by claiming “Stu’s take” is the new Digg (what with my monumental daily visitor stats of approximately 15 folks a day and all…), but: has anyone noticed yet that lately this blog has become not much more than a glorified referral site?

I started out writing posts about starting a blog. Go figure. Obviously once the blog was a few posts old (bless, they grow up so fast) you had already read everything, and a dash more, about Blogger you cared, or not, to read.

You then had the honour (you’re welcome) of discovering the frankly incredible ways I’d manage to wreck every single individual element related to Blogger, and a few totally unrelated but in the wrong place at the wrong time items. For a while there I’m convinced I broke Google. And Twitter. And a cup. Probably a window too.

But there are just so many awesome links out there that y’all absolutely have to see right now, or your lives would be so far from complete that it could in fact be considered a waste that you were even born. Or not. Clearly “someone” cough cough me cough cough needs to get a life…

Which is why the majority of posts consist of things that say “click here to check it out”, or “click the image to see a gallery”, or ummm…. uhhh…. well that’s pretty much it lately, innit?

If you wish to lay blame, I say lay it at the feet of Google Reader and the productivity destroying evils of RSS Feeds. Now before your eyes glaze over at the thought of yet more Geek-speak, you might actually be interested in this one.

I don’t know what it’s like overseas, but here in South Africa it appears that not many folks actually use RSS feeds or know why they should care. Let me sum it up really simply before I completely lose you lot – say there are approximately 20 sites/blogs you regularly check (you know – sites that update regularly). It can get seriously old going to each and every one of them individually on a regular basis. Instead, if you click the bit on the site that says “RSS Feed” or words to that effect, all these sites will automatically be regularly updated by one central site, in my case Google Reader, although there are plenty of others out there too.

Or for a real explanation, click the titles (I know: I’m doing it again) to find out more: Google Reader and RSS feeds.

So when I have a spot of time on my hands, such as when I’m actually supposed to be working, I simply go to Google Reader, and have all the posts from all those sites waiting to be read in one place whenever I’ve got the time, such as in business meetings when I get bored (which is pretty much from start to finish…). No more loading up 20 different sites – one glance and you know which site has new posts, as well as the number of updates since you last read.

Give it a bash. I have spoken.

Right, so what does any of this have with being the new Digg? Not much, to be honest. But in my very long way round the point I am trying to make is this: I get so many interesting links every day through the use of RSS Feeds, that most of the better ones end up getting posted here on this blog. Just for you. Because I’m thoughtful like that. It’s a pleasure.

Digg is a massive referral site. Stu’s take is a micro referral site. So I’m the new Digg, but smaller. A lot smaller. Kind of like if Digg was an elephant, this site would be a bacterium. But identical in all other respects. Kinda. Okay, not really. But the title made you read this.

Anyhoo, I’m off to check Google Reader for any new (and neatly listed) pictures of dumb people hurting themselves in imaginative ways. Coz that’s entertainment right there. I’ll be sure to try fob them off as real blog posts immediately, kinda like Digg would.