My first impression, after connecting my blog, Twitter, and Delicious accounts, was "Ok, now what?" I recognized that my tags helped the service find related RSS feeds. That was cool but I think it was too much information all at once, so I went back to Google Reader where I feel most comfortable.
Over the following days, Louis kept driving Lazyfeed as this excellent resource but I could not see the value. He even went so far as to say Lazyfeed was one of his four favorite sites that he used daily. Again, I see that it brings in feeds but that alone did not excitement me. It just felt so overwhelming. Even after watching his video demonstration and listening to the Social Geeks, I went back my trusted Google Reader.
This morning, after a restful 8 hours of sleep, I decided to spend a little time exploring the Lazyfeed site. I decided to add some of the tags and keywords I use on meehive and Google Alerts. At first glance, there were some interesting finds. I clicked on the Hot Topics and checked out some feeds about Michael Jackson, Harry Potter, and Tron.
The list of added tags, located on the left-hand side, continued to grow. I recognized that every few moments the list would reshuffle based on new feeds. The feature is cool, but it was one of those things that contributed to my feelings of information overload. As soon as I read something on Facebook, I would get updates for four or five other tags. Additionally, the list of topics on Facebook appeared to go on and on. If that is how each one of these tags looked, when selected, then I knew this service was far too much for me.
Just then, I noticed something I had not noticed before. Some of the tags listed on the left-hand side were gray and no longer bold. Even though some of the tags were being refreshed, when clicked, the list of feeds under that tag was much shorter than before. It appears that Lazyfeed archives older feeds and only shows you new feeds. Depending upon the level of activity for the tag, I might see one or ten new feeds. This small and overlooked detail gave me hope that I can stay on top of the feeds.
Let me explain. In services like Gmail or Google Reader, I can achieve a clean inbox. After reading all of my feeds and messages, it is empty. Throughout the day I will receive notifications that something new has arrived. At my leisure, I will then stop in and catch up. At first glance, that was not the case for Lazyfeed. That is until now. Now, I see that after reading the feeds for a particular tag, it turns gray and no longer bold. When refreshed with new feeds, it turns black and bold. When clicked, it only shows the newest feeds.
It was at that moment when I realized the power of Lazyfeed. I understand that I am getting feeds for my favorite tags, which is more topical, versus feeds coming from blogs I subscribe too using Google Reader. Using Google Reader, Friendfeed, Facebook, or Twitter will limit what feeds I am introduced to because my list of friends and saved blogs change less often.
With that, I have to thank Louis Gray and the developers of Lazyfeed for sharing this outstanding resource.
Until next time...
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