Finding new feeds to read and enjoy was a lot of fun! The method that allowed me to find what I was looking for most easily was to use precise search terms in Google Blog Search. While all of the feed search services were able to (eventually) point me toward new and interesting feeds based on my search criteria, Google Blog Search was the easiest to use for me. Perhaps it was the fact that it is powered by Google's search algorithms, but Google Blog Search seemed to just zero in on exactly what I was looking for, while the others required me to "work-around" the search function, since they always brought up a bunch of irrelevant blogs/posts. For example, I wanted to find a blog on teaching high school math, so I typed in "teaching high school math," expecting a deluge of unrelated posts. Instead, the very first blog to appear was Reflections of a High School Math Teacher, a blog created by Illinois high school math teacher Dave Sladkey. Sladkey's blog is a charming mix of anecdotes, tips, and strategies that illustrate what it's really like to be a high school math teacher, and it is one of my new feeds (unfortunately, there is no RSS feed, you can only subscribe by email).
Check after the jump for more of my feed search results...
Technorati was better at categorizing blogs and telling me about their popularity, their "authority," and their content. This was awesome for starting with a broad general topic, like technology, then sifting through to find more specific interests, like utilizing tablets in the classroom. As I said before, though, the search function on Technorati seemed to cast a very wide net, unless I constrained it to a specific category of blogs. It was usually easier and faster to simply manually narrow down categories. However, once I got used to the "learning curve" for the site, it was well-organized, though a little awkward to navigate. It was on Technorati that I found out about Mashable.com, a blog devoted to social media news and web tips. While the major coverage today was the iPad 3...excuse me, "the New iPad," Mashable normally carries stories on new webapps, mashups, tech news, and even job listings for social media companies. If it is happening on Facebook, Google+, or Pintrest, you'll find it on Mashable.
Topix.net was definitely the most confusing and also the least useful. The idea is that the "topics of interest" to you are generally dependent on your location, so the topics it presents are tailored based on your chosen geographic region or your zip code. This is an inherently bad idea; after all, we tend to be more concerned with issues that affect where we live/where we are. However, the problem with Topix.net's implementation is that it gives you very little control over what information is displayed. After entering my zip code, I was returned everything from 2-year-old stories about Election 2010 happenings in Tennessee to "debates" (read: flame wars) on hunting rights to polls on whether certain illicit substances should be legalized. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the results, and attempting to narrow the "search" proved fruitless.
Another way I find feeds is through the "Suggested Feeds" in Google Reader. It is pretty good at finding feeds similar to ones I already subscribe to, but it isn't very good at suggesting new feeds or feeds not related to sites I already visit. I'll also consider feeds friends suggest on Facebook, Twitter, or forums I frequent, though I tend to be a bit more cautious with this method. After all, you never know when a site you get directed to could be little more than a dumping ground for malware. I mentioned the tag-driven RSS feeds from Magzinr in my last post, so I won't elaborate on them again, but I use these as well to find new feeds.
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